Staffing at the U.S. nuclear weapons complex could drop by up to 9,000 positions over 10 years under a plan being developed by the Bush administration, the Albuquerque Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 26).
The plan would also reduce acreage of the U.S. eight sites devoted to nuclear weapons development, construction and maintenance by about a third while renovating or replacing facilities that have been in use since the early Cold War.
The goal would be to streamline and modernize the nuclear weapons complex, said David Campbell, congressional, intergovernmental and public affairs director for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
While specific changes that have been proposed for the eight sites have not been revealed, Campbell said that none of the locations would be closed.
The National Nuclear Security Administration under the plan would retain responsibility for managing the U.S. nuclear stockpile. "NNSA's mission is not going away," Campbell said. "We have a duty, a responsibility to maintain the stockpile, make it secure and reliable."
About 600 buildings would be cut across the eight sites and the nuclear establishment would shed between 20 and 30 percent of its 32,000-member work force.
"Not every site will go down 20 to 30 percent," Campbell said. "Those are things that need to be worked out."
The Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories in New Mexico directly employ roughly 13,000 people.
The proposed changes draw from "Complex 2030," a plan unveiled by the administration last year to transform the U.S. nuclear complex by the year 2030. In light of the newly proposed changes, the plan has focused on changes over the next decade using the name "Complex Transformation."
One proposal from Complex 2030 that remains under consideration is to save money by consolidating dangerous nuclear materials such as plutonium at a smaller number of sites. The material is now held at seven U.S. sites (John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal/TMCnet, Oct. 31).