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www.nnsa.doe.gov
U.S. Department of Energy www.nnsa.doe.gov
For Immediate Release NNSA Public Affairs
December 1, 2006 (202) 586-7371
Nuclear Weapons Officials Agree to Pursue RRW Strategy
Reliable Replacement Warhead will enable long-term confidence in a smaller, safer, more
secure nuclear weapons stockpile, without underground nuclear testing
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior officials at the Department of Defense and the
Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) today said they have
determined that the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) is feasible as a strategy for
sustaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile for the long-term without underground nuclear
testing.
“The Reliable Replacement Warhead will provide means to ensure the long-term
reliability of the stockpile and enable us to establish a safer and more secure nuclear deterrent,”
said NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks. “It will give us the tools we need to build on the
President’s vision of maintaining the smallest nuclear stockpile that is consistent with national
security requirements.”
The Nuclear Weapons Council (NWC), a working group of senior officials from the
Defense Department and NNSA that oversees nuclear weapons policy, made the decision after
reviewing competing designs for a replacement nuclear warhead for the nation’s sea-based
nuclear deterrent. They were submitted by the nation’s two nuclear weapons design laboratories,
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The NWC launched the competition more than a year ago to determine whether a
replacement warhead could enable long-term confidence in the performance of the current
stockpile without a return to underground nuclear testing. The program has been authorized by
Congress, although no decisions to build or deploy the warhead have been made.
The council is continuing to discuss the two laboratory submissions and has not selected
a preferred design. Once the NWC reaches a decision, expected in the next few weeks, the two
departments will conduct a study to further define and develop detailed cost estimates for the
RRW program. A move to the engineering development and production engineering phase will
require congressional approval.
The NWC is chaired by Kenneth Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition,
technology and logistics. Other members are Ambassador Linton Brooks, undersecretary of
energy for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration,
Admiral Edmund Giambastiani, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Ambassador Eric
Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, and General James Cartwright, commander of the
U.S. Strategic Command.
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