|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
U.S. Hopes to Expand Nuclear Pit Production
The Bush administration hopes have the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico producing 30 to 40 new plutonium cores annually by 2012, the Albuquerque Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 6). The expansion in pit production is part of a plan to produce new weapons for the first time since the Cold War ended, according to the Journal. The program currently is a research effort, according to top officials, to find ways to build safer and more reliable weapons. However, the fiscal 2007 budget submitted by the White House to Congress this week for the first time includes money to fund programs to move weapons production forward. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the “Reliable Replacement Warhead” project was a priority. Funding for Los Alamos and the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico is down 2 percent in the budget. Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M) said he does not expect this to lead to layoffs. The budget, coupled with statements from officials, indicates production of new weapons could begin by 2012. The plan, which still needs congressional approval, calls for the production of the pits that form the core of nuclear weapons. Los Alamos is set to produce 10 pits annually by 2008 to replace existing cores. The new spending plan boosts that number to between 30 and 40 by 2012. National Nuclear Security Administration chief Linton Brooks recently said the production of new pits was “transformational.” An antiweapons advocate called the change in plans “radical.” “The emphasis is shifting from maintaining existing weapons to replacing all of them,” said Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group. Brooks cautioned that the plan is still in its early stages. “Remember, this is research, so we don't know whether we can do all the things we hoped we can do.” He added, however, that the plan “has a great deal of possibility for improving the long-term safety, security and reliability of the stockpile” (Fleck/Coleman, Albuquerque Journal, Feb. 7).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
