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File:Peacekeeper Stockpile Stewardship.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A Mk. 21 reentry vehiclereentry vehicleStockpile stewardship refers to the United States program of reliability testing and maintenance of its nuclear weapons without the use of nuclear testing.Because no new nuclear weapons have been developed by the United States since 1992,WEB, About the Global Governance Monitor,www.cfr.org/publication/18985/, dead,web.archive.org/web/20100321062142/https://www.cfr.org/publication/18985/, 2010-03-21, 2021-08-15, Council on Foreign Relations, even its youngest weapons are at least {{age|1992|12|31}} years old (as of 2024). Aging weapons can fail or act unpredictably in a number of ways: the high explosives that compress their fissile material can chemically degrade, their electronic components can suffer from decay, their radioactive plutonium/uranium cores are potentially unreliable, and the isotopes used by thermonuclear weapons may be chemically unstable as well.WEB Since the United States has also not tested nuclear weapons since 1992,NEWS Most work for stockpile stewardship is undertaken at United States Department of Energy national laboratories, mostly at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Nevada Test Site, and Department of Energy productions facilities, which employ around 27,500 personnel and cost billions of dollars per year to operate.

Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program

The Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program is a United States Department of Energy program to ensure that the nuclear capabilities of the United States are not eroded as nuclear weapons age. It costs more than $4 billion annuallyBOOK, Joseph, Masco

Facilities

The stockpile stewardship program is supported by the following experimental facilities:National Nuclear Security Administration, November 2011 Quarterly SSP Experiment Summary {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130307033613nnsa.energy.gov/sites/default/files/nnsa/inlinefiles/Quarterly%20SSP%20Experiment%20Summary-FY11-4Q%20FINAL.pdf |date=2013-03-07 }}

• Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Contained Firing Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• National Ignition Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Z machine, Sandia National Laboratories
• Omega, Laboratory for Laser Energetics
• High Explosive Application Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Joint Actinide Shock Physics Experimental Research, Nevada National Security Site
• Large Bore Powder Gun, Nevada National Security Site
• Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Proton Radiography, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Big Explosives Experimental Facility, Nevada National Security Site
• TA-55, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• U1a Facility, Nevada National Security Site

The data produced by the experiments carried out in these facilities is used in combination with the Advanced Simulation and Computing Program.

See also

• Enduring Stockpile

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• WEB,fas.org/2007/nuke/Stockpile_Stewardship_Paper.pdf, 2007 DOE Stockpile Stewardship Report

• WEB

,

• The Stockpile Stewardship and Management Program (DOE document, May 1995)
• WEB,www.fas.org/rlg/JSR-99-300.pdf, Remanufacturing of nuclear-weapon components within the DOE’s Stockpile Stewardship Program, Federation of American Scientists,

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