Audit Report: IG-0528

October 5, 2001

Stockpile Surveillance Testing

In 1993, the President and Congress reaffirmed the moratorium on underground nuclear testing and directed that a science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program be developed to maintain the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons. The Department of Energy’s (Department) plan for the Stockpile Stewardship Program describes it as one of the most complex, scientific-technical programs ever undertaken. The program consists of surveillance, experimentation, computation, and production. Its focus is to maintain “high confidence” in the safety and reliability of the stockpile without nuclear testing.