The Bush administration Wednesday unveiled a blueprint for rebuilding the nation's decrepit nuclear weapons complex, including restoration of a large-scale bomb manufacturing capacity. The plan calls for the most sweeping realignment and modernization of the nation's massive system of laboratories and factories for nuclear bombs since the end of the Cold War.

Until now, the nation has depended on carefully maintaining aging bombs produced during the Cold War arms race, some several decades old. The administration, however, wants the capability to turn out 125 new nuclear bombs per year by 2022, as the Pentagon retires older bombs that it says will no longer be reliable or safe.

Under the plan, all of the nation's plutonium would be consolidated into a single facility that could be more effectively and cheaply defended against possible terrorist attacks. The plan would remove the plutonium kept at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory by 2014, though transfers of the material could start sooner. In recent years, concern has grown that Livermore, surrounded by residential neighborhoods in the Bay Area, could not repel a terrorist attack.

And at the same time: US Announces Plans to Combat Global Warming

Combat Global Warming with nukes..... yup that must be it! :) They probably plan a nuclear winter <grin>

just kidding...


BTW: Some interesting info about nuclear stockpiles on Wikipedia... check this out, US and Russia both combine to have over 13,000 active warheads!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_nuclear_weapons

Why in general? and why 125? whats so magical about that number?