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U.S. Testing I: No Live Testing Needed For Now, U.S. Official Testifies By David Ruppe Energy Undersecretary for Nuclear Security John Gordon told the Senate Armed Services Committee he sees “no near-term need for nuclear testing.” Gordon heads the National Nuclear Security Administration, responsible for maintaining the U.S. nuclear warhead stockpile. “Today, our nuclear stockpile is safe, secure and reliable,” he said. Gordon said the Stockpile Stewardship Program, which maintains the weapons, has been addressing problems related to the aging of the weapons, but he said, “they do not affect the safety of the systems.” He also said, however, he would like to see the Energy Department increase its readiness for resuming testing in the event it is needed (see GSN, Jan. 8). The United States has had a moratorium on explosive nuclear testing, as have most other nuclear states, since the early 1990s. Gordon said in prepared testimony that President George W. Bush “supports a continued moratorium on underground nuclear testing.” Possible Scenario A 1993 presidential directive requires Gordon’s agency to be able to conduct an underground nuclear test within 24 to 36 months of a presidential decision to do so. “My judgment is that our current posture is a bit too relaxed,” he said. That view was reflected in information released by the Defense Department describing the results of its new nuclear weapons plans, though officials have not said how much they want to crop the readiness time. Gordon, in prepared testimony, gave a scenario in which nuclear testing might be desired, and quickly: “If we believed that a defect uncovered in the stockpile surveillance program, or through new insight gained in [research and development] efforts, had degraded our confidence in the safety and/or reliability of the W-76 warhead — the warhead deployed on Trident submarines and comprising the most substantial part of our strategic deterrent — the ability to conduct a test more quickly might be critically important.” The Bush administration’s fiscal 2003 budget requests $15 million to increase testing readiness. Maybe in a Decade Asked by Senator John Warner (R-Va.) at what point the U.S. stockpile maintenance program might develop the technological capabilities to provide a sufficient substitute for actual testing, Gordon said it would take about a decade. The United States is on “seven- to 10-year cycle,” he said, referring to computing, simulation and other testing replacement technologies now under development. Gordon said, however, he could not express with absolute certainty that testing would never be necessary again, “I cannot tell you for certain whether or not we will need to test, I can’t do that for certain.” Warner said that at previous hearings national nuclear laboratory directors testified that the United States is not moving as quickly as it should to develop a substitute system for replacing actual nuclear weapons testing. Time-frame projections varied from several years to a decade or more, he said. “They showed the world how our inventory was aging and the scientists determined at what point they may be perceived as not maintaining credible weapons. We’re going to cross that point,” Warner said. Gordon expressed confidence in the Stockpile Stewardship Program. “I want to report that I am fundamentally satisfied with the progress we are making with Stockpile Stewardship, improved surveillance, tools, finding problems, knowing how to fix them,” he said.
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