This week's news:
Obama Budget Dramatically Increases Funding for New Nuclear Weapons Production Facilities; Cuts Dismantlement
In his April 5, 2009 speech in Prague, President Barack Obama called for a nuclear weapons-free world, for which in part he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Obama proposed in his fiscal year 2011 budget to freeze discretionary domestic spending for three years for programs such as education, nutrition, air traffic control and national parks. In contrast, he dramatically increased funding for new U.S. nuclear weapons production facilities, in part by slashing funding for dismantling nuclear weapons by 40 percent.
Specifically, funding for a new bomb factory at Los Alamos National Laboratory in direct support of manufacturing plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons is proposed to increase 132 percent from $97 million this year to $225 million next year. The proposed bomb factory is called the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Building Replacement, or CMRR, Project.
Funding for a new Uranium Processing Facility at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee is proposed to increase 22 percent from $94 million to $115 million. Costs for both the new plutonium and uranium facilities are expected to triple in the next four years, with the ultimate costs still to be determined. But both are likely to be over $4 billion.
MORE
Public Comments Needed on Water Quality Assessment of LANL Watersheds 1.29.10
Increasing Levels of Carbon Tetrachloride at WIPP 1.22.10
January 28 Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment Project Meeting 1.15.10
Buckman Direct Diversion Project Water Quality Meeting Scheduled for January 14th 1.8.10
Opportunities for Nuclear Non-Proliferation in 2010 1.1.10
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