Publication

This report provides an estimate of US spending on nuclear weapons that resolves most of the ambiguity created by varying estimates of the true costs of the US nuclear weapons program. The authors estimate an annual total of $31 billion is spent on nuclear weapons when costs dedicated to strategic nuclear offensive forces found in the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy are included. This study should clarify that official estimates relying on a narrow definition of the nuclear enterprise, or even of strategic nuclear offensive forces, understate the actual costs the United States spends on nuclear weapons.