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United States: Weapon Dismantlers Are Behind Schedule, Official Says There have been numerous delays in plans to dismantle U.S. nuclear weapons, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Aug. 1). The Energy Department has been experiencing delays at the Pantex plant in Texas where the United States assembles and disassembles nuclear weapons, according to the Post. The department has not finished dismantling the W79 nuclear artillery shell designed to emit neutron radiation to kill people while leaving infrastructure intact. There is still “ongoing dismantlement work” on the W79 shells, which were retired in 1991 and scheduled to be dismantled by August 2000, Everet Beckner, deputy administrator for defense programs of the National Nuclear Security Administration, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. The department was supposed to have dismantled 500 W56 warheads, used for the Minuteman II ICBM, by September this year, Beckner said, but the work “will continue through fiscal year 2005.” Beckner said the B61 tactical nuclear bomb is also slated to begin disassembly soon. The U.S. Energy Department also plans to soon begin dismantling the 35 remaining B53 bombs, which officials retired in 1997 when the B61 Mod 11 bomb with an earth-penetrating warhead became operational. Dismantling nuclear weapons requires years of planning, Beckner said. Current plans to dismantle and refurbish weapons are so expansive that the Pantex plant would require a larger workforce before it could begin new dismantlement plans, he said. The delay in dismantling weapons and plans to refurbish parts of the nuclear arsenal are behind the decision to not immediately dismantle any of the warheads that will be removed from operational status under the new U.S.-Russia Moscow Treaty, according to the Post (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Aug. 8). For further information, see: U.S.-Russia Nuclear Reduction Treaty Text (U.S. State Department) U.S. State Department Fact Sheet on Moscow Treaty
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