NEW YORK, November 2. /TASS/. The ongoing government shutdown is threatening the modernization of the US nuclear arsenal, as it prevents the Department of Energy from paying contractors, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an interview with Fox News.
"People think of us as energy, which is a big part of our job, but the other half is America's science and America's nuclear stockpile: building, constructing, maintaining America's nuclear weapons. They're good right now, they're controlled by the Department of War, but our department is responsible for modernizing them. Those efforts are just gaining steam right now, and now all contractors who work on them are about to be given furlough notices," he said.
Wright added that because of the shutdown, "people who have been working for decades on [American] weapons" will be left without work or financial compensation. "We need a few more common sense Democrats to understand: don't put the modernization of our nuclear architecture at risk," the official emphasized.
Earlier, Wright reported that, due to the shutdown, his department would only be able to pay National Nuclear Security Administration contractors, who are responsible for modernizing and maintaining the US nuclear arsenal, until the end of October.