U.S. Energy Department Working on W-76 Nuclear Warhead Replacement, Scientist Says

A U.S. scientist said that the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is quietly working to develop a replacement for the W-76 nuclear warhead, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported today (see GSN, July 9).

The proposed W-76 redesign would reduce the overall yield of the weapon by about 40 percent while improving its reliability, according to the scientist.

“They have redesigned this thing, and they are calling it a ‘stockpile security design,’” the scientist said.

A Los Alamos spokesman would neither confirm nor deny that the facility is working on a replacement for the W-76, which is carried aboard U.S. submarines, the New Mexican reported (Jeff Tollefson, Santa Fe New Mexican, July 27).

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