THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130505
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
The fast-dwindling stockpile of U.S. nuclear weapons is now positioned in 16 states - nine fewer than just three years ago, according to private nuclear arms specialists who have tracked the locations for a decade.
Virginia remains a nuclear state, but with a smaller arsenal than in years. The only Virginia location listed is the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, a 77-year-old arms depot on the York River near Yorktown. The Navy has 100 warheads stored there, the authors report.
The Navy's port in Norfolk has been nuclear-free since 1992, when President George Bush responded to the breakup of the Soviet Union by ordering short-range nuclear weapons removed from aircraft carriers and other surface ships, fast attack submarines and aircraft squadrons.
For more than three decades before that, nuclear-armed vessels came and went routinely through Hampton Roads and other large Navy ports.
The service still maintains a massive nuclear punch today: a fleet of submarines armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles.
None of the ``boomers,'' as the Navy calls the subs, is based in Norfolk. They are ported in Kings Bay, Ga., and Bangor, Wash.
North Dakota has replaced South Carolina as the state with the most nuclear warheads, and Louisiana's Barksdale Air Force Base is now the single largest nuclear arms site in the country, the report by Robert Norris and William Arkin said.
Since 1992, all nuclear weapons have been removed from Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey and New York, they said. Georgia, Louisiana and North Dakota have more than they did in 1992.
The Pentagon refuses to discuss locations of nuclear weapons.
The report by Norris and Arkin will be published in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Norris said it is based on publicly available documents. The two have written numerous authoritative books on nuclear weapons.
About 7,000 nuclear warheads are stationed on U.S. territory, plus about 480 at land-based sites in Europe, the report estimated. An additional 1,500 warheads are carried by submarines at sea, they said.
At their peak in the 1980s, there were roughly 24,000 U.S. nuclear warheads around the world. Now there are about 9,000, and by the turn of the century the total will be about half that, if strategic arms reductions treaties are implemented.
In 1992, the Bush administration removed all the American nuclear weapons from South Korea. Now the only overseas sites are air bases in Germany, Britain, Turkey, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands and Belgium, Norris and Arkin said.
South Carolina has seen a drop in the number of nuclear warheads since 1992 because of the retirement of many ballistic missile submarines based at Charleston, Norris said in an interview.
Louisiana has seen a slight increase from 910 warheads three years ago to 1,010 now because of its central role in storing nuclear gravity bombs and cruise missiles to arm the several dozen B-52H bombers at Barksdale, Norris said.
North Dakota leads all states, with 1,710 warheads, up by about 60 from three years ago. They are for B-52 bombers at Minot Air Force Base and Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles at Grand Forks Air Force Base, Norris said.
Georgia has had an increase in nuclear weapons because of the growth of the fleet of Trident ballistic missile submarines at King's Bay. Norris and Arkin estimate there are 768 active warheads for the King's Bay subs; the same number are in Washington state for Trident subs.
Since 1992, major nuclear storage sites have closed at Sierra Army Depot in northern California; Concord Naval Weapons Station in the San Francisco Bay area; Earle Naval Weapons Station in New Jersey and Seneca Army Depot in New York.
Norris said the last 50 Tomahawk nuclear cruise missiles in Hawaii for Pacific Fleet attack submarines have been removed in the past year, leaving Hawaii with no warheads. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and staff
writer Bill Sizemore. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
NUCLEAR STATES
States with nuclear warheads, according to private nuclear arms
specialists William Arkin and Robert Norris:
North Dakota, 1,710 at Minot and Grand Forks Air Force bases.
Louisiana, 1,010 at Barksdale Air Force Base.
Georgia, 768 at King's Bay Naval Submarine Base.
Washington, 768 at Bangor Naval Submarine Base.
Wyoming, 582 at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.
South Dakota, 350 at Ellsworth Air Force Base.
Texas, 350 at Dyess Air Force Base.
Nebraska, 255 at missile sites that are part of Francis E. Warren
Air Force Base, Wyo.
Montana, 250 at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
Nevada, 200 at Nellis Air Force Base.
Missouri, 150 at Whiteman Air Force Base.
Colorado, 138 at missile sites that are part of Francis E. Warren
Air Force Base, Wyo.
New Mexico, 120 at Kirtland Air Force Base.
California, 100 at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.
Virginia, 100 at Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.
South Carolina, 100 at Charleston.
States with nuclear warheads, according to private nuclear arms
specialists William Arkin and Robert Norris:
North Dakota, 1,710 at Minot and Grand Forks Air Force bases.
Louisiana, 1,010 at Barksdale Air Force Base.
Georgia, 768 at King's Bay Naval Submarine Base.
Washington, 768 at Bangor Naval Submarine Base.
Wyoming, 582 at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.
South Dakota, 350 at Ellsworth Air Force Base.
Texas, 350 at Dyess Air Force Base.
Nebraska, 255 at missile sites that are part of Francis E. Warren
Air Force Base, Wyo.
Montana, 250 at Malmstrom Air Force Base.
Nevada, 200 at Nellis Air Force Base.
Missouri, 150 at Whiteman Air Force Base.
Colorado, 138 at missile sites that are part of Francis E. Warren
Air Force Base, Wyo.
New Mexico, 120 at Kirtland Air Force Base.
California, 100 at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.
Virginia, 100 at Yorktown Naval Weapons Station.
South Carolina, 100 at Charleston.
by CNB