WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An independent panel of scientists issued a report today confirming that the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) approach towards developing a Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) was proceeding with appropriate scientific principles. This report, tasked by NNSA at the request of Congress, concluded that NNSA’s current approach, with additional technical, experimental and peer review enhancements, could determine that RRW can be certified for the stockpile without the need to conduct an underground nuclear test.

“I am pleased that the JASON panel feels that we are on the right track,” said Thomas D’Agostino, NNSA’s administrator. “NNSA has developed a tremendous amount of scientific and engineering expertise over the years, to maintain the reliability of the stockpile without underground nuclear tests. We are applying this knowledge to developing a replacement warhead that will be more secure, safer, more reliable and more efficient to maintain, and we embrace the ideas of continued study and peer review.”

The JASON Defense Advisory Group, an independent scientific panel of academics with expertise in nuclear physics and the nuclear weapons program, conducted the technical review of the RRW program. The report supported NNSA’s scientific approach, including activities to combine together information from the nation’s past underground tests, today’s current physics understanding, and new non-nuclear experiments in order to certify RRW without underground testing.

NNSA currently maintains aging Cold War-era, or “legacy,” nuclear weapons using highly sophisticated technology to ensure the reliability of these warheads. As various components age and need replacing, the characteristics of the weapon move further and further from the design originally certified with nuclear tests, making it increasingly difficult to certify their reliability.

RRW is a replacement warhead that would allow NNSA to improve the security features on its warheads to prevent their accidental or unauthorized use. Modernization and improved manufacturing techniques would significantly increase the weapon’s quality and production efficiency. The use of fewer hazardous materials would be safer for the weapon handlers, weapon facility operations, and the environment. The RRW would have the same military capabilities as the warhead it replaces.

The review panel, recognizing the challenge of assuring confidence in the RRW certification process without underground nuclear testing, made several recommendations intended to strengthen particular aspects of its development that will be fully considered as NNSA develops a certification plan. For instance, the role of peer review, which allows outside experts in the field to review work being done, is viewed as a critical element to the study. NNSA has a peer review process in place and fully endorses the panel’s recommendation to expand its role to facilitate more effective and rigorous assessments of not only a replacement warhead, but other major stockpile activities as well

In a July 2007 letter to Congress, the Secretaries of Defense, Energy and State stated that pursuit of the RRW program is critical to sustaining long-term confidence in the United States’ deterrent capability. They wrote that this was particularly true as the United States reduces its nuclear forces, the total number of weapons in the stockpile, and the size of the nuclear weapons complex.

Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; works to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad.

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