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Article Highlights Energy Secretary-designate Steven Chu's most daunting challenge may be reforming the department. Energy's existing structure isn't well-suited to ushering in a new energy future for the country. Only by completely restructuring the department can real change in this area be made. As a Nobel laureate in physics and a respected advocate for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Steven Chu, President-elect Barack Obama's choice for energy secretary, appears to be well suited to carrying out Obama's pledge to generate new green energy jobs and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. But among Chu's most daunting challenges will be reforming the Energy Department itself. Created in 1977 in response to oil disruptions, Energy has done little since to stem the country's burgeoning energy problems. With about 5.5 percent of the world's population, the United States consumes more oil than any other nation, three-fourths of which comes from foreign sources. And as U.S. energy dependence has worsened, its greenhouse gas emissions have grown worse as well--increasing by 17 percent since 1990--accelerating potentially disastrous climate change.

Record of Decision for the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement--Tritium Research and Development, Flight Test Operations, and Major Environmental Test Facilities AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. [[Page 77657]] ACTION: Record of Decision. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is issuing this Record of Decision (ROD) for the continued transformation of the nuclear weapons complex (Complex). This ROD is based on information and analyses contained in the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SPEIS) (DOE/EIS-0236-S4) issued on October 24, 2008 (73 FR 63460); comments received on the SPEIS; and other factors, including costs, technical and security considerations, and the missions of NNSA. The SPEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for transforming the nuclear weapons complex into a smaller, more efficient enterprise that can respond to changing national security challenges and ensure the long-term safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile.

Record of Decision for the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement--Operations Involving Plutonium, Uranium, and the Assembly and Disassembly of Nuclear Weapons AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy. ACTION: Record of decision. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is issuing this Record of Decision (ROD) for the continued transformation of the nuclear weapons complex (Complex). This ROD is based on information and analyses contained in the Complex Transformation Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (SPEIS) (DOE/EIS-0236-S4) issued on October 24, 2008 (73 FR 63460); comments received on the SPEIS; other NEPA analyses as noted; and other factors, including cost, technical and security considerations, and the missions of NNSA. The SPEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for transforming the nuclear weapons complex into a smaller, more efficient enterprise that can respond to changing national security challenges and ensure the long-term safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile.

The Energy Department gave final approval Tuesday to a program to limit the most dangerous nuclear material to five sites, improving safety and security, and consolidating management of the country's nuclear weapons. The proposals to scale back the nuclear weapons complex and its activities had been in the works for more than a year. They reflect the significant decline in the number of warheads being maintained and an expectation of further reductions. Thomas D'Agostino, head of the department's National Nuclear Security Administration, said the consolidation will "improve the safety and security of the infrastructure that maintains U.S. nuclear weapons" as nuclear material is consolidated and facilities are modernized.

Elected officials weighed in today on the final step in the Bush adminstration's planning for transformation of the nuclear weapons complex. Here are comments released from offices of U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp (all Republicans): Alexander: "Completion of the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 will help reduce the footprint of our nuclear processing operations from 150 acres to 15 acres and save $200 million a year in security costs. Updating the facilities at Y-12 is both fiscally responsible and necessary for national security and it will help keep Tennessee at the forefront of leadership in science and technology."

Tri-Valley CAREs Charges Department is "Locking in" Provocative Nuclear Weapons Decisions in Waning Days of Bush Administration; Calls on Government to Downsize Weapons Complex, Prioritize Removal of Bomb-making Materials from Livermore Lab LIVERMORE - In Federal Register notices published today, the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued two legally-binding authorizations, called Records of Decision (RODs), to revitalize and rebuild the nuclear weapons complex, at Livermore Lab in California and other sites across the country.

The Energy Department moved ahead Thursday on further restricting the nation's most dangerous nuclear material, part of a plan to scale back and modernize management of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. The department gave preliminary approval to an environmental impact study on the consolidation program, which includes limiting plutonium and highly enriched uranium to just five sites, compared with seven today. The government also would close 600 buildings and structures at the facilities and reduce the number of workers involved in weapons programs by 20 to 30 percent.

WASHINGTON (May 7, 2008) - A House Armed Services Committee subcommittee today will kick off the debate over the future of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, the infrastructure used to design, build and maintain the thousands of nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal. The subcommittee will review a Department of Energy (DOE) revitalization plan that would dramatically increase the complex's ability to produce new nuclear weapons.

"Realizing that there is mounting doubt on the Hill in the wisdom of spending billions of dollars on four new buildings for the creation of new components for nuclear weapons, the directors of three national laboratories are going on the offensive. As Politico reports, the directors of Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories have challenged the findings, and frankly, the credibility, of one of the most independent and respected technical expert groups, JASON. Last year, JASON found that the life of the nation's nuclear warheads, including plutonium pits and HEU (highly enriched uranium) secondaries, can be extended safely and certifiably for decades without replacement."

"The Obama administration, seeking to bolster congressional support for the new strategic arms treaty with Russia, plans to spend $180 billion over the next decade to upgrade the nation's nuclear weapons complex, keep warheads capable and modernize strategic delivery systems, according to documents delivered Thursday to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. With Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates scheduled to testify in support of the treaty next week, the administration sent lawmakers the treaty package, including a classified report that lays out in detail its program to sustain "a strong nuclear deterrent for the duration of the new START treaty and beyond." "