Nuclear Weapons Issues & The Accelerating Arms Race: August 2025

Nuclear Weapons Budget:

• NNSA’s detailed budget was finally released, the latest ever. $2.8 billion is for “plutonium modernization” (i.e., pit production) projects, of which $1.8 billion for LANL. The Lab’s nuclear weapons programs are having a full billion dollars added to them for FY 2026 (which begins this October 1) on top of the $4 billion they already have. The Lab’s $6 billion FY 2026 budget is now 84% nuclear weapons. Meanwhile cleanup and nonproliferation programs are being cut by 5% and renewable energy research completely eliminated.

• Over for the next four years the “reconciliation” bill adds another $750 million for plutonium modernization (mostly at SRS) and $1 billion “to accelerate the construction of National Nuclear Security Administration facilities.”

• The House approved the Defense Appropriations Act with a total of $831.5 billion, which is flat compared to the Fiscal Year 2025 enacted level. But the reconciliation bill added heavily to it, pushing military spending past a trillion in one year. There was substantial added funding for “modernization” of the nuclear triad: the B-21 Raider, Columbia Class Submarine, Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N) and Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, plus ~$13 billion for the unworkable and destabilizing “Golden Dome.”

• House and Senate approved their respective budget resolutions but still have to reconcile them. Both have $4 trillion in tax cuts for the rich paid for in part by $2 trillion in cuts in domestic programs, with Medicaid being the single biggest target. They also have an additional $300 billion toward new military and border security spending.  The budget resolution is not legally binding so it’s not completely clear how it gets implemented should there be a Continuing Resolution (CR) for the entire FY 2025.

Nuclear Weapons Update:

A draft Plutonium pit production programmatic environmental impact statement is expected to be released next year in early 2026.

Accelerating Arms Race

Iran Warns It Could Exit Nuclear Treaty if Europe Reimposes Sanctions

A top Iranian official warned on Wednesday that Iran could withdraw from a key nuclear nonproliferation treaty if Europe followed through on its threats to reimpose sanctions on Tehran. The remarks, from Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, came during a rare on-the-record briefing with reporters in New York, where he was attending meetings at the United Nations. Mr. Gharibabadi laid out his country’s positions on a range of issues, setting the stage for nuclear talks with European counterparts in Istanbul on Friday.

US nuclear weapons ‘on UK soil’ for first time in 17 years

The US has stationed nuclear weapons in Britain for the first time in nearly 20 years for potential deployment on a new squadron of British jets, analysts have said. A transport plane was tracked on Thursday during a ten-hour flight from Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, the US Air Force’s main nuclear storage site, to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk. Analysts said that the route taken by the C-17 transport looked like a “one-way drop-off” and meant that it was likely that the UK was hosting US nuclear weapons for the first time since 2008.

Germany’s Call for French Nuclear Protection Gets Reality Check

In February, the man who would become Germany’s new chancellor said the U.S. could no longer be trusted to defend his country and he would seek the protection of French and British nuclear arsenals. Five months later, the talks between Berlin and Paris about expanding the scope of France’s deterrent against Russia’s growing aggression are shaping up as an evolution, not a revolution, according to people familiar with the negotiations. The consultations initiated by the two countries don’t aim for anything rivaling Germany’s nuclear-sharing agreement with the U.S., these people said.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-lends-nuclear-support-new-combat-ally-2110093

Russia Lends Nuclear Support to New Combat Ally – Published Aug 07, 2025 at 8:55 AM EDT

Tulsi Gabbard Warns North Korea May Be Ready For Another Nuclear Test

By Micah McCartney, China News Reporter

Russia is aiding North Korea in modernizing its nuclear weapons delivery systems, according to Ukraine’s top military intelligence official.

The disclosure could reinforce long-standing suspicions among U.S. and South Korean officials that North Korea has been receiving technical support in exchange for providing weapons and troops to bolster Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

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