1 The Energy Department is proposing an $81 billion, 20-year program to clean up and modernize the nation's troubled nuclear weapons production complex.
2 'The cost of modernization and environmental restoration will require a significant increase in funding for the next two decades,' said an Energy Department report for delivery to Congress.
3 The $81 billion total includes $52 billion to modernize outdated facilities, some of which are more than 30 years old, while $29 billion would go toward efforts to deal with radioactive and chemical contamination at many sites throughout the weapons complex.
4 The long-range plan would involve building new facilities in South Carolina and Idaho as well as phasing out weapons production activities in Washington state, Colorado and Ohio.
5 The Energy Department has refused to release any portions of the classified document, known as the '2010 Report' because it looks ahead as far as the 2010 fiscal year.
6 Gail Bradshaw, deputy chief spokesman for the department, said this week the department could not release the report's unclassified executive summary until it had received permission to do so from the National Security Council.
7 A copy of the summary was obtained by Morris News Service and made available to The Associated Press.
8 Energy Secretary John S. Herrington said Dec. 22 the next administration faces 'hard choices' in dealing with the problems of the nuclear weapons complex.
9 He told a National Press Club audience that cannibalization of some warheads to build or upgrade others is something 'we must look at to keep our options open.'
10 But Herrington added, 'I do not anticipate the need' to resort to such methods.
11 The possibility of cannibalizing warheads was raised after safety and equipment problems closed the nation's three reactors for producing tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.
12 Because tritium decays at a rate of 5.5 percent a year, it needs to be regularly replenished to keep warheads at peak explosive power.
13 Herrington has said it will be spring or summer before any of the three reactors at the Savannah River Plant near Aiken, S.C., can be restarted.
14 The 2010 Report raises questions about whether the Savannah River reactors can be brought back to efficient production of tritium.
15 It noted that 'all three reactors are shut down for safety system improvements and are not expected to be fully operational until late 1989.
16 Despite these improvements and increasingly extensive maintenance, the reactors may not be able to achieve acceptable production efficiencies.'
17 Other key findings of the report: -The nuclear weapons complex must be modernized so nuclear deterrence can continue to be a vital element of U.S. security policy.
18 -Operations of the complex will require environmental, safety and health remedial actions and a program to ensure that its operations comply with applicable laws, standards and regulations.
19 -Much of the nuclear weapons complex was constructed more than 30 years ago, and many facilities are approaching the end of their useful lives.
20 -Full funding for the modernization and environmental cleanup effort will probably be difficult to achieve, in view of competition with other programs.
21 The report said that while the budget for fiscal 1990 will be 'generally consistent' with the plan, accomplishing all recommendations on schedule probably will require more resources than are now expected to be available in subsequent years.
22 -'Major environmental restoration' will be required at the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver, the Hanford Reservation near Richland, Wash., and the Feed Materials Production Center in Fernald, Ohio, when nuclear weapons activities there are either relocated or terminated.
23 As an interim measure, certain upgrade steps will be required at the Rocky Flats Plant to maintain operations 'at an acceptable level of risk' while the relocated facilities are being constructed.
24 -New production reactors are slated for the Savannah River Plant and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.
25 DOE has proposed building a heavy water reactor at Savannah River and a gas-cooled reactor at the Idaho facility.
26 -Both the administration and Congress recognize the need for the modernization and cleanup program, and 'expeditious implementation' of the proposed plan is recommended, the report summary said.

The $ 81 billion total includes $ 52 billion to modernize outdated facilities , some of which are more than 30 years old , while $ 29 billion would go toward efforts to deal with radioactive and chemical contamination at many sites throughout the weapons complex .
years
are there any risks for it being so old?