On the radar: Boomer budget bulge; Force-feeding missile defense; More sanctions; Palmetto plutonium pork; Hanford leaks; ICBM wing shortcomings; and Oak Ridge activists face up to 20-years in prison.

May 9, 2013 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke

Staggering - The biggest problem in the Navy’s shipbuilding plan is its program to build 12 new “staggeringly expensive” nuclear-armed submarines. “To fit SSBN(X) in the budget the Navy either needs nearly $20 billion a year for new ships – almost twice the current figure – or must cut back every other program,” writes Sydney Freedberg for Breaking Defense.

--The Navy aspires to bring the cost for each of its 12 subs from $7 billion to $4.9 billion. But “that by itself does not bring the shipbuilding plan within the reach of affordability,” said Sean Stackley, the Navy’s Assistant Secretary for Procurement. Full story here. http://bit.ly/ZRBZMS [1]

Extra cash not needed - Congressional Republicans are looking to throw an additional $250 million at a proposal to build a missile defense site on the East Coast. When asked by Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) if the extra cash would be of use for the Missile Defense Agency’s work on the site, MDA Director Vice Adm. James Syring said, “Not at this time.” Global Security Newswire has the story. http://bit.ly/17OrOu8 [2]

Welcome to Early Warning - Subscribe to our morning email [3] or follow us on twitter [4].

--Have a tip or feedback for the editor? Email earlywarning@ploughshares.org earlywarning@ploughshares.org [5]. Want to support this work? Click here [6].

Sanctions du jour - “Senate Bill Would Halt Iran’s Access to an Estimated $100 Billion in Cash” by Rick Gladstone in The New York Times. http://nyti.ms/12iNxXD [7]

Plutonium pork - The troubled Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication project (MOX) in South Carolina has seen its cost estimate spike from about $1 billion in 2002 to the most recent estimate of $7.7 billion. Shocked at its own program, the Department of Energy is seeking a pause in construction for the project in order to consider alternatives - an action that incensed South Carolina’s congressional delegation.

--”This is old-fashioned pork-barrel politics at its most fundamental: two senators trying to secure a gravy train of federal funding for their home state by keeping alive a project so flawed that even its sponsor and formerly biggest defender, DOE, appears poised to abandon it,” writes Ed Lyman in profile of the program and its politics. Full post at All Things Nuclear. http://bit.ly/143HirS [8]

Oh my goodness - How out of control is the MOX program? Here is an actual exchange between Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Acting NNSA Administrator Neile Miller in a recent budget hearing.

--SEN. GRAHAM: Now we've got about a $2 billion cost overrun. Is that correct?
MS. MILLER: Oh no. It's much larger than $2 billion.
SEN. FEINSTEIN: It's huge.
SEN. GRAHAM: Are you sure?
MS. MILLER: Well, the estimate a year ago was that the cost to -- the full cost of construction would be about $4 billion. We are now entertaining a baseline change proposal from the contractor for nearly $8 billion.
SEN. FEINSTEIN: Oh my goodness.
SEN. GRAHAM: Is that right? The last numbers we were given were around 6 (billion dollars). Let's say it's -- let's say it's 8 (billion dollars). We're saying it's 6 (billion dollars).
SEN. FEINSTEIN: (Off mic.)
SEN. GRAHAM: Yeah. Yeah. Let's just -- let's just live on the edge here. linkhttp://bit.ly/130401H [9]

Nuclear waste - “Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup Plant May Be Too Dangerous: Safety issues make plans to clean up a mess left over from the construction of the U.S. nuclear arsenal uncertain.” Story by Valerie Brown for Scientific American. http://bit.ly/16jR0ut [10]

ICBM wing failings - In a hearing yesterday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that recent inspection failings from ICBM officers “could not be more disturbing.” Responding to questions, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh noted that the issue was “more an attitude problem than a proficiency problem” and praised the actions taken by the commanding officers to send missileers back for training. “I like the way [the commanding officers] responded...They’re not willing to accept that, which is what I pay them for.” Aaron Mehta at Defense News has the story. http://bit.ly/15O60RO [11]

Tweet - @SchwartzCNS [12]: Two months before "rot" was found in the ICBM ranks at Minot AFB, USAF's "Airman" magazine profiled its missileers. http://bit.ly/10tXUWT [13]

Y-12 break-in - Three peace activists have been convicted for damage they caused while breaking into the Y-12 nuclear facility. The three - include 83-year old nun Megan Rice - face up to 20 years in prison. BBC News has the story. http://bbc.in/YwD7Es [14]

Tweet - @ctbto_alerts [15]: 62 yrs ago today: 1st-ever thermonuclear test 'George', >10 more powerful than Hiroshima bomb http://t.co/1zRdMvh9g4 [16]

Events:

--Senate Armed Services subcommittee hearing on Ballistic Missile Defense Policies and Programs with Madelyn Creedon, Michael Gilmore, Lt. Gen. Richard Formica, Vice. Adm. James Syring and Cristina Chaplain. May 9th at 2:30pm. Webcast here. http://1.usa.gov/100okE1 [17]

--”Perspectives on Nuclear Deterrence, Arms Control and the Triad” Breakfast talk with Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT). May 14th from 8:00-9:00 am. RSVP here. http://conta.cc/162LaOe [18]