Department of Energy FY 2012 Congressional ... - The FIRE Place

Mission
The Weapons Activities appropriation maintains a nuclear security infrastructure of people, programs,
and facilities that provide specialized scientific, technical, and engineering capabilities for stewardship
of the nuclear weapons stockpile and other national security needs.
Benefits
Programs funded by the Weapons Activities appropriation benefit the nation by sustaining both the
nuclear weapons stockpile and a nuclear security enterprise that is capable of employing world-class
science, technology, and engineering capabilities on a broad array of national nuclear security priorities.
The nuclear security enterprise is composed of physical infrastructure and facilities, human resources,
and modern business processes which provide world-leading science, technology, and engineering
capabilities that serve not only as national security assets, but also as important educational and
community resources. While these are focused on nuclear weapons stewardship and maintenance of our
nuclear deterrent, they are strongly leveraged for broader national security mandates and scientific
innovation. Programs funded by the Weapons Activities appropriation are also integrated into the
nation’s homeland security structure through their support of safeguards and security and nuclear
counterterrorism and incident response.
Annual Performance Results and Targets
The Department is in the process of updating its strategic plan, and has been actively engaging
stakeholders including Congress. The draft strategic plan is being released for public comment
concurrent with this budget submission, with the expectation of official publication this spring. The
draft plan and FY 2012 budget are consistent and aligned. Updated measures will be released at a later
date and available at the following link http://www.mbe.doe.gov/budget/12budget/index.htm.
Major Outyear Priorities and Assumptions
The outyear requirements for the Weapons Activities total $33,956,288,000 for FY 2013 through
FY 2016. The Secretaries of DoD and DOE agree that it is necessary to extend the life of the existing
nuclear weapon systems, bolster the ST&E base, and modernize the supporting nuclear security
enterprise infrastructure. Accomplishing these goals, will require sustained investments over the long
term, as reflected in both the Future-Years Nuclear Security Program and the multi-year projections
presented in the FY 2011 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan.
Weapons Activities Appropriation
The FY 2012 request for this appropriation is $7,629,716,000, an increase over the FY 2011 request.
This level is sustained and then increased later in the outyears. Increased funding is requested for
programs in direct support of the nuclear weapons stockpile, for scientific, technical and engineering
activities related to maintenance, assessment and certification capabilities for the stockpile, and for
critical infrastructure improvements. Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan activities are funded
within this appropriation.
The FY 2012 funding level reflects a continuing ramp-up that began with the FY2011 request. This
continued ramp-up deviates from last year’s request which envisioned steady-state funding for the
preparatory work on major projects and activities in FY 2012 and FY 2013 to inform FY 2014 and
beyond. This path proved overly conservative and did not account for new requirements as (a) specified
in the NPR, (b) identified as the New START Treaty implications were better understood, and (c) our
Weapons Activities Overview FY 2012 Congressional Budget
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