In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has confirmed that a new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is getting underway., as anticipated. The NPR will review new nuclear warheads for which new plutonium pits will be made – the W87-1 for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, which is facing stiff challenges, and the W93 warhead for a submarine missiles, in part for the United Kingdom. Pit production at the proposed SRS Plutonium Bomb Plant and at Los Alamos National Lab will be reviewed. The two-site pit-plant approach is not required under law, leaving the SRS facility highly vulnerable to a policy change that could eliminate it.
From the transcript of an interview posted by Nikkei Asia on March 17, 2021:
“I think that’s an incredibly important issue, one that we’re going to be very, very focused on a couple of things on that. First, we’re going to undertake something called the Nuclear Posture Review, which is to look at our own nuclear weapons policy to make determinations about both what we need to sustain deterrence and defense but also look at how we can continue to reduce reliance in the role of nuclear weapons in our strategy. This is something we made as a significant progress during the Obama-Biden administration, and we’ll undertake that review in this administration in the months ahead.”
interview posted here: