WP: U.S. to Step Up Disassembly of Older Nuclear Warheads [View All]

[deminks]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/03/AR2006050302136.html?nav=rss_nation/nationalsecurity

The Bush administration plans to speed up the dismantling of old, retired nuclear warheads in coming years, in part to counter any impression that the United States is starting a new arms race with its work to develop a new generation of more reliable nuclear arms, according to U.S. officials.

Members of Congress have been pressuring the administration to step up the pace of dismantling the estimated 4,000 to 6,000 non-operational warheads in the stockpile. The exact numbers are classified, but congressional and administration sources say that in recent years fewer than 100 warheads have been taken apart annually.

One reason for the slow pace is that Pantex, the government production facility near Waco, Tex., could not handle much of the work at the same time that it is refurbishing thousands of operational nuclear weapons, officials said.

"There is not much dismantlement going on," Rep. David L. Hobson (R-Ohio) said in an interview yesterday, adding that the plant has encountered some difficulty in its program to refurbish and extend the useful life of warheads. "They only turned to dismantling when the production lines working on the life-extension program ran into trouble," he said.