B53时代的结束；Continuation of the Spin Era

凯蒂·科滕（Katie Colten）和汉斯·克里斯滕森（Hans Kristensen）

[Modifed] Today, one of the largest weapons in the United States nuclear weapons arsenal, the B53, will be dismantled at thePantex Plantin Amarillo, Texas. Developed during the Cold War and deployed in 1962, this bomb weighs as much as a minivan and has an explosive yield of nine megatons, equivalent to 750 Hiroshima bombs.

Retired from the arsenal in 1997, the dismantlement of the B53 marks the end of the era of large, multi-megaton bombs, a hallmark of the Cold War. The largest-yield warhead in the U.S. stockpile today is the B83 bomb, which has a maximum yield of 1.2 Megatons.

Administration officials have been busy spinning the dismantlement as proof of the administration’s commitment to nuclear disarmament and as vindication of its plan to spend billions of extra dollars to modernize the nuclear weapons production complex.

In a陈述发表在国家诊断ear Security Administration (NNSA) web site, Daniel Poneman, the deputy secretary of energy, said that the B53 dismantlement “is a major accomplishment that has made the world safer,” and that “safely [sic] and securely dismantling surplus weapons is a critical step along the road to achieving President Obama’s vision of a world without nuclear weapons.”

“The elimination of the B53 is a significant milestone in our efforts to reduce the number of nuclear weapons and implement President Obama’s nuclear security agenda,” said Thomas D’Agostino, head of NNSA. “Today, we’re moving beyond the Cold War nuclear weapons complex that built it and toward a 21st century Nuclear Security Enterprise.”

If the B53 dismantlement indeed “is a major accomplishment that has made the world safer” and “a critical step along the road to achieving President Obama’s vision of a world without nuclear weapons,” as Boneman says, one might ask why it took 13 years to dismantle the weapon after it was retired in 1997? One reason is that dismantlement is not the priority at the Pantex Plant, which is busy with full-scale production of the W76-1 warhead for U.S. and British sea-launched ballistic missiles, as well as surveillance and repair of the warheads in the “enduring stockpile.”

Warhead Dismantlements

我们当然祝贺政府最终拆除旧的B53，但不应超越成就。B53拆除涉及少于50弹头；美国大约有8,500枚完整的弹头（计数库存和拆除队列的弹头）。奥巴马政府领导下的弹头拆除，继续遵循布什政府设定的低利率标准。当前的拆除率是秘密的（尽管过去的历史has been declassified），但根据我的估计，每年只有300-400枚弹头）与1990年代每年拆除1000多个弹头的速度相比。而且，似乎没有缺乏退休的弹头等待拆除：超过3,000（根据我的估计；官方数字也是秘密）。以目前的速度，直到2022年退休的弹头积压将被拆除。2009年后退休的额外弹头将进一步将完成日期推向未来。

拆除绩效是证明美国对不扩散和解除武装承诺的重要方法，但较低的利率和保密性破坏了这一重要努力。旋转也是如此。当D'Agostino在2009年5月说，自2006年以来的拆除率上升了150％以上时，他没有说它将在2009年下降一半。NNSA也没有宣布降低。政府不要挑选好消息并将坏事隐藏在保密之后，而应透露实际数字并让他们自己说话。

弹头安全

We also agree that it is good to get rid of an unsafe weapon. But since NNSA points to the importance of safety, one should not gloss over the fact that consecutive administrations allowed the B53 to remain in the stockpileeven though they knew full well that it was unsafe。里根政府退休了B53，但决定于1987年to return the weapon to the stockpile to stand alert against Soviet underground facilities. After a review in 1991 found the B53 to be unsafe, DOE “strongly recommended” 1993年，国防部将武器在“最早的日期”中退休。然而，B53战争允许在库存中呆四年，直到1997年被新任务接管B61-11nuclear earth penetrator.

The B53 is not the only case of safety being overruled by targeting requirements. The W62 warhead, the last of whichwas dismantledin August 2010, was deployed on the Minuteman III ICBMs through 2009,即使弹头比B53的安全性较低(D versus C-, according to a1991 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory study）。W62安全豁免更加惊人，因为携带弹头的洲际弹道机队高度警惕，这是1991年B53的结局。

Even though it was found to be more unsafe than the B53 bomb, the W62 warhead (seen here at Warren Air Force Base in 2009) was allowed to continue to arm Minuteman III ICBMs on alert until 2009.

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核资金

As for the B53 dismantlement being used to justify funding the modernization of the nuclear weapons complex, that claim is certainly a stretch given the dismantlement was done using the “old” complex; the modernized complex is not scheduled to come online until the mid-2020s, at which point the current backlog of retired nuclear warheads will be gone. NNSA’s nuclear weapons budget has already been increased by 10 percent over the Bush administration, and the latest Stockpile Stewardship and Management Planshows政府计划再增加10％。该资金水平与当前的财政现实不相容，而B53旋转的数量都无法改变这一事实。

News Clips:

Oct 26:今日美国, “U.S.-made ‘monster’ nuclear warhead B53 dismantled”
Oct 25:美联社,“US’s most powerful nuclear bomb being dismantled”
Oct 25:国家公共广播 - 所有考虑,“被拆除的冷战炸弹”
Oct 25:Agence France-Presse,“我们。拆除最后一次冷战核弹”
Oct 25:英国有线,“Last Nuclear ‘Monster Weapon’ Gets Dismantled”
Oct 25:每日邮报（英国）,“Dismantling the mega-nuke: America begins to take apart B53 that was 600 times more powerful than bomb that flattened Hiroshima”
Oct 25:gawker,“Goodnight Sweet ‘Monster Weapon'”

More Information:

2010年10月:fasStrategic Security Blog,“Scrapping the Unsafe Nuke”
2005:nukestrat.com, “里根政府决定保留B53”
2005年4月：Nukestrat.com，“”The Birth of a Nuclear Bomb: B61-11”
December 1991:Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,“Assessment of the Safety of U.S. Nuclear Weapons and Related Nuclear Test Requirements: A Post-Bush Initiative Update”

This publication was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York and Ploughshares Fund. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author.