Sec. 3118. NUCLEAR WARHEAD DESIGN COMPETITION

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## SEC. 3118 NUCLEAR WARHEAD DESIGN COMPETITION **[**[50 U.S.C. 2521 note](/us/usc/t50/s2521)**]** ###

(a)Findings Congress finds the following: ####

(1)In January 2016, the co-chairs of a congressionally mandated study panel from the National Academies of Science testified to the following before the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives: #####

(A)“The National Nuclear Security Administration

(NNSA)complex must engage in robust design competitions in order to exercise the design and production skills that underpin stockpile stewardship and are necessary to meet evolving threats.”. #####

(B)“To exercise the full set of design skills necessary for an effective nuclear deterrent, the NNSA should develop and conduct the first in what the committee envisions to be a series of design competitions that integrate the full end-to-end process from novel design conception through engineering, building, and non ####

(2)In March 2016 testimony before the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives regarding a December 2016 Defense Science Board report entitled, “Seven Defense Priorities for the New Administration”, members of that Board said the following: #####

(A)“A key contributor to nuclear deterrence is the continuous, adaptable exercise of the development, design, and production functions for nuclear weapons in both the DOD and DOE.... Yet the DOE laboratories and DOD contractor community have done little integrated design and development work outside of life extension for 25 years, let alone concept development that could serve as a hedge to surprise.”. #####

(B)“The Defense Science Board believes that the triad’s complementary features remain robust tenets for the design of a future force. Replacing our current, aging force is essential, but not sufficient in the more complex nuclear environment we now face to provide the adaptability or flexibility to confidently hold at risk what adversaries value. In particular, if the threat evolves in ways that favorably change the cost/benefit calculus in the view of an adversary’s leadership, then we should be in a position to quickly restore a credible deterrence posture.”. ####

(3)In a memorandum dated May 9, 2014, then-Secretary of Energy Ernie Moniz said the following: #####

(A)“If nuclear military capabilities are to provide deterrence for the nation they need to be relevant to the emerging global strategic environment. The current stockpile was designed to meet the needs of a bipolar world with roots in the Cold War era. A more complex, chaotic, and dynamic security environment is emerging. In order to uphold the Department’s mission to ensure an effective nuclear deterrent.... we must ensure our nuclear capabilities meet the challenges of known and potential geopolitical and technological trends. Therefore we must look ahead, using the expertise of our laboratories, to how the capabilities that may be employed by other nations could impact deterrence over the next several decades.”. #####

(B)“We must challenge our thinking about our programs of record in order to permit foresighted actions that may reduce, in the coming decades, the chances for surprise and that buttress deterrence.”. ###

(b)Design Competition ####

(1)In general In accordance with paragraph (2), the Administrator for Nuclear Security, in coordination with the Chairman of the Nuclear Weapons Council, shall carry out a new and comprehensive design competition for a nuclear warhead that could be employed on ballistic missiles of the United States by 2030. Such competition shall— #####

(A)examine options for warhead design and related delivery system requirements in the 2030s, including— ######

(i)life extension of existing weapons; ######

(ii)new capabilities; and ######

(iii)such other concepts as the Administrator and the Chairman determine necessary to fully exercise and create responsive design capabilities in the enterprise and ensure a robust nuclear deterrent into the 2030s; #####

(B)assess how the capabilities and defenses that may be employed by other countries could impact deterrence in 2030 and beyond and how such threats could be addressed or mitigated in the warhead and related delivery systems; #####

(C)exercise the full set of design skills necessary for an effective nuclear deterrent and responsive enterprise through production of conceptual designs and, as the Administrator determines appropriate, production of non-nuclear prototypes of components or subsystems; and #####

(D)examine and recommend actions for significantly shortening timelines and significantly reducing costs associated with design, development, certification, and production of the warhead, without reducing worker or public health and safety. ####

(2)Timing The Administrator shall— #####

(A)during fiscal year 2018, develop a plan to carry out paragraph (1); and #####

(B)during fiscal year 2019, implement such plan. ###

(c)Briefing Not later than March 1, 2018, the Administrator, in coordination with the Chairman, shall provide a briefing to the congressional defense committees on the plan of the Administrator to carry out the warhead design competition under subsection (b). Such briefing shall include an assessment of the costs, benefits, risks, and opportunities of such plan, particularly impacts to ongoing life extension programs and infrastructure projects.

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50 USC 2521

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Sec. 3118

NUCLEAR WARHEAD DESIGN COMPETITION

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