Control of the U.S. Nuclear Complex

The American Physical Society (APS) recognizes that there may be economies and synergies that would be realized in moving the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) and its associated laboratories from the Department of Energy to another agency, such as the Department of Defense, or by making it a stand-alone executive agency reporting to the President.

APS urges that functions of NNSA programs and laboratories of vital significance to the competitiveness of the United States science and technology enterprise be preserved in any future configuration the Agency might assume. These include programs essential to the fundamental and applied physics research portfolio of the United States, the development of safe civilian nuclear energy systems, and unique facilities used by physicists from around the country.

Context

NNSA programs constitute an essential component of the basic and applied physics research portfolio of the United States. Areas such as high energy density physics, nuclear physics and chemistry, condensed matter physics, plasma physics, atmospheric physics and climatology, accelerator and laser technology, and high-performance computing benefit enormously from the exceptional quality of research conducted under NNSA sponsorship, and particularly at the NNSA laboratories. This is a contribution that we believe must be preserved if the U.S. is to remain competitive in these and other fields.

The crucial role NNSA laboratories have played in the development of safe civilian nuclear energy systems cannot be overestimated. They also play a pivotal role in the development of instrumentation and processes for safeguarding civilian nuclear energy facilities so that they cannot be diverted to military use without detection. These functions cannot be carried out by other institutions in the U.S. without significant expenditures. Even then, the loss of the expertise housed within the NNSA laboratory complex could be debilitating to future efforts. NNSA programs in basic and applied physics and their associated technologies are tightly related with synergistic programs in other parts of the Department of Energy (DOE). Taken together, these activities are vital parts of the DOE's exploration of advanced energy science and technology.

The NNSA national laboratories and NNSA-supported university laboratories are home to several unique facilities that are used by physicists from universities around the country. These facilities include high-powered lasers and pulsed power machines for high energy density physics and inertial fusion, intense beam accelerators, nanoscale science and applied superconductivity facilities, and supercomputers used to simulate and visualize complex physical systems. We believe it is imperative that these facilities remain available for unclassified research by university-based scientists.

The review process for any statement may be started at any time if deemed necessary by the Panel on Public Affairs, and at least once every five years.