WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) released its Enterprise Blueprint, a 25-year plan to align the delivery of specialized infrastructure with demands across the nuclear stockpile, global security, and naval nuclear propulsion missions. The Blueprint prioritizes capabilities for mission delivery and takes a practical approach to becoming a more balanced, responsive, and resilient enterprise.
The Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE) has served the United States remarkably well through the Manhattan Project, Cold War, and post-Cold War eras even during periods of significant change. Today, rapid geopolitical and technological changes impact the strategic environment and place new demands on the NSE to increase capability and capacity and respond more quickly. The United States can no longer rely on decades-old production facilities and science and technology infrastructure to meet deterrence needs.
“This enterprise has managed to accomplish a lot with aging facilities but needs significant infrastructure investments to meet mission demands today and into the future,” said Jill Hruby, Under Secretary for Nuclear Security of the U.S. Department of Energy and Administrator of NNSA. “With this Blueprint, we offer a thorough, holistic, and time-phased roadmap towards ensuring NNSA can continue to effectively address nuclear security in a rapidly changing world.”
The Blueprint outlines a path to re-establish eliminated capabilities; replace buildings that are failing; and meet modern safety, security, and environmental standards. It reflects the need for adaptable infrastructure for a global security landscape influenced by science and technology prowess alongside evolving deterrence strategies. Under the Blueprint, the NSE will continuously invest in both the production and science infrastructure that support weapons design, manufacture, certification, and assessment.
Initially, the investments are weighted toward critical investments to sustain the current stockpile and restoring production capabilities for modernizing weapons. As production and stockpile sustainment capabilities are restored, investments increase to revitalize the scientific base to achieve the necessary balance needed in a dynamic environment. Further out in time, important investments in global security and naval nuclear propulsion require higher priority. Together, these investments will modernize NSE facilities and technologies and provide the capacity the mission needs in a timely manner.
In a dynamic global environment, effective, efficient, and safe delivery on mission mandates is vital to American and international security.
The Enterprise Blueprint can be found here.