"The effort is uniquely challenging. Technicians at Los Alamos National Laboratory must handle hazardous plutonium to create the grapefruit-size cores, known as pits. They do so in a nearly 50-year-old building under renovation to address aging infrastructure and equipment breakdowns that have at times disrupted operations or spread radioactive contamination, The New York Times found. Now, the laboratory is under increasing pressure to meet the federal government's ambitions to upgrade the nation's nuclear arsenal."
"But the overall modernization effort is years behind schedule, with costs ballooning by the billions, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In 2018, Congress charged Los Alamos with making an annual quota of 30 pits by 2026, but by last year it had produced just one approved for the nuclear stockpile. (Officials have not disclosed whether more have been made since then.)"
Technicians at Los Alamos National Laboratory work around the clock in Plutonium Facility 4 to produce plutonium pits, handling hazardous material in a nearly 50-year-old building undergoing renovation. Aging infrastructure and equipment breakdowns have disrupted operations and at times spread radioactive contamination. The U.S. nuclear modernization program, a roughly $1.7 trillion effort, aims to rebuild missiles, warheads, and delivery systems but is years behind schedule and has rising costs. In 2018, Congress set a goal of 30 pits per year by 2026; the laboratory had produced just one approved pit by last year. Federal officials have opened reviews of leadership and procedures, and the Savannah River Site remains a future alternative for pit production, unlikely to begin before 2032.
#plutonium-pit-production #los-alamos-national-laboratory #nuclear-modernization #infrastructure-and-safety
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