United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2001-12-07 monographic deposited born digital 13 p. GA 1.13:GAO-02-146R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-146R P0b002ee1803922e2 f:d02146r DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-146R machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-146R GAO-02-146R Agency missions Equipment maintenance Nuclear weapons Nuclear weapons testing Program evaluation Safety regulation B61 Bomb DOE Life Extension Program DOE Stockpile Stewardship Program NNSA Directed Stockpile Work Program NNSA Future Years Nuclear Security Program Correspondence A02548 In response to changes in the international climate in the late 1980's, the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Defense Programs altered its mission. Instead of designing, testing, and building new nuclear weapons, the Office's current mission--known as the Stockpile Stewardship Program--is to maintain the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile indefinitely without nuclear testing. The Office now performs this mission as part of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a semiautonomous agency within DOD. GAO found that NNSA's Office of Defense Programs is not developing a comprehensive stockpile life extension program plan as called for in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 because program officials were unsure of the need for such a plan, along the lines that the legislative requirement envisions. The Office believes their fiscal year 2002 budget submittal fulfills the spirit of the legislative requirement, and they have no current plans to complete a comprehensive plan for the stockpile life extension program, other than to again include certain high-level refurbishment-related information in the fiscal year 2003 budget request. The Office is taking steps to improve the planning processes for certain individual weapon life extension programs as well as their overall planning processes; however they have no plans to integrate the individual life extension plans into an overall program. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-146R/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-146R.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-146R/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-146R.pdf GAO-02-146R https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-146R Correspondence GAO-02-146R; Nuclear Weapons: Status of Planning for Stockpile Life Extension; Agency missions Equipment maintenance Nuclear weapons Nuclear weapons testing Program evaluation Safety regulation B61 Bomb DOE Life Extension Program DOE Stockpile Stewardship Program NNSA Directed Stockpile Work Program NNSA Future Years Nuclear Security Program