Continued production of replacement parts, including the warheads' plutonium cores, would allow for necessary maintenance.
Indeed, the United States is in the process of investing billions of dollars -- as much as $1 trillion over 30 years -- to rebuild its whole nuclear arsenal, "including the warheads, and the missiles, planes and submarines that carry them," according to Stephen Young of Union of Concerned Scientists, writing at Defense One.
A physicist who trained under Enrico Fermi, he helped build the world's first reactor, flew alongside the Enola Gay when it dropped its devastating load on Hiroshima and headed Los Alamos' weaponry division during a prolific postwar period when the lab developed many new weapons, including the thermonuclear warhead for the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile.
Such reductions would substantially reduce nuclear dangers and costs, including the risk of a warhead being accidentally launched or stolen as Russia's military infrastructure decays.
The government's review of the future of the Trident submarine nuclear missile system is likely to suggest a significant downgrading of the UK's nuclear deterrent, including the possibility of locking the warheads "in a cupboard" for delayed launch only after several weeks of mounting international tension.
Strategic warheads, including the 4,000 or so that President Bush and President Vladimir Putin have agreed to retire from service, tend to be stored in hard-to-reach places, fenced and heavily guarded, and their whereabouts are not advertised.
They are not only concerned about Iran's claimed advances in its own missile technology, but say they suspect that Iran may be working on weaponizing its uranium supply, including the development of nuclear warheads for missiles.
Pantex does assembly and repair of warheads, including the high-explosive "lenses" needed to compress nuclear material to a density where it will sustain a chain reaction.
In their view, the failure of a single inspection does not mean the United States should stop pressing the North Koreans about suspect installations, including the building suspected of housing warhead components.
