U.S. Resumes Tritium Production

The United States has resumed producing tritium, a key ingredient to boosting the power of nuclear weapons, for the first time in 18 years, the Energy Department announced yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 12, 2005).

The $506 million Tritium Extraction Facility, housed at the department’s Savannah River Site, can collect the hydrogen isotope from commercial nuclear fuel rods.  Tritium decays radioactively more quickly than other materials in U.S. weapons, requiring the department to replenish the tritium to maintain the weapons’ explosive yield.

“We now have the capability to produce tritium and continue to meet our future stockpile needs,” said Thomas D’Agostino, head of defense programs at the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration.  “NNSA will be able to satisfy the nation’s tritium needs indefinitely” (NNSA release, Dec. 4).

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