10 U.S.C. § 6129: Certification of completion…

§6129 Certification of Completion of Milestones with Respect to Plutonium Pit Aging

Title 10 › Subtitle A — General Military Law › PART VI — ELEMENTS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND OTHER MATTERS › Subpart B — Atomic Energy Defense › CHAPTER 602 — NUCLEAR WEAPONS STOCKPILE MATTERS › SUBCHAPTER I — STOCKPILE STEWARDSHIP AND WEAPONS PRODUCTION › § 6129

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Administrator must finish the milestones listed in the Administration’s September 2021 report called the Research Program Plan for Plutonium and Pit Aging. Within one year of this law and until December 31, 2030, the Administrator must have the Defense Programs Advisory Committee do reviews every two years and try to get the JASON group to do a full assessment by 2030. The Administrator must also give Congress’s defense committees progress briefings every two years in that same period. By October 1, 2031, the Administrator must tell those congressional committees whether the milestones are done. If they are not done, the Administrator must send a report saying why, explain any milestone the Administration cannot meet, and give new target dates for milestones it still expects to complete.

Title 10, §6129

Armed Forces, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Requirement.—

The Administrator shall complete the milestones on plutonium pit aging identified in the report entitled “Research Program Plan for Plutonium and Pit Aging”, published by the Administration in September 2021.

(b)Assessments.—

The Administrator shall—

(1)acting through the Defense Programs Advisory Committee, conduct biennial reviews during the period beginning not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act and ending December 31, 2030, regarding the progress achieved toward completing the milestones described in subsection (a); and

(2)seek to enter into an arrangement with the private scientific advisory group known as JASON to conduct, not later than 2030, an assessment of plutonium pit aging.

(c)Briefings.—

During the period beginning not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act and ending December 31, 2030, the Administrator shall provide to the congressional defense committees biennial briefings on—

(1)the progress achieved toward completing the milestones described in subsection (a); and

(2)the results of the assessments described in subsection (b).

(d)Certification of Completion of Milestones.—

Not later than October 1, 2031, the Administrator shall—

(1)certify to the congressional defense committees whether the milestones described in subsection (a) have been achieved; and

(2)if the milestones have not been achieved, submit to such committees a report—

(A)describing the reasons such milestones have not been achieved;

(B)including, if the Administrator determines the Administration will not be able to meet one of such milestones, an explanation for that determination; and

(C)specifying new dates for the completion of the milestones the Administrator anticipates the Administration will meet.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of the enactment of this Act, referred to in subsecs. (b)(1) and (c), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 119–60, which was approved Dec. 18, 2025.

Prior Provisions

Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in section 3124 of Pub. L. 117–263, which was set out as a note under section 2538a of Title 50, War and National Defense, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 119–60, § 3111(b)(11).