Congress Uneasy as Nuclear Costs Multiply

On the radar: Putting the brakes on nuclear budgets; “All options” includes diplomacy; Combating nuclear smuggling; Preventing nuclear terror; Woolsey and Payne don’t like CTBT; A Senate hold on US-South Korea relations; and Doing less harm with Pakistan.

September 8, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Mary Kaszynski

Funds drop for CMRR as costs hike - The Senate Appropriations committee approved $240 million - from a requested $300 million - for Los Alamos’ expensive new Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility. The House bill has $200 million for CMRR.

--Senate committee’s main concern: “new cost estimates for the [CMRR and UPF] are two to three times more than previous estimates and constructions for these two facilities alone may exceed $12 billion over the next decade.” John Fleck has the story and a copy of the bill. http://ow.ly/6oLLs

"All Options" on Iran Must Include Diplomacy - Iran’s recent proposal to allow IAEA experts full, if temporary, access to their nuclear program has been met with some skepticism from The Washington Post. Regardless of how the Iran proposal plays out, renewed diplomacy is the right approach, argues Jamal Abdi. http://ow.ly/6oMRc

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Nuclear security in a new age - Nuclear black markets are still thriving, particularly in Georgia, Singapore, and Dubai. John Shiffman of the Philadelphia Inquirer takes an inside look into NNSA’s anti-smuggling efforts. http://ow.ly/6nTch

Preventing a Nuclear 9/11 in three easy steps - Getting serious about nuclear terrorism will require a global acknowledgement of the threat, investments in nonproliferation program, and ending production of fissile materials. Alexandra Toma guest blogs for Ploughshares. http://ow.ly/6oKJB

Early Tweet - @ali_gharib: “Remember when Iran used to cooperate with US goals and wanted to seriously engage? Ahh, the early 2000s... http://tinyurl.com/3cygezb

James Woolsey and Keith Payne still don’t like arms control - This week’s opposition: the test ban. In a nutshell, “CTBT cannot stop the pace of lethal proliferation or the development of future threats that we may be compelled to confront, but its ratification could create a significant legal obstacle to our ability to counter new threats.” They infer that an option to test nuclear weapons adds to deterrence, while somehow ignoring questions of arms race stability. http://ow.ly/6oMO3

--For a point-by-point briefer on why CTBT is in the U.S. national security interest, see “Sorting CTBT Fact From Fiction” from the Arms Control Association. http://ow.ly/6oOmP

What Seoul wants, GOP blocks - An unknown (GOP) Senator has a hold on the confirmation of Sung Kim as U.S. Ambassador to South Korea. Seoul welcomes the nomination, especially at a time when it seeks to re-engage dialogues with North Korea and provide food aid.

--However, several Senate Republicans seem to be using the hold to get commitments that the U.S. will not engage in bilateral talks with North Korea or extend food aid - contradicting the policies of ally South Korea. Ploughshares’ Paul Carroll asks, why are some senators putting their ideological beliefs ahead of U.S. relations with a key ally? http://ow.ly/6oJUD

Overhauling U.S.-Pakistan policy - As the U.S. begins to drawdown in Afghanistan, it gives opportunity to revise U.S. policy toward Pakistan. To improve security with Pakistan, George Perkovich calls for the U.S. to “stop enabling Pakistan’s dysfunctional actors” and work with Pakistan to build a more peaceful democracy. Read the full report here (PDF). http://ow.ly/6nSwC

--Carneigie hosts the report launch tomorrow at noon. http://ow.ly/6o8T2

Event: Arms Control and the Reset - Assistant Secretary Rose Gottemoeller gives opening remarks on a discussion about “Moving the Arms Control Agenda Forward” at a conference sponsored by the Atlantic Council and U.S. Army War College. Discussants include Richard Burt, Stephen Blank, and Simon Lunn (tbc). Details here. http://ow.ly/6oQjE