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Obama to boost spending on maintaining nuclear stocks
President Barack Obama's administration plans to boost spending on maintaining the US nuclear arsenal and related laboratories by more than five billion dollars in the next five years.
Vice President Joe Biden warned in an opinion article in the Wall Street Journal Friday that the work force maintaining the weapons had been neglected and that nuclear facilities, some dating to World War II, were in decline.
"The same skilled nuclear experts who maintain our arsenal play a key role in guaranteeing our country's security now and for the future," Biden wrote.
"State-of-the art facilities, and highly trained and motivated people, allow us to maintain our arsenal without testing."
The vice president said that in his 2011 budget due to be unveiled on Monday, Obama would ask Congress for seven billion dollars for maintaining the US nuclear-weapons stockpile and infrastructure.