[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3600]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 610. Mr. GRAHAM submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2020 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle B of title XXXI, add the following:

     SEC. 3116. MODIFICATION TO CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO 
                   PLUTONIUM PIT PRODUCTION CAPACITY.

       (a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:
       (1) In testimony before the Committee on Armed Services of 
     the Senate on February 26, 2019, General John Hyten, 
     Commander of United States Strategic Command, stated, ``The 
     highest NNSA infrastructure priority is re-establishing a 
     plutonium pit production and fabrication capacity to meet 
     deterrent requirements. Our national requirement, supported 
     by numerous studies and analyses, requires no fewer than 80 
     war-reserve pits per year by 2030. I support the NNSA plan to 
     achieve this.''.
       (2) At a press briefing on May 10, 2019, Under Secretary of 
     Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord stated, 
     ``We need 30 plutonium pits by 2026 for GBSD, and we need to 
     get 80 pits per year by 2030.''.
       (3) The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review stated that a delay 
     beyond 2030 in reaching the capacity to produce 80 plutonium 
     pits per year ``would result in the need for a higher rate of 
     pit production at higher cost''.
       (4) The National Nuclear Security Administration has 
     proposed to meet this requirement by continuing to expand 
     infrastructure at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, 
     New Mexico, which will remain the Plutonium Center of 
     Excellence, while building additional capacity at the 
     Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina.
       (b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate 
     that--
       (1) rebuilding a robust plutonium pit production 
     infrastructure is critical to maintaining the viability of 
     the nuclear stockpile;
       (2) that effort will require cooperation from experts at 
     the Savannah River Site, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and 
     across the nuclear security enterprise; and
       (3) any further delay to planning and design for the full 
     plutonium pit production enterprise will result in 
     unacceptable capability gap for future stockpile stewardship 
     efforts.
       (c) Modification to Requirements.--Section 4219 of the 
     Atomic Energy Defense Act (50 U.S.C. 2538a) is amended--
       (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (5) and 
     inserting the following:
       ``(5) during 2030, produces not less than 80 war reserve 
     plutonium pits.'';
       (2) by striking subsection (b);
       (3) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections 
     (b) and (c), respectively;
       (4) in subsection (b), as redesignated by paragraph (2), by 
     striking ``2027 (or, if the authority under subsection (b) is 
     exercised, 2029)'' and inserting ``2030''; and
       (5) in subsection (c), as redesignated by paragraph (2), by 
     striking ``subsection (c)'' and inserting ``subsection (b)''.
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