§ 179.
(d)
Responsibilities.—
The Council shall be responsible for the following matters:
(1)
Preparing the annual Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Memorandum.
(2)
Developing nuclear weapons stockpiles options and the costs of such options and alternatives.
(3)
Coordinating and approving programming and budget matters pertaining to nuclear weapons programs between the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy.
(4)
Identifying various options for cost-effective schedules for nuclear weapons production.
(5)
Considering safety, security, and control issues for existing weapons and for proposed new weapon program starts.
(6)
Ensuring that adequate consideration is given to design, performance, and cost tradeoffs for all proposed new nuclear weapons programs.
(7)
Providing specific guidance regarding priorities for research on nuclear weapons and priorities among activities, including production, surveillance, research, construction, and any other programs within the National Nuclear Security Administration.
(8)
Coordinating and approving activities conducted by the Department of Energy for the study, development, production, and retirement of nuclear warheads, including concept definition studies, feasibility studies, engineering development, hardware component fabrication, warhead production, and warhead retirement.
(9)
Reviewing proposed capabilities, and, in coordination with the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, establishing and validating performance requirements (as defined in
section 181(h) of this title), for nuclear warhead programs.
(10)
With respect to nuclear warheads—
(A)
reviewing military requirements, performance requirements, and planned delivery schedules to evaluate whether such requirements and schedules create significant risks to cost, schedules, or other matters regarding production, surveillance, research, and other programs relating to nuclear weapons within the National Nuclear Security Administration; and
(B)
if any such risk exists, proposing and analyzing adjustments to such requirements and schedules.
(11)
Preparing comments on annual proposals for budget levels for research on nuclear weapons and transmitting those comments to the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy before the preparation of the annual budget requests by the Secretaries of those departments.
(12)
Coordinating and approving the annual budget proposals of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
(13)
Coordinating risk management efforts between the Department of Defense and the National Nuclear Security Administration relating to the nuclear weapons stockpile, the nuclear security enterprise (as defined in section 4002 of the Atomic Energy Defense Act (
)), and the delivery platforms for nuclear weapons, including with respect to identifying and analyzing risks and proposing actions to mitigate risks.
(Added [Pub. L. 99–661, div. C, title I, § 3137(a)(1)], Nov. 14, 1986, [100 Stat. 4065]; amended [Pub. L. 100–180, div. A, title XII, § 1231(2)], Dec. 4, 1987, [101 Stat. 1160]; [Pub. L. 100–456, div. A, title XII, § 1233(h)], Sept. 29, 1988, [102 Stat. 2058]; [Pub. L. 102–484, div. C, title XXXI, § 3133], Oct. 23, 1992, [106 Stat. 2639]; [Pub. L. 103–160, div. A, title IX, § 904(d)(1)], Nov. 30, 1993, [107 Stat. 1728]; [Pub. L. 103–337, div. C, title XXXI, § 3152], Oct. 5, 1994, [108 Stat. 3090]; [Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title IX, § 904(b)(1)], title XV, § 1502(a)(7), Feb. 10, 1996, [110 Stat. 403], 502; [Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title X, § 1067(1)], div. C, title XXXI, § 3163(a), (c), Oct. 5, 1999, [113 Stat. 774], 944; [Pub. L. 106–398, § 1 [div. C, title XXXI, § 3152(a)]], Oct. 30, 2000, [114 Stat. 1654], 1654A–464; [Pub. L. 107–107, div. A, title X, § 1048(b)(2)], Dec. 28, 2001, [115 Stat. 1225]; [Pub. L. 107–314, div. D, title XLII, § 4213(c)], formerly [Pub. L. 104–201, div. C, title XXXI, § 3159(c)], Sept. 23, 1996, [110 Stat. 2842], renumbered [§ 4213(c) of Pub. L. 107–314] by [Pub. L. 108–136, div. C, title XXXI, § 3141(e)(14)], Nov. 24, 2003, [117 Stat. 1760]; [Pub. L. 108–375, div. A, title IX, § 902(a)]–(d), Oct. 28, 2004, [118 Stat. 2025]; [Pub. L. 109–364, div. A, title IX, § 903], Oct. 17, 2006, [120 Stat. 2351]; [Pub. L. 111–383, div. A, title IX, § 901(j)(1)], Jan. 7, 2011, [124 Stat. 4324]; [Pub. L. 112–239, div. A, title X, § 1039], Jan. 2, 2013, [126 Stat. 1927]; [Pub. L. 113–66, div. A, title X], §§ 1053, 1091(a)(3), Dec. 26, 2013, [127 Stat. 861], 875; [Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title XVI, § 1641], Dec. 19, 2014, [128 Stat. 3648]; [Pub. L. 114–92, div. A, title X, § 1076(a)], Nov. 25, 2015, [129 Stat. 997]; [Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title X, § 1081(a)(14)], title XVI, § 1653, Dec. 12, 2017, [131 Stat. 1595], 1758; [Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title XVI, § 1661], Aug. 13, 2018, [132 Stat. 2152]; [Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title XVI, § 1663], Dec. 20, 2019, [133 Stat. 1772]; [Pub. L. 116–283, div. A, title XVI], §§ 1631(a), 1632(a), Jan. 1, 2021, [134 Stat. 4056], 4057; [Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title XVI, § 1633(a)], (b), (d), Dec. 23, 2022, [136 Stat. 2935], 2936, 2938; [Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title XVI, § 1621(d)(1)], Dec. 23, 2024, [138 Stat. 2171].)