§ 2521. Stockpile stewardship program

(a) Establishment The Secretary of Energy, acting through the Administrator, shall establish a stewardship program to ensure—

(1) the preservation of the core intellectual and technical competencies of the United States in nuclear weapons, including weapons design, system integration, manufacturing, security, use control, reliability assessment, and certification; and

(2) that the nuclear weapons stockpile is safe, secure, and reliable without the use of underground nuclear weapons testing.

(b) Program elements The program shall include the following:

(1) An increased level of effort for advanced computational capabilities to enhance the simulation and modeling capabilities of the United States with respect to the performance over time of nuclear weapons.

(2) An increased level of effort for above-ground experimental programs, such as hydrotesting, high-energy lasers, inertial confinement fusion, plasma physics, and materials research.

(3) Support for new facilities construction projects that contribute to the experimental capabilities of the United States, such as an advanced hydrodynamics facility, the National Ignition Facility, and other facilities for above-ground experiments to assess nuclear weapons effects.

(4) Support for the use of, and experiments facilitated by, the advanced experimental facilities of the United States, including—

(A) the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory;

(B) the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory;

(C) the Z Machine at Sandia National Laboratories; and

(D) the experimental facilities at the Nevada National Security Site.

(5) Support for the sustainment and modernization of facilities with production and manufacturing capabilities that are necessary to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile, including—

(A) the nuclear weapons production facilities; and

(B) production and manufacturing capabilities resident in the national security laboratories.

(Pub. L. 107–314, div. D, title XLII, § 4201, formerly Pub. L. 103–160, div. C, title XXXI, § 3138, Nov. 30, 1993, 107 Stat. 1946; Pub. L. 105–85, div. C, title XXXI, § 3152(e), Nov. 18, 1997, 111 Stat. 2042; renumbered Pub. L. 107–314, div. D, title XLII, § 4201, by Pub. L. 108–136, div. C, title XXXI, § 3141(e)(2), Nov. 24, 2003, 117 Stat. 1758; Pub. L. 111–84, div. C, title XXXI, § 3111, Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2702; Pub. L. 112–239, div. C, title XXXI, § 3131(b), (bb)(1)(C), Jan. 2, 2013, 126 Stat. 2180, 2185; Pub. L. 113–66, div. C, title XXXI, § 3146(c)(1), Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 1073.)

Codification

Codification

Section was formerly set out as a note under section 2121 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to renumbering by Pub. L. 108–136.

Amendments

Amendments

2013—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 113–66, § 3146(c)(1)(A), struck out “for Nuclear Security” after “Administrator” in introductory provisions.

Subsec. (b)(4)(D). Pub. L. 113–66, § 3146(c)(1)(B)(i), which directed substitution of “Nevada National Security Site” for “Nevada national security site”, could not be executed because the words “Nevada National Security Site” already appeared in text after the amendment by Pub. L. 112–239, § 3131(bb)(1)(C). See below.

Pub. L. 112–239, § 3131(bb)(1)(C), which directed substitution of “Nevada National Security Site” for “Nevada Test Site”, was executed by making the substitution for “Nevada test site”, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.

Subsec. (b)(5)(A) to (D). Pub. L. 113–66, § 3146(c)(1)(B)(ii)(I), added subpar. (A) and struck out former subpars. (A) to (D) which read as follows:

13“(A) the Pantex Plant;

13“(B) the Y–12 National Security Complex;

13“(C) the Kansas City Plant;

13“(D) the Savannah River Site; and”.

Subpar. (E) redesignated (B).

Subsec. (b)(5)(E). Pub. L. 113–66, § 3146(c)(1)(B)(ii)(II), redesignated subpar. (E) as (B).

Pub. L. 112–239, § 3131(b), struck out “(as defined in section 2471 of this title)” after “laboratories”.

2009—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 111–84, § 3111(a), amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “The Secretary of Energy shall establish a stewardship program to ensure the preservation of the core intellectual and technical competencies of the United States in nuclear weapons, including weapons design, system integration, manufacturing, security, use control, reliability assessment, and certification.”

Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 111–84, § 3111(b)(1), substituted “performance over time” for “detonation”.

Subsec. (b)(4), (5). Pub. L. 111–84, § 3111(b)(2), added pars. (4) and (5).

Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 111–84, § 3111(c), struck out subsec. (c). Text read as follows: “Of funds authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Energy for fiscal year 1994 for weapons activities, $157,400,000 shall be available for the stewardship program established under subsection (a).”

1997—Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 105–85, which directed amendment of this section by striking out subsecs. (d) and (e), redesignating subsecs. (f) to (h) as (d) to (f), respectively, and striking out “and the 60-day period referred to in subsection (e)(2)(A)(ii)” in subsec. (e), as so redesignated, was executed by striking out subsec. (d) which directed President to report to Congress, because this section did not contain subsecs. (e) to (g).

Miscellaneous

Plan for developing exascale computing and incorporating such computing into the stockpile stewardship program

Pub. L. 113–66, div. C, title XXXI, § 3129, Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 1066, provided that:

“(a)Plan Required.—The Administrator for Nuclear Security shall develop and carry out a plan to develop exascale computing and incorporate such computing into the stockpile stewardship program under section 4201 of the Atomic Energy Defense Act (50 U.S.C. 2521) during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 26, 2013].

“(b)Milestones.—The plan required by subsection (a) shall include major programmatic milestones in—

“(1) the development of a prototype exascale computer for the stockpile stewardship program; and

“(2) mitigating disruptions resulting from the transition to exascale computing.

“(c)Coordination With Other Agencies.—In developing the plan required by subsection (a), the Administrator shall coordinate, as appropriate, with the Under Secretary of Energy for Science, the Secretary of Defense, and elements of the intelligence community (as defined in section 3(4) of the National Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003(4))).

“(d)Inclusion of Costs in Future-Years Nuclear Security Program.—The Administrator shall—

“(1) address, in the estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations reflected in each future-years nuclear security program submitted under section 3253 of the National Nuclear Security Administration Act (50 U.S.C. 2453) during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the costs of—

“(A) developing exascale computing and incorporating such computing into the stockpile stewardship program; and

“(B) mitigating potential disruptions resulting from the transition to exascale computing; and

“(2) include in each such future-years nuclear security program a description of the costs of efforts to develop exascale computing borne by the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Office of Science of the Department of Energy, other Federal agencies, and private industry.

“(e)Submission to Congress.—The Administrator shall submit the plan required by subsection (a) to the congressional defense committees [Committees on Armed Services and Appropriations of the Senate and the House of Representatives] with each summary of the plan required by subsection (a) of section 4203 of the Atomic Energy Defense Act (50 U.S.C. 2523) submitted under subsection (b)(1) of that section during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

“(f)Exascale Computing Defined.—In this section, the term ‘exascale computing’ means computing through the use of a computing machine that performs near or above 10 to the 18th power floating point operations per second.”