May 3, 2010
Fact Sheet
Increasing Transparency in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Stockpile
The United States is releasing newly declassified information on the U.S. nuclear weapons
stockpile. Increasing the transparency of global nuclear stockpiles is important to non-
proliferation efforts, and to pursuing follow-on reductions after the ratification and entry into
force of the New START Treaty that cover all nuclear weapons: deployed and non-deployed,
strategic and non-strategic.
Stockpile
. As of September 30, 2009, the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons consisted of 5,113
warheads. This number represents an 84 percent reduction from the stockpile’s maximum
(31,255) at the end of fiscal year 1967, and over a 75 percent reduction from its level (22,217)
when the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989. The below figure shows the U.S. nuclear stockpile from
1945 through September 30, 2009.
Warhead Dismantlement
. From fiscal years 1994 through 2009, the United States dismantled
8,748 nuclear warheads. Several thousand additional nuclear weapons are currently retired
and
awaiting dismantlement.
Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons
. The number of U.S. non-strategic nuclear weapons declined
by approximately 90 percent from September 30, 1991 to September 30, 2009.
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
W a r h e a d s
Cuban Missile Crisis
Max Warheads: 31,255
Di ssolution of Warsaw Pact
USSR Disbands
*
ncludes active and inactive warheads. Several thousand additional nuclear warheads are retired and awaiting dismantlement.
Fiscal Years
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Stockpile, 1945-2009*
