Sec. 3114. Plutonium pit production capacity
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Congress finds the following: In 2008, the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, acting through the Nuclear Weapons Council established by section 179 of title 10, United States Code, agreed on a strategy to balance cost, risk, and stockpile needs and established the requirement for the Department of Energy to produce 50 to 80 plutonium pits per year. In a memorandum of agreement dated May 3, 2010, entered into by the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy, the Secretaries agreed that the Department of Energy would achieve a minimum pit production capacity of 50 to 80 pits per year by 2022.
The current plans of the Secretary of Energy would achieve a pit production capacity of 50 to 80 pits per year by 2031, resulting in a delay of nearly a decade as compared to the agreement described in paragraph (2). In a report dated January 14, 2014, that the Secretary of Defense submitted to Congress, the Secretary stated that the Department of Defense has revalidated its requirement for 50 – 80 pits per year based on the demands of stockpile modernization, the commitments to a modern physical infrastructure, and the ability to hedge against technical failure or geopolitical risk. .
It is the sense of Congress that— the requirement to create a modern, responsive nuclear infrastructure that includes the capability and capacity to produce, at minimum, 50 to 80 pits per year, is a national security priority; delaying creation of a modern, responsive nuclear infrastructure until the 2030s is an unacceptable risk to the nuclear deterrent and the national security of the United States; and timelines for creating certain capacities for production of plutonium pits and other nuclear weapons components must be driven by the requirement to hedge against technical and geopolitical risk and not solely by the needs of life extension programs.
Title XLII of the Atomic Energy Defense Act ( 50 U.S.C. 2521 et seq. ) is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 4218 the following new section: Consistent with the requirements of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy shall ensure that the nuclear security enterprise— during 2023, produces not less than 30 war reserve plutonium pits; during 2026, produces not less than 50 war reserve plutonium pits; and during a pilot period of not less than 90 days during 2027, demonstrates the capability to produce war reserve plutonium pits at a rate sufficient to produce 80 pits per year.
Not later than March 1, 2015, and each year thereafter through 2027, the Secretary shall certify to the congressional defense committees and the Secretary of Defense that the programs and budget of the Secretary will enable the nuclear security enterprise to meet the requirements under subsection (a). If the Secretary does not make a certification by March 1 of any year in which a certification is required under subsection (b), by not later than May 1 of such year, the Chairman of the Nuclear Weapons Council shall submit to the congressional defense committees a plan to enable the nuclear security enterprise to meet the requirements under subsection (b).
Such plan shall include identification of the resources of the Department of Energy that the Chairman determines should be redirected to support the plan to meet such requirements. . The table of contents for the Atomic Energy Defense Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 4218 the following new item: Sec. 4219. Plutonium pit production capacity. .
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- 50 USC 2521
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Sec. 3114
Plutonium pit production capacity
Cite50 USC 2521
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