Press Release of Senator Lugar Nunn-Lugar Update October 2008 Wednesday, November 19, 2008 U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar announced that the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program made the following progress in October 2008:   ·           4 Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) destroyed; ·           1 nuclear weapons storage site’s security upgraded; and ·           Continued progress on the chemical weapons destruction facility being built at Shchuchye.   The four SS-19 ICBMs destroyed were each capable of carrying up to six independently targetable warheads and had a range of more 6,200 miles.   The Nunn-Lugar scorecard now totals 7,298 strategic nuclear warheads deactivated, 728 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) destroyed, 496 ICBM silos eliminated, 137 ICBM mobile launchers destroyed, 631 submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) eliminated, 456 SLBM launchers eliminated, 31 nuclear submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles destroyed, 155 bomber eliminated, 906 nuclear air-to-surface missiles (ASMs) destroyed, 194 nuclear test tunnels eliminated, 411 nuclear weapons transport train shipments secured, upgraded security at 18 nuclear weapons storage sites, and built and equipped 16 biological monitoring stations.  Perhaps most importantly, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus are nuclear weapons free as a result of cooperative efforts under the Nunn-Lugar program. Those countries were the third, fourth and eighth largest nuclear weapons powers in the world.   Beyond nuclear, chemical and biological elimination, the Nunn-Lugar program has worked to reemploy scientists and facilities related to weapons of mass destruction in peaceful research initiatives. The International Science and Technology Centers, of which the United States is the leading sponsor, engaged 58,000 former weapons scientists in peaceful work. The International Proliferation Prevention Program has funded 750 projects involving 14,000 former weapons scientists and created some 580 new peaceful high-tech jobs.   Lugar makes annual oversight trips to Nunn-Lugar sites in the former Soviet Union and Albania.   On the web: The Nunn-Lugar program: http://lugar.senate.gov/nunnlugar/ The Nunn-Lugar scorecard: http://lugar.senate.gov/nunnlugar/scorecard.html   ###