NEW NUKE RESEARCH BLOWN UP?

It ain’t dead, yet. But the Bush administration’s push to research and develop new nuclear weapons could be on the verge of flat-​​lining, after a key Congressional leader moved on Wednesday to elim­i­nate fund­ing for the atomic arms projects.
Ohio Republican Rep. David Hobson, who chairs the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, wiped out $96 mil­lion in nuclear projects from the government’s bud­get for next year — includ­ing funds for research­ing nuclear “bunker-​​buster” bombs and low-​​yield, “mini-​​nuke” weapons. Hobson also snapped the purse strings of projects to build thou­sands more plu­to­nium hearts for nuclear weapons and to fast-​​track atomic test­ing.
Just last week, the Department of Energy sub­mit­ted a plan to pare thou­sands of weapons from America’s exist­ing nuclear arse­nal. But, despite the pro­posal, much of the country’s nuclear arms bud­get is still at “Cold War” lev­els, Hobson com­plained in a state­ment. The Energy Department “needs to take a ‘time-​​out’ on new ini­tia­tives until it com­pletes a review of its weapons com­plex in rela­tion to secu­rity needs, bud­get con­straints and this new stock­pile plan.“
Anti-​​nuclear activists were giddy after Hobson’s stand. Two weeks ago, the full House of Representatives nar­rowly defeated an amend­ment to take away the money for research­ing the “Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator” — a weapon designed to bur­row deep into the ground before unleash­ing a nuclear hell-​​storm in under­ground bunkers. Taken together, activists said they believe the maneu­vers fore­cast a gloomy future for a new atomic arse­nal.
My Wired News story has details.

June 11th, 2004 | Nukes | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.