To require a study on the application of technology from the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator Program to conventional hard and deeply buried target weapons development programs.

SA 767. Mr. NELSON of Florida (for himself, Mr. Warner, and Mr. Levin) proposed an amendment to the bill S. 1050, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2004 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes; as follows:

At the appropriate place in Title XXXI in the bill add the following new section:

SEC. .

(a) Findings.--Much of the work that will be carried out by the Secretary of Energy in the feasibility study for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator will have applicability to a nuclear or a conventional earth penetrator, but the Department of Energy does not have responsibility for development of conventional earth penetrator or other conventional programs for hard and deeply buried targets.

(b) Plan.--The Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Defense shall develop, submit to Congress three months after the date of enactment of this act, and implement, a plan to coordinate the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator feasibility study at the Department of Energy with the ongoing conventional hard and deeply buried weapons development programs at the Department of Defense. This plan shall ensure that over the course of the feasibility study for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator the work of the DOE, with application to the DOD programs, is shared with and integrated into the DOD programs.