Extending the life of B-61 nuclear weapons could cost $4 billion

Any spy who listened to the directors of the three national nuclear laboratories testify before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees could have gotten an advanced primer on the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and the stockpile of missile warheads and bombs.

The directors' prepared testimony and the National Nuclear Security Administration's Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan for fiscal 2011 were also made available.

For example, the B-61 bomb, the basic U.S. nuclear weapon stored in Europe for use by NATO forces, probably will not remain "as a vital weapon system through the decade" without completion of its life-extension program, according to Paul J. Hommert, director of the Sandia National Laboratories.

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