The B61-12 atomic bombs, for instance, are to undergo a life-extension program that will cost roughly $9.5 billion. There are 400 to 500 of these bombs, says Gronlund, which means refurbishing one will cost about $20 million.
W-80 warheads, another type being refurbished, are estimated to cost $75 million each when you account for the price tag of the B52 bombers that deliver them. Frank G. Klotz, the national administrator of the Nuclear Security Administration, estimated that the total cost of the W-80 life extension plan will be $7.3 billion to $9.9 billion over 17 years.
Gronlund predicts that, in total, the U.S. will spend $250 billion on its nuclear program in the next few decades.
As for North Korea, the new U.N. sanctions that China and Russia agreed to impose on Saturday will likely set it back. The banned exports is expected to cost them a third of their annual $3 billion earnings.
U.S. analysts believe North Korea has nuclear warheads that can fit inside of missiles, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. The insight comes just weeks after the regime fired a missile that landed within 230 miles of the Japanese coast. In response, on Tuesday, President Trump told reporters that “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” or “they will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
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