The Cost In Dollars
“It may come as a surprise that the U.S. spends much more on its arsenal than it does on  minimizing risk or planning for the consequences of an attack.” -The Cost of Nuclear Security, Los Angeles Times,  Jan. 12, 2009. by Stephen Schwartz and Deepti Choubey.

“Our report ... shows that the U.S. spent at least $52.4 billion on nuclear weapons and programs in fiscal 2008. This budget, which spans many agencies, not just the Defense Department, does not count related costs for air defense, anti-submarine warfare, classified programs or most nuclear weapons-related intelligence programs.

“The 2008 nuclear security budget exceeds all anticipated spending on international diplomacy and foreign assistance ($39.5 billion)...and it is almost 14 times what the Energy Department allocated for all energy-related research and development.” 

The Cleanup of Nuclear Sites
Mining and enriching uranium  and manufacturing nuclear weapons and fuel rods have left their deadly pollution in communities across the nation. Now it is costing a fortune to clean them up. The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Program includes deactivating about 4,000 facilities that are no longer needed, managing over 2,000 tons of intensely radioactive spent nuclear fuel, storing and guarding more than 18 metric tons of weapons-usable plutonium, enough for thousands of nuclear weapons, remediation of 1.7 trillion gallons of contaminated ground water,  and providing long-term care and monitoring for potentially hundreds of years at an estimated 109 sites following cleanup. As of the 2000 Status Report, the total life-cycle cost to the year 2070 of this cleanup is estimated to be $252 billion. (Figures from U.S. DOE Status Report on Paths to Closure, March 2000.)

More Spending Planned
“A 20-year spending plan from the agency that manages the  nuclear arsenal shows that the administration wants to hike nuclear weapons spending to an average of more than $8 billion a year, compared with recent spending levels of $6 billion to $7 billion a year...The plan calls for the United States to spend $175 billion from 2010 to 2030 on new weapons production, testing and simulation facilities, and on extending the life of nuclear weapons in the arsenal.” - Paul Richter in the Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2010