Stockpile Stewardship and Sustainment (2020 Presidential transition)

Book 2 - Issue Papers
Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020

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.

Issues

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.

Status

The scope, budgets, and schedules of the weapons modernization programs and the Department of Defense’s nuclear delivery systems have been fully integrated through coordination within the Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC). Based on NWC guidance, NNSA will remain focused on delivering three LEPs (the W76-1, B61-12, and W80-4) and the W88 Alt 370 (including refreshment of the conventional high-explosive [CHE] main charge).

Major Decisions/Events

• NNSA completed the first production unit of the W76-2 in February 2019; completed assembly of the Full Operational Capability by the end of FY 2019; and completed the delivery of units to the U.S. Navy in July 2020. The W76-2 supports the low-yield capability requirement outlined in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.
• NNSA completed two successful flight tests of the B61-12 in March 2020, and the Pantex Plant released the first production capability unit for the LEP in August 2020. NNSA expects to deliver the FPU in the first quarter of FY 2022. The B61-12 LEP will consolidate four families of the B61 bomb into one, and improve both the safety and security of the oldest weapon system in the U.S. arsenal. Timely execution of the B61-12 LEP will enable retirement of the B83-1, the last megaton-class weapon in the U.S. arsenal. The B61-12 is scheduled to complete production in FY 2026.
• NNSA completed the System-Level Final Design Review for the W88 Alt 370 in FY 2018. Twenty system-level qualification tests—including the Commander’s Evaluation Test 2 and Demonstration and Shakedown Operation 29 flight tests—were completed in FY 2019. In FY 2020, the program achieved First Production Unit (FPU) for the Nuclear Explosive Package and completed the First Production Capability Unit. The W88 Alt 370 is on track for FPU in Q4 FY 2021. Last Production Unit is expected in the fourth quarter of FY 2025.
• The W80-4 is on track to meet DoD’s requirement for the first production unit (FPU) for the W80-4 in FY 2025. The recent USAF early down select to a single LRSO contractor is enabling a 1-year earlier powered flight test that reduces W80-4 program risk by informing the System Baseline Design Review.
• In September 2018, the Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC) authorized restart of Phase 6.2, Feasibility Study and Design Option, for the W78 replacement warhead and named it the W87-1. NNSA completed a study on the feasibility of deploying the W87-1 in a U.S. Navy flight body during FY 2019. The W87-1 Mod program will replace the W78 warhead and support the feasibility of the U.S. Air Force’s Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent missile system.