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Financial costs of U.S. nuclear weapons

The Costs of U.S. Nuclear Weapons
mil.news.sohu.com 29 July 09 “..……….This issue brief, based on the 1998 book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940, examines how and why key decisions were made, what factors influenced those decisions, and whether alternatives were considered.  In so doing, it helps explain the process by which an arsenal consisting of just two primitive weapons in 1945 eventually grew to more than 32,000 highly sophisticated ones, what this process cost, and how the costs and consequences of the program were understood by policymakers at the time.

……………….The amount spent through 1996—$5.5 trillion—was 29 percent of all military spending from 1940 through 1996 ($18.7 trillion). This figure is significantly larger than any previous official or unofficial estimate of nuclear weapons expenditures, exceeding all other categories of government spending except non-nuclear national defense ($13.2 trillion) and social security ($7.9 trillion)…………………During this period, the United States spent on average nearly $98 billion a year developing and maintaining its nuclear arsenal.
It is very difficult to comprehend figures of this magnitude. To provide some perspective, consider the following:

$5.8 trillion divided equally among everyone living in the United States equals a bit more than $21,000 per person.

$5.8 trillion in one dollar bills stacked one atop another would stretch 459,361 miles (739,117 kilometers), to the Moon and nearly back…………….

The Costs of U.S. Nuclear Weapons-搜狐军事频道

August 1, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | weapons and war | antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive, uranium