Weaponeers of Waste: A Critical Look at the Bush Administration Energy Department's Nuclear Weapons Complex and the First Decade of Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship

This April 2004 report from NRDC's nuclear program provides an independent assessment of the U.S. nuclear "stockpile stewardship" program, whose purpose is to guarantee a safe, reliable nuclear weapons stockpile in absence of full-scale underground testing. The report found that, despite the end of the Cold War, the Bush administration is spending 12 times more on nuclear weapons research and production than on nonproliferation efforts to retrieve, secure and dispose of nuclear weapons materials worldwide. The report focuses on a half-dozen DOE nuclear weapons projects, revealing they are billions of dollars over budget and years behind in meeting their goals.