Washington, April 07: As the debate on the budget for the 2011 fiscal year intensifies in Washington, many experts have called for reduction of nuclear weapons production in the United States.
Analysts argue that while the Republicans and the Democrats are bickering to break a budget stalemate through spending cuts in education or environment programs, the administration seems unwilling to slash its nuclear arsenal, which remains one of the highest historically funded government programs, a Media correspondent reported on Wednesday.
They say the amount allocated to some certain aspects of nuclear weapons now is more than what was spent during the Cold War and although that war is over, the US nuclear stockpile still costs the United States billions of dollars a year.
“During the cold war, the average yearly cost was around $4 billion in the nuclear weapons activities account…now that number is about $7.6 billion in the fiscal year 2012 request, so it has nearly doubled since the Cold War,” said Laicle Olson, a senior policy analyst with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
Tim Collina, an expert with the the Washington-based Arms Control Association, stated that at least $6 trillion has been spent on the United States nuclear weapons program so far, which is about $20,000 for every man, woman and child in the country.
We should “think more long-term about what would really mean to be secure as a nation and this is not just about defense spending; it’s about infrastructure, it’s about education, and it’s about health. These are the things that make a nation great, not just how much money we spend on defense,” Collina told the Press correspondent.
Analysts also turned the spotlight on the health and environmental effects of nuclear weapons production and maintenance in the United States.
The remarks come as the US Democrats and Republicans have decided that defense and the majority of nuclear spending will not be slashed even though cuts are being proposed in most areas of the budget bill.
——–Agencies