January 2, 2003

National Nuclear Security Administration's Nuclear Explosive Safety Study Program

To ensure the protection of the public, employees, facilities, and the environment from nuclear explosive accidents, Department of Energy (Department) policy specifies that a team of nuclear explosive safety experts must independently review nuclear explosive operations1 every five years. This review process is called a Nuclear Explosive Safety (NES) study. To conduct the NES study, experts rely on a variety of data including safety basis documentation. Various reports provide comprehensive evaluations of the potential hazards inherent to nuclear explosive operations, such as weapons being dropped, and processes developed to mitigate or eliminate these hazards.