The Bush administration wants to develop and build new nuclear weapons --and return our nation's production capacity of nuclear weapons to Cold War levels.

At the same time, the administration is condemning nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea. We believe this is more than a double standard: it is dangerous, foolhardy, and wildly expensive.

The first step in this plan is called "Complex 2030," for the date it would be completed. The name does NOT indicate what it means: the administration wants to build a new, multi-billion dollar bomb plant. The plant would produce a new nuclear weapon called the "Reliable Replacement Warhead" (RRW), the first new warhead to be developed by the U.S. in over two decades.

Your Member of Congress is on a key subcommittee that will make the decisions about both of these issues later this month. Contact them now.

Background

The administration has asked Congress for $119 million for FY08 for the RRW. The Department of Energy estimates that the total cost of Complex 2030 will be $150 billion. This is not necessary on any level; the existing nuclear stockpile is more than sufficient for at least 50 years.

Independent studies have shown that the U.S. nuclear stockpile will remain "safe and reliable" for at least another 50 years. A November 2006 study conducted by American weapons laboratories and reviewed by JASON (an independent government advisory body of nuclear scientists originally founded by members of the Manhattan Project) revealed that plutonium "pits" -- the cores that trigger nuclear weapons -- remain viable for at least 90 years (twice the earlier estimate of 45 years and three times the age of the oldest weapons in the U.S. nuclear stockpile).

Instead of working to reduce its stockpile of nuclear bombs -- as the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty stipulates -- the administration wants to develop new nuclear weapons at the cost of billions of taxpayer dollars.