Insisting on Persisting: The Nuclear Rhetoric of "Stockpile Stewardship"

Abstract

This essay critiques official rhetoric surrounding post–Cold War–era management of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. During the 1990s, the U.S. Department of Energy developed a "Stockpile Stewardship Program" to certify the safety and reliability of that arsenal in the absence of explosive testing. This program has subsequently been challenged for its vast scale and expense, for its actual utility, and for its potential to facilitate the development of "new" nuclear weapons. This essay critiques "stewardship" as a contested historical and cultural discourse. It argues that, by appropriating this discourse, nuclear officials have rhetorically cast themselves as guardians of nuclear resources for the benefit of current and future generations, and have successfully defended themselves against undesirable change arising from public reconsideration of nuclear deterrence. As a result, this rhetoric has undermined the possibility of a genuine nuclear democracy based on adequate representation and deliberation of nuclear interests in the post–Cold War era.