US President Barack Obama is planning "dramatic reductions" in the country's nuclear arsenal, a senior US administration official has said. This would come as part of a sweeping policy review designed to prevent the spread of atomic weapons, he said.
The review "will point to dramatic reductions in the stockpile, while maintaining a strong and reliable deterrent", the official said.
He added that it would lead to a greater role for conventional weapons.
Mr Obama is to meet his defence secretary, Robert Gates, later on Monday to discuss the new nuclear strategy.
Officials say thousands of nuclear weapons could be cut, in many cases by retiring weapons that are now kept in storage.
They say the new strategy will be an important step towards Mr Obama's declared aim of reversing the spread of nuclear weapons and seeking a world without them.
Last April, Mr Obama outlined his vision of a world free of nuclear weapons in a major speech in Europe.
The US president called for the forging of new partnerships to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and a global summit on nuclear security, which will take place next month.
The next five-yearly review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is to be held in May.
