Stockpile Stewardship and Sustainment (2020 Presidential transition): Difference between revisions

The '''Stockpile Stewardship and Sustainment (SSP)''' supports a multifaceted understanding of the stockpile and allows National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) to predict, detect, and evaluate potential problems related to aging. Routine scheduled surveillance of nuclear weapons may lead to significant finding investigations, which in turn inform the need for corrective action, such as initiating an alteration (Alt) or modification (Mod). Some issues may be resolved without any changes to weapons in the stockpile. Alts involve limited scope changes that typically affect the assembly, testing, maintenance, and/or storage of weapons. Mods are more comprehensive programs that increase safety, improve security, extend limited-life component life cycles, and/or address identified defects and component obsolescence. As warheads and bombs age in the stockpile, they may require life extension programs (LEPs) to comprehensively address aging issues and meet modern safety and security requirements. LEPs involve modifications that refurbish warheads by replacing aged components to extend the service life of the weapon.

One of Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) core missions is to maintain a safe, secure, and effective stockpile without nuclear explosive testing. To execute this mission, NNSA employs a science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program (SSP) and is replacing or refurbishing the enterprise’s aging infrastructure to hedge against technical and geopolitical surprise and provide a more capable work environment, all while continuing to reduce the overall size of the U.S. nuclear weapon stockpile. Within NNSA, Defense Programs fields innovative experimental capabilities, diagnostic equipment, high-performance computers, and modern computational codes that build on past nuclear explosive test data to simulate the dynamics of nuclear weapons and test non-nuclear components to ensure the effectiveness of nuclear weapons without underground explosive testing. NNSA uses these tools to make informed decisions on replacing and refurbishing weapons in the nuclear stockpile. NNSA leverages life extension programs (LEPs), alterations (Alts), and modifications (Mods), to address aging and performance issues; enhance safety features; and, improve security in the nuclear weapons stockpile. These programs are the foundation of the United States’ ability to maintain today’s deterrent as we prepare for the uncertain security environment of the future. NNSA must ensure a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent without nuclear explosive testing through continued investment in the Stockpile Stewardship Program and the enterprise workforce and infrastructure that makes stockpile stewardship possible.

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