Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Chairman, I speak in opposition to this amendment because it puts American security at risk. Plutonium pits, a key component of nuclear warhead production, have not been regularly produced in the United States since 1989.

We are forced to refurbish our existing stockpile of warheads to keep up with the demand. We can only do that for so long because the components degrade. Russia and China are ramping up their capacity to produce new nuclear weapon components. We need to show our adversaries we are capable of maintaining a strong and modernized nuclear deterrent.

In fact, Speaker Johnson yesterday reiterated, ``Peace through strength.'' We have a statutory obligation to manufacture at least 80 plutonium pits annually by the year 2030 just to maintain our national defense goals.

H Canyon at Savannah River Site is a critical component. It is the last of its kind in the Nation to help the disassembly and assembly process. This amendment is misguided.

Mr. Chairman, I would invite the gentleman from California to actually come down to South Carolina and visit the Savannah River Site because I have been told you haven't. You are talking about something you don't even really know about just because you want to cut funding away and you don't like nuclear weapons.

The plutonium pit project at Savannah River Site in South Carolina will be responsible for producing over half of the minimum annual requirement. We must continue to support Savannah River Site to maintain a dominant nuclear force in the world, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment.

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