THE US is to start work on new nuclear weapons, including mini-nukes and bunker-buster bombs, following a last-minute compromise in Congress.
The House of Representatives had tried to slash the administration鈥檚 request for funding, while the Senate approved it in full.
The compromise, reached by a House-Senate conference committee last week, appears to leave enough money for the projects鈥� planning stages. No engineering work will be possible without further congressional authorisation.
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Mini-nukes have just one-quarter the power of the Hiroshima bomb. Critics fear that they will make the use of nuclear weapons seem less unacceptable and hence more likely. The conference restored the full $6-million request, with some restrictions.
Modifying existing weapons about 10 times the size of the Hiroshima bomb into 鈥渆arth penetrators鈥� or bunker-busters could also make their use in battle more likely, members of the House cautioned when they cut the administration鈥檚 request for such weapons by two-thirds.
The conference raised this to $7.5 million, half the original request. It also approved funding to study production of new plutonium triggers, and to cut the advance warning required for a nuclear bomb test from three years to two.
While supporters of the weapons says they are necessary for national security, others remain totally opposed. 鈥淚 have the most profound objection to this re-opening of the nuclear door,鈥� says Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California.