October 5, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Peru: Economics: Weapons: Nuclear Weapons: Contra Costa Times: Peter McPherson chairs board that urges US to begin designing new nuclear weapons to replace the country's aging Cold War stockpile
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October 5, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Peru: Economics: Weapons: Nuclear Weapons: Contra Costa Times: Peter McPherson chairs board that urges US to begin designing new nuclear weapons to replace the country's aging Cold War stockpile
Peter McPherson chairs board that urges US to begin designing new nuclear weapons to replace the country's aging Cold War stockpile
The report was prepared by an advisory board task force commissioned in January by then-Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham to assess the nuclear weapons complex and make recommendations to help meet the president's vision for a smaller, more reliable and more agile nuclear arsenal. The final report did not differ greatly from a draft released for public comment in July. In order to get the report approved by the full advisory board, Peter McPherson, former president of Michigan State University and chairman of the board, drafted a statement saying the board approved the "thrust" of the report for submission to Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman but was not willing to take a position on the Reliable Replacement Warhead program. Former Michigan State University President Peter McPherson served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru in the 1960's.
Peter McPherson chairs board that urges US to begin designing new nuclear weapons to replace the country's aging Cold War stockpile
U.S. urged to update weapons
By Betsy Mason
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
A report recommending the United States to begin designing new nuclear weapons to replace the country's aging Cold War stockpile was hesitantly approved by the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board on Tuesday.
The report was prepared by an advisory board task force commissioned in January by then-Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham to assess the nuclear weapons complex and make recommendations to help meet the president's vision for a smaller, more reliable and more agile nuclear arsenal. The final report did not differ greatly from a draft released for public comment in July.
It also recommends moving nuclear materials from heavily populated areas, such as that around Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.
In a fairly negative assessment overall, the report concluded: "The Task Force found the complex neither robust, nor agile, nor responsive, with little evidence of a master plan."
Led by David Overskei, president of Decision Factors Inc. of San Diego, the six-member task force recommended a competition begin immediately for design of a reliable replacement weapon, and also recommended building a new consolidated weapons production center.
"All the production elements of the complex are antiquated, and we suggest they should all be replaced," Overskei said in an advisory board teleconference to approve the report.
The report suggests consolidating special nuclear materials -- plutonium and highly enriched uranium -- that can be used to make nuclear weapons at the new center. This would allow the materials to be better protected and would remove them from facilities in populated areas.
"They pose a threat to the civilian community," Overskei said.
Several members of the advisory board expressed discomfort with the central recommendation of the report to proceed with a plan for what the White House has called the Reliable Replacement Warhead. The plan is intended to update the nuclear arsenal with more reliable warheads that require less costly maintenance and reduce the weapon count.
"If we do this it has worldwide consequences, and it will stir up some kind of hornet's nest," said Burton Richter, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist at Stanford and former director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
He argued that the question of whether to design new weapons is beyond the scope of the task force and has implications for international nuclear nonproliferation treaties. He also said that no alternatives had been considered. "You've narrowed the choices to only one," he said.
Overskei said he believed the recommendation was within the task force's purview and that a replacement warhead program is essential to reduce costs and increase the nuclear weapons complex's reliability and responsiveness to new threats.
In order to get the report approved by the full advisory board, Peter McPherson, former president of Michigan State University and chairman of the board, drafted a statement saying the board approved the "thrust" of the report for submission to Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman but was not willing to take a position on the Reliable Replacement Warhead program.
Congress approved $9 million for the replacement warhead program last year and $25 million is in this year's budget request.
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Story Source: Contra Costa Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Peru; Economics; Weapons; Nuclear Weapons
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