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Today, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, made the following remarks on the Subcommittee's hearing titled “Deferred Maintenance in the Nuclear Security Enterprise: Safety and Mission Risk.” For testimony and to watch the hearing live click here.

"Welcome to our hearing on 'Deferred Maintenance in the Nuclear Security Enterprise: Safety and Mission Risks.'

To kick off the hearing, I want to display a alt="(NULL)" provided by NNSA that encapsulates the challenges they are dealing with.

The enterprise has a $3.7 billion backlog of deferred maintenance that has accumulated over decades. And this backlog is now actively threatening both NNSA’s mission and the safety of its workers.

As this slide puts it so well: 'Infrastructure risks become safety and program risks.'

This slide also shows some of the very real impacts that infrastructure failures are having.

Ranking Member Cooper and I have seen much of this first-hand during our oversight visits to these facilities. Just a small list of the challenges we’ve seen includes:

• Tarps hung over sensitive diagnostic equipment, to prevent leaking roofs from destroying equipment worth tens of millions of dollars
• Chunks of concrete falling from ceilings into operational work spaces
• Tape and plastic sheeting around pipes carrying radioactive fluids
• Major hydraulic oil leaks
• Grass growing through floors

As this slide describes, many of these failures result directly in program delays and safety risks.

Our witnesses highlight this in their written statements. For instance, here is General Klotz:
• 'Our infrastructure is extensive, complex, and, in many critical areas, several decades old. More than half of NNSA’s approximately 6,000 real property assets are over 40 years old, and nearly 30 percent date back to the Manhattan Project era. Many of the enterprise’s critical utility, safety, and support systems are failing at an increasing and unpredictable rate, which poses both programmatic and safety risk.'

And here is Mr. Smith:
• 'Many key facilities at both [Pantex and Y-12] were constructed in the 1940s and were intended to operate for as little as one decade. Many facilities and their supporting infrastructure have exceeded or far exceeded their expected life, and major systems within the facilities are beginning to fail.'

And finally, Dr. McMillan:
• 'One of the things that keeps me up at night is the realization that essential capabilities are held at risk by the possibility of such failures; in many cases, our enterprise has a single point of failure.'

Of course, these infrastructure challenges directly impact NNSA’s readiness to respond to new direction and military requirements.

Broader defense readiness challenges have been a focus this year of the HASC—and readiness and responsiveness within NNSA has been a focus of this subcommittee for years.

We must ensure not only the people and tools within NNSA are ready to respond, but also the infrastructure.

On the readiness of people and tools front, this committee has continued to advocate the Stockpile Responsiveness Program mandated by last year’s NDAA.

On the infrastructure front, we continue to authorize substantial increases to NNSA’s infrastructure accounts.

But I believe more must be done. We need to be looking to do more—including both tried-and-true solutions that have worked in the past, as well as new, innovative solutions.

For instance, the Facilities and Infrastructure Recapitalization Program (FIRP) was a ten-year, $2 billion effort that started in 2002 and was successful in addressing many deferred maintenance challenges.

But in the end it accomplished only a portion of the work that ultimately needs done. I think we should be looking at a new FIRP-like program for the future.

We should also recognize the success of recent public-private-partnerships in addressing these challenges in innovative ways.

The result out at Kansas City in particular is an indication of what we can do if we work together and use these kinds of creative approaches.

I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. You represent and lead many of the workers within our nation’s nuclear enterprise. We know how hard you and they work, and we are grateful to all of you.

Our first panel of witnesses includes:

• Dr. Charlie McMillan
o Laboratory Director
o Los Alamos National Laboratory

• Mr. John (J.R.) Ricciardelli
o President
o Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC

• Mr. Morgan Smith
o President and Chief Executive Officer
o Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC

Following these gentlemen will be our second panel of witnesses, who I’ll also briefly identify here:

• The Honorable Frank Klotz
o Administrator
o National Nuclear Security Administration

• Mr. James McConnell
o Associate Administrator for Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations
o National Nuclear Security Administration

Thanks again to you all for being here.

Finally, I want to highlight the important work being done by the witnesses from both our panels. Under the leadership and direction of Secretary of Energy Moniz and General Klotz, you all have put a halt to the growth of deferred maintenance.

You recognize that these challenges have a direct impact on your workers’ morale, performance, and safety—and I know you are working hard to deliver for them.

This subcommittee stands by to assist and support you—because we recognize how much more needs to be done."