WASHINGTON: The Trump administration will begin furloughing workers at the agency managing the US nuclear weapons arsenal next week due to the government shutdown.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the furloughs in a social media post on Friday.
Wright stated that the furloughs will affect National Nuclear Security Administration workers critical to modernizing the nuclear arsenal.
The NNSA is a semi-autonomous branch of the Department of Energy that also secures dangerous nuclear materials worldwide.
This agency has approximately 2,000 workers overseeing about 60,000 contractors at national laboratories and other locations across the United States.
Wright told USA Today that tens of thousands of contractor layoffs could begin next week alongside staff furloughs.
The government shutdown has now entered its seventeenth day without resolution.
Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball criticised the potential workforce reductions.
Kimball questioned why the administration cannot find funds for essential nuclear safety and security functions if they consider them important.
Wright assured Bloomberg Surveillance that emergency services personnel would not be furloughed.
However, he acknowledged that nuclear weapons modernization programs could be significantly affected.
Wright expressed concern about losing momentum in replacing older weapons with workers unpaid and absent.
A Congressional Budget Office report in April projected nuclear forces operation and modernization costs through 2034 would reach $946 billion.
This estimate represents a 25% increase over the 2023 projection for nuclear weapons expenditures.
Nuclear weapons spending is divided between the Pentagon and the National Nuclear Security Administration. – Reuters
