The U.S. Energy and Defense departments have told two nuclear weapons laboratories to study possible designs for nuclear weapons that could destroy underground targets, the San Jose Mercury News reported today (see GSN, March 19).

Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories will study ways to modify existing nuclear bombs rather than creating completely new bomb designs.  The designs will probably focus on strengthening the bomb’s casing and interior supports while leaving nuclear explosives intact.

Lawrence Livermore scientists will study modifying the B83, a hydrogen bomb designed for the B-1 bomber, according to the Mercury News.  The B83 is already designed to withstand significant impact before detonating, and scientists have studied its potential use for penetrating underground targets since the 1980s.

The Los Alamos researchers will focus on the B61, which has already been modified to penetrate earth.  Both the B61 and the B83 allow authorities to adjust their yields.

The United States has tested non-nuclear earth-penetrating weapons, but so far such weapons can only penetrate a few dozen feet, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The studies, scheduled to begin next month, are expected to describe the advantages and disadvantages of each potential bomb design, allowing authorities to choose one of the laboratory’s designs if the United States decides to construct an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon.

The U.S. government has not yet decided whether it will build such weapons, said Lisa Cutler, spokeswoman for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration.

Debating the New Designs

Proponents of earth-penetrating nuclear weapons say the bombs could reach and destroy targets — such as underground command bunkers or facilities with weapons of mass destruction — which conventional weapons cannot destroy (see GSN, March 15).

Energy officials have also said that assigning the two laboratories will help their scientists maintain their skills since the United States ended nuclear testing 10 years ago (see GSN, March 19).

Critics, however, have said that developing nuclear weapons to use in a limited manner to destroy underground targets blurs the line between nuclear and conventional weapons and increases the likelihood that nuclear weapons would be used (see GSN, March 11).

The Bush administration has said it prefers to modify existing designs rather than developing new nuclear weapons, but critics have said that significant modification is basically the same thing as new designs.

“If I take my Honda into the shop, and it comes out a Ferrari, that’s not a modification, it’s a new car,” said Marylia Kelley, who leads the Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (Dan Stober, San Jose Mercury News, March 26).

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