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     The Trump administration has bragged about the development and deployment of new more powerful and accurate nuclear weapons to expand the U.S. arsenal. Now the Senate Appropriation Committee wants the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) to carry out an investigation into technical problems that are plaguing U.S. nuclear weapons programs. The mandate of the Committee to order such an investigation by the DoE is part of the appropriation process that dealt with the allocation of about forty nine billion dollars for an Energy and Water spending bill that was approved by the Committee on September 12th of this year.
     The Committee is worried that recent problems with nuclear weapons development and production may have wider implications beyond the U.S. weapons programs. The Senators on the Committee are committed to delving into the details of the problems. A Congressional aide who is familiar with the problems in the weapons programs said that those problems will increase the nuclear weapons budget by hundreds of millions of dollars.
    The report that accompanied the spending bill said, “The Committee is concerned that a recent technical challenge demonstrates a lack of systems engineering and highlights a lack of coordination and leadership focus, which in turn jeopardizes successful program execution.”
    The report does not specify any particular weapons programs or give any details of the nature of the problems. Nuclear weapons experts say that the problems probably involve two new versions of existing weapons. One new weapon is a nuclear bomb called the B61-12. The other is a new version of submarine-launched warhead named the W-88.
     In both of these weapons programs, the use of commercially manufactured electrical components resulted in months of delay. This has been publicly admitted by the U.S. government. The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces intends to hold a hearing on September 25th to discuss problems with both of these weapons programs.
     The Senate Committee report contained suggestions that the delays in these nuclear weapons programs could indicated a fundamental problem with Congressional oversight of the military. They are worried that there could be a domino effect that would influence other nuclear initiatives. These concerns include keeping nuclear weapons and materials out of the hands of terrorists, updating the nuclear engines on U.S. warships and modernizing government nuclear facilities.
     The Committee says that the investigation of the nuclear weapons programs must identify causes and possible solutions. It must “ensure the extent of condition is not more widespread than currently reported.” The report says that the DoE organizations who are responsible for nuclear weapons “need to ensure any technical challenges or production issues, particularly in the electronic components, are discovered quickly and mitigated to minimize impacts” on the programs under review as well as other priorities of the departments.
     Nuclear weapons experts say that increasing cost overrun and scheduling delays are a serious and continuing problem for the National Nuclear Security Administration. This is the department of the DoE that is responsible for the management of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. The problems being uncovered also highlights how dependent secret Pentagon projects are on off-the-shelf commercial components.
    Stephen Young is a nuclear arms specialist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. He said, “It is astounding that these two programs, which together were estimated to cost roughly $12 billion before this new problem was discovered, are being delayed because a commercially produced electronic component does not meet specifications. The good news is, because of how robust the U.S. deterrent is, this will not materially affect American security. But it is still a troubling sign for an agency that has so much work on its plate.”
     The B61 nuclear bomb is the oldest nuclear weapon in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It was originally deployed in 1968. There are now four configurations in deployment. The new B61-12 version is intended to replace all four. The first production version of the new B61-12 was scheduled to be deployed as early this month in a report issued by the DoE in 2018. Last May, congressional testimony by U.S. officials and interviews with officials revealed that both the B61-12 and W-88 program were behind scheduled and would be delayed.
     During a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces hearing in May, a Republican Senator asked the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration whether or not the new B61-12 would be ready for widespread deployment in 2023 as had been planned. The response was that it would be delayed until at least 2025.