Congress Approves Nuclear 'Bunker Buster' Research
Congress has authorized research into the feasibility and cost
of developing a robust nuclear earth penetrator (RNEP), with up
to $15 million slated to go to U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories
in fiscal year 2003 to work on modifying existing nuclear warheads.
Permission was contained in the 2003 Defense Authorization Act,
which the House of Representatives passed November 12 and the Senate
passed the following day.
The research will examine “what the potential is for the modification
of weapons in our system” to strike hardened and deeply buried
targets, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham told the Senate Armed
Services Committee in March. Portions of the 2002 Nuclear Posture
Review leaked in March had indicated that the Bush administration
wanted an improved ability to strike underground military facilities,
including those containing biological or chemical weapons and related
equipment, thus spurring the Energy Department to examine options
for nuclear “bunker busters,” the informal term used for
RNEPs.
Studies into RNEP development, which are expected to last up to
three years, will not commence immediately. Congress added a “report
and wait” condition to the bill, which requires the secretaries
of defense and energy to report on the RNEP’s anticipated use
policy, military requirement, and potential targets as well as the
ability of conventional weapons to destroy hardened and buried targets.
Funds to begin research will be available 30 days after the report
is submitted to the congressional armed services committees. As
a result of the reporting requirement, research will not start until
summer 2003 at the earliest, according to sources familiar with
the legislation.
The Defense Authorization Act also calls for the National Academy
of Sciences to conduct a study assessing the short- and long-term
effects on civilian populations of RNEP use versus use of conventional
weapons or nuclear weapons that explode above the ground. The study
will, among other things, examine whether biological or chemical
weapons materials could be released if an RNEP struck a target housing
such agents.
Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) noted November 18 that, although
the legislation gave a green light to research, the reporting requirement
prior to the release of funds “restores Congress’ vital
oversight role over what could eventually be the development of
a new nuclear weapon.” She indicated that, “since this
is only the first funding installment for a three-year study, Congress
will have ample opportunity to revisit this issue.”
After the money is released, the nuclear weapons laboratories are
expected to study modifications to strengthen the casings on the
existing nuclear B-61 and B-83 warheads, according to Energy Department
official Everet Beckner, who testified before a Senate committee
in March. Beckner noted that both weapons have yields “substantially
higher than five kilotons,” so the study will not violate a
1994 U.S. law prohibiting research on “low-yield” nuclear
weapons. (See
ACT, April 2002.) A version of the B-61, modified to
strike hardened and deeply buried targets, was added to the U.S.
stockpile without nuclear testing in 1997.
The House-Senate conference committee that finalized the Defense
Authorization Act quashed language offered by Representative Curt
Weldon (R-PA) that would have changed the 1994 law outlawing research
on new nuclear warheads with a yield of five kilotons or less.
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