In this Section

Issues: Nuclear Weapons, Waste & Energy

End Run
Simulating Nuclear Explosions under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

This August 1997 report analyzes recently declassified excerpts from the U.S. Department of Energy's "Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan," a comprehensive "road-map" of U.S. plans and ongoing programs involving the nuclear weapons stockpile, and finds many conflicts between U.S. plans and the goals of the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The printed report includes an additional Appendix containing copies of SLBM Warhead Protection Program vu-graphs obtained by the Los Alamos Study Group.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

How the Secret "Green Book" Saw the Light of Day

I. The Purpose of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

II. Highlights from Recently Declassified Portions of DOE'S 1996 "Green Book"

SSMP Program Strategy

New Weapon Designs and Modifications

New Warhead Prototypes

Warhead Certification

DOE/DoD Joint Flight Testing

"Virtual Testing" Capabilities

Predicting Primary Stage Performance

Predicting Late Primary Stage Performance

Advanced Dynamic Radiography

Predicting Secondary Stage Performance

Plutonium Properties and Dynamic Experiments

Improved Computations for Weapons Simulations: The Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI)

III. U.S. Nuclear Warhead Design Activities for Naval Strategic Forces

IV. Key Elements of the SSMP Are Inconsistent with U.S. Nonproliferation Objectives and Policy Statements

V. Conclusions and Preliminary Recommendations

Appendix I: Recently Declassified Excerpts Concerning Design and Development of Nuclear Weapons under a Comprehensive Test Ban

Stewardship and Management Program Strategy

Modifying Nuclear Weapons to Meet "Updated" Military Requirements

Weapon Design Options

Maintaining Capabilities For Nuclear Weapons Design, Engineering, and Underground Testing

Nuclear Package Design

Prototype Programs

Systems Integration and Test

Underground Test Readiness

The Department of Energy Plans to Continue Making Weapon Modifications that Formerly Required "Certification" by Nuclear Explosive Tests

DOE/DoD Plan Joint Flight Testing of Modified and New Weapons under the CTBT to Certify Their Military Mission Capability

The U.S. Plans New Experimental and Computing Facilities to Improve Nuclear Weapon Physics Models and Nuclear Explosion Simulation Codes

DOE Seeks Improved Fundamental Understanding of Weapon Physics to Create Comprehensive 3-D Models of Nuclear Weapon Explosions

Predicting Primary Stage Performance

Predicting Late Primary Stage Performance

Dynamic Radiography

Predicting Secondary Stage Performance

Plutonium Properties

Enlisting the Help of the University Research Community

Improved Computations for Weapons Simulations: The Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI)

Report Credits and Acknowledgments

For copies of the printed report, please send $5.00 plus $1.45 shipping and handling to: NRDC, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20005, ATTN: Nuclear Publications. California residents must add 7.25% sales tax. International orders add $1.00 to cover airmail postage. Please make checks payable to NRDC in US dollars only.