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April 16, 2004
Nuke test resumption feared by Senators
By TONY BATT There has not been a nuclear blast at the test site, 30 miles east of Pahrump, since Sept. 23, 1992. The last time a nuclear weapon was exploded into the atmosphere at the test site was 1962. Senior Energy Department officials noted the bunker buster is years away from becoming a reality and will not be developed without congressional approval. But lawmakers expressed concern that the department is asking for $27.6 million in next year's budget to continue research on the weapon after Congress approved only $7.5 million for this year. During a budget hearing Tuesday in the Senate energy and water subcommittee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she feared the department is "opening the nuclear door." Feinstein cited a report by the Congressional Research Service earlier this month that said the department plans to ask Congress to approve $485 million for the bunker buster over the next five years. The Bush administration is studying designs for the new weapon, also called the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator. Plans envision a nuclear bomb with a special hardened shell that could burrow underground before exploding. Military strategists say such a weapon could be helpful to destroy hidden arsenals and command centers, but others say it would defeat the purpose of arms controls. "The people in Southern Utah, in particular, are very suspicious of anything the government says about nuclear testing above ground or below ground," Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said. "Accidents or sloppiness in testing in Nevada could affect far more than just Utahns," Bennett said. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, said in an interview before the hearing he has always been opposed to the bunker buster. "I don't think we need new offensive weapons," Reid said. Linton Brooks, chief of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which runs the test site, acknowledged the funding request for the bunker buster is "perhaps the single most contentious issue in our budget." "What we are asking the Congress to do this year is to approve the continuation of the study," Brooks told the subcommittee. "The law is extremely clear that beginning development and engineering requires congressional approval and there is no one in the administration who has any doubt of or objection to that feature of that law," Brooks said. Earlier in the day, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham faced similar questions about the bunker buster from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "What you're going to have to have with a nuclear bunker buster is accurate intelligence," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., told Abraham. "And what we have seen in the recent Iraqi situation raises serious questions about that issue. This will encourage other countries around the world to give consideration to resuming the nuclear arms race." |
