Nuclear stockpile shrinking rapidly

The U.S. is dismantling unneeded nuclear warheads at a faster pace than forecast as it substantially reduces the arsenal under terms of an arms-control treaty with Russia, government officials said Sunday.

The Bush administration is to announce today that it has taken apart three times as many reserve warheads in the 2007 budget year as it had projected, and that it expects the rapid pace of dismantlement to continue.

At the same time, a report by an independent science advisory group has concluded that “substantial work remains” before a new generation of warheads will be suitable for certification without underground nuclear testing.

The findings are expected to provide congressional opponents of the warhead program with additional reasons to hold back money for the project. The administration views development of the replacement warhead as essential for keeping a secure and more easily maintained nuclear stockpile as warheads age.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the Energy Department, reports a 146% increase in dismantled nuclear warheads in the budget year that ended Sunday. That is triple the agency’s original goal.

The agency is believed to be dismantling thousands of warheads, taking out their plutonium, uranium and nonnuclear high-explosive components. The agency did not say how many warheads it had taken apart or how many remained to be worked on; the numbers are classified.

The government will not provide any numbers on the overall size of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, but there are believed to be nearly 6,000 warheads that are either deployed or in active reserve.

Under the 2002 treaty with Russia, the U.S. is committed to reducing the number of deployed warheads to 1,700 to 2,200 by 2012.