The nuclear weapons complexities [Spectral Lines]

In a sign that nuclear weapons remain vital technologically and militarily, the U.S. government has launched a multidecade "modernization" program for the nation's 4,571 nuclear weapons, at an estimated cost of up to US $1 trillion, $348 billion over the next 10 years alone. "An aging nuclear force...has forced the need for a modernization program," the Defense Science Board declared last December after President Barack Obama gained rare bipartisan support. The aim is ambitious: to refurbish or replace every aspect of America's land, sea, and air-based nuclear "triad," and to deter any moves by Russia, China, and rogue states like North Korea to threaten the American homeland.