"THE Bush Administration has revealed a blueprint for rebuilding America's decrepit nuclear weapons complex, including restoration of a large-scale bomb manufacturing capacity.

The plan calls for the most sweeping realignment and modernisation of the nation's massive system of laboratories and factories for nuclear bombs since the end of the Cold War.

Until now, the nation has depended on carefully maintaining ageing bombs produced during the Cold War arms race, some several decades old. The Administration, however, wants the capability to turn out 125 new nuclear bombs a year by 2022, as the Pentagon retires older bombs that it says will no longer be reliable or safe."