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Sandia Ruled Out for RNEP, but not its Resources By David Ruppe WASHINGTON — In the latest twist in the Bush administration’s Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator saga, a senior official recently confirmed that an Energy Department facility would not be available for a key, controversial research test this year — but said its equipment and “expertise” could be (see GSN, Dec. 15, 2005). In a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) earlier this month, National Nuclear Security Administration chief Linton Brooks wrote that Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman “has directed that no sled test for this program be conducted at Sandia [National Laboratories in New Mexico], even if funded by” the Defense Department. The decision was made, “In response to concerns by some members of Congress that performing this sled test at Sandia would imply continued research on RNEP,” the Jan. 9 letter says. Congress for fiscal 2005 and the current fiscal 2006 withheld requested funding for the feasibility study of the nuclear “bunker buster.” While administration officials argue the weapon could be necessary to destroy buried, hardened enemy facilities, critics charge that developing a new atomic weapons capability would undermine U.S. nonproliferation efforts. The effort was wasteful, they also said, as the weapon was unlikely to be used because of the potential for unintended casualties. Congress this year however did provide the requested $4 million for the Defense Department to conduct the sled test, stating that it could inform a feasibility assessment of developing a conventional penetrator capability. The sled test involves slamming a mock warhead into a huge block of concrete to study its ability to withstand the shock as it blasts its way underground. A senior Air Force official said in a Defense Daily article last month that even were the test conducted at a Defense Department facility, data would be used to assess the nuclear penetrator option if funding could be obtained for that program in the next fiscal year. Feinstein in a Dec. 21 letter to Brooks sought assurance that “no nuclear testing related to [the] bunker buster program will be conducted at any Department of Energy facilities.” While Brooks in his response indicated the test would not proceed at Sandia, he added, “If DOD chooses to conduct the test at a DOD facility, we believe it is fully consistent with the intent of Congress for Sandia to provide equipment and technical expertise in support of a DOD study of conventional earth penetrators.” Feinstein spokesman Howard Gantman said in an e-mail today, “We are still reviewing the letter.”
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