Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Proposal cuts test site budget by more than $23 million

WASHINGTON -- The Nevada Test Site budget next year would be cut by more than $23 million as the Bush administration revamps management of the nuclear weapons complex, according to a proposal sent Monday to Congress.

Most of the 6 percent cut in the Nevada Site Office that manages the test site results from the ongoing transfer of 125 jobs to Albuquerque, N.M., as part of a restructuring by the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The budget of the Nevada office would be reduced from $92.5 million this year to $70.6 million in 2005, under the budget proposal.

The restructuring is taking place as the government plans to increase spending to prepare for a possible resumption of nuclear weapons testing in Nevada.

The president is asking Congress for an increase to $30 million from $24 million to finish a three-year program to reduce the time needed to get the test site ready for testing if necessary.

There has not been a nuclear test at the test site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, since Sept. 23, 1992. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other administration officials have insisted there are no plans to resume testing.

The move to reduce the preparation time for tests resulted from the Nuclear Posture Review, a Bush administration report on how to deal with global threats.

The report concluded the current two- to three-year test readiness posture would be too long to address a serious defect in the nuclear weapons stockpile.

The administration is also requesting $27 million to continue research on a new earth-penetrating weapon known as a bunker buster. The test site may be used to test the weapon.

Also on Monday, the Nevada congressional delegation announced the test site has received a $13 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security.

The grant will be used to build a replica of a U.S. border. Security training will be provided to prevent a nuclear device such as a dirty bomb from entering the country.