In an effort to stave off further development of nuclear weapons around the world, the U.S. has decided to reveal information about the number of weapons in the inventory for the first time. Based on that decision, a senior Defense Department official revealed May 3 that the U.S. had 5,113 warheads on nuclear weapons as of Sept. 30 – an 84-percent reduction since Sept. 30, 1967, the height of the Cold War – when the arsenal’s inventory was at its peak. A total of 8,748 nuclear weapons have been dismantled since 1994, with several thousand more scheduled for dismantlement as well, the official stated on background.
