Continued Operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Supplement Stockpile Stewardship and Management

The continued operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is critical to National Nuclear Security Administration’s Stockpile Stewardship Program and to preventing the spread and use of nuclear weapons worldwide. LLNL maintains core competencies in activities associated with research, development, design, and surveillance of nuclear weapons, as well as the assessment and certification of their safety and reliability. In response to the end of the Cold War and changes in the world’s political regimes, the emphasis on the U.S. nuclear weapons program has shifted from developing and producing new weapons designs to dismantling obsolete weapons and maintaining a smaller weapons stockpile.