WASHINGTON -- The acting chief of the agency that runs the Nevada Test Site would not rule out Tuesday layoffs in Nevada as the Department of Energy modernizes the nation's nuclear weapons complex.

Last week, the National Nuclear Security Administration released a report that said the square footage and number of workers in the nuclear weapons complex, which includes the test site, could be reduced by as much as one-third each by the year 2030.

"It's hard for me to say right now whether there's a job impact (in Nevada)," said Thomas D'Agostino, acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

"What I can say with a ... degree of certainty is that the nuclear weapons complex 20 years from now needs to look different than what it looks like right now," he said. "Right now, it's too big; it's too inefficient."

But D'Agostino said the test site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is on 1,300 square miles of desert "where the government can do different types of activities in a way that doesn't impact people and has a minimal impact on the environment."

He made his comments while briefing reporters Tuesday on the National Nuclear Security Administration budget request for 2008.

D'Agostino succeeded Linton Brooks, who was forced to resign last month by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman for management lapses that included a security breach at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The budget request for operations at the Nevada Test Site for fiscal year 2008 is $268 million, down 6 percent from last year's request of $286 million and 14 percent less than $311 million approved by Congress two years ago.

As for the Nevada management office, the agency is seeking $105 million in fiscal year 2008, more than 10 percent less than last year's request of $117 million and almost 20 percent less than Congress approved two years ago.

The budget request includes $81.1 million for environmental management at the test site, which is $1.4 million higher than last year's request but $3 million less than Congress approved two years ago.

Martin Schoenbauer, the agency's acting deputy administrator for defense programs, followed D'Agostino's remarks by saying the test site will remain an important part of the nuclear weapons complex.

One of the key elements of the modernization plan, which is called Complex 2030, is to eliminate the duplication of capabilities within the weapons complex, Schoenbauer said.

"As we need to replace or consolidate experimental capability, Nevada is an optimum site to do that for a wide variety of reasons. One (is the test site's) possessing the capability to do that, and the other is the boundary of what you can do there," Schoenbauer said.

He said the agency could resume nuclear tests at the test site within 24 months if necessary and will not seek any money to improve test readiness in 2008.

Last year, the agency requested $14.75 million.

"We have high confidence that we could meet that test window," Schoenbauer said.

"The question is what are the requirements for the future, and we're trying to work and make sure that we fully understand what the expectations are of us before we go too much further on that program," he said.

Last year, the National Nuclear Security Administration abandoned plans to reduce test readiness to as little as 18 months after Congress refused to provide sufficient funding.