U.S. to spend $1 trillion on nuclear weapons over next decade

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Axios

5 hours ago


It's going to cost nearly $1 trillion to operate, maintain and upgrade America's nuclear arsenal over the next decade — more per year ($95 billion) than what's spent on many federal agencies.

Why it matters: That eye-popping estimate from the Congressional Budget Office is catnip for critics, who argue Washington is spending blindly or that portions of the triad are vestigial.

Driving the news: The combined 2025-34 nuke plans of the Defense and Energy departments amount to $946 billion.

In what have been a few wild days for the nuke-watching world — including India-Pakistan clashes and the U.S. Air Force saying it needs new silos for its already delayed and over-budget Sentinel missiles — the dollar figures jump out.

What they're saying: "The huge expenses tallied in this report were not anticipated at the outset of the nuclear modernization program," said Greg Mello, the director of Los Alamos Study Group, which monitors National Nuclear Security Administration sites and activities.

"There will be no return to the 'heroic mode of production' for nuclear weapons," he added.

"Even if Congress dumped $100 or $200 billion more on nuclear weapons, the system that produces them would not 'jump to the task' for years, if at all."

Read more: https://www.axios.com/2025/05/14/nuke-spending-cbo-report-criticism

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Cut a trillion for services that help keep people alive and healthy in order to pay for things that kill people.