On October 17, the US Department of Energy announced that due to the government's shutdown, about 1,400 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will be on unpaid leave from October 20. Government shutdowns occur when the US Congress fails to approve the budget, causing unnecessary agencies to temporarily suspend operations and give employees unpaid leave.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned that the move would have a direct impact on efforts to modernize the nuclear arsenal, as it would affect "very important" staff. He also said the situation could get worse, with tens of thousands of contract workers at risk of being laid off as the closure has entered the 17th day.
According to the announcement, nearly 400 essential employees will be retained at NNSA. This is a semi- autonomic branch of the Department of Energy, with two main tasks: managing the US nuclear arsenal and protecting dangerous nuclear materials globally.
Notably, this team of employees will have to shoulder the huge responsibility of supervising about 60,000 contract workers, who are directly maintaining and testing weapons at national laboratories across the US.
Wealth control experts have criticized the move. Mr. Daryl Kimball - Executive Director of the Association for the Control of Arms (ACA) - said that if the government had truly valued nuclear security, they could have found a way to pay staff, rather than let the government shut down them.
For his part, Minister Wright admitted that while emergency services will not be affected, the nuclear weapons modernization program - with an estimated cost of $946 billion - will be interrupted. "People not being paid and not coming to work will certainly have a negative impact," he said.
To show the seriousness of the problem, the Department of Energy said Wright will conduct a surprise visit to a nuclear security location in Nevada on October 20 to assess the direct impact of the government shutdown.
