Nuclear Warheads: The Reliable Replacement Warhead program and the Life Extension Program

Abstract

Current U.S. nuclear warheads were deployed during the Cold War. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) maintains them with a Life Extension Program (LEP). NNSA questions if LEP can maintain them indefinitely on grounds that an accretion of minor changes introduced in replacement components will inevitably reduce confidence in warhead safety and reliability over the long term. Congress mandated the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program in 2004 "to improve the reliability, longevity, and certifiability of existing weapons and their components." Since then, Congress has specified more goals for the program, such as increasing safety, reducing the need for nuclear testing, designing for ease of manufacture, and reducing cost. RRW has become the principal program for designing new warheads to replace current ones.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 03, 2007
Accession Number
ADA475059

Entities

People

  • Jonathan E. Medalia

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Environment
  • Explosions
  • Explosives
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Fusion Weapons
  • Hazardous Materials
  • Insensitive Explosives
  • Interagency Coordination
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Warheads
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Personnel Management
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Treaties
  • United States

Readers

  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security
  • Systems Analysis and Design