AMARILLO GLOBE-NEWS
January 25, 2016
AMARILLO — A nuclear safety agency has reported the federal Department of Energy recently approved plans to ramp up production of plutonium “pits,” the core that that triggers nuclear weapons, at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, which could lead to more warhead refurbishment work at the Pantex Plant northeast of Amarillo.
The plans include a big increase in plutonium capacity at an existing facility at Los Alamos and new laboratory space for pit production, part of plans to get pit production up and rolling.
lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2016-01-25/rise-plutonium-production-points-more-work-pantex
6 comments:
If LANL starts ramping up Pit prodcuction does that mean that the folks that were running Rocky Flats will have a chance during the rebid?
Why doesn't NNSA turn this activity at LANL over to the Pantex/Y-12 contractor (Consolidated Nuclear LLC, which is Bechtel & Lockheed Martin) and let LANS (or its successor) just manage the research/science activities at LANL.
Plutonium production is an oxymoron within the DOE.
Pantex doesn't have the processing facilities for pit production. They are nothing more than a storage and dismantling site. If you want to spend 100's of millions if not billions and 20+ years to build or retrofit another plutonium processing facility, then knock your socks off.
January 29, 2016 at 12:11 PM
I guess I wasn't clear in my question of 6:05 AM. I was not suggesting moving LANL Pit work to Pantex, but having CNS take over the work at LANL.
This has been done at other large DOE/NNSA sites like INL, Oak Ridge, and Savannah River where work (and whole facilities) has be carved off from the main M&O contact and turned over to a separate M&O Contractor.
The best comparable example is Oak Ridge that use to have one M&O running both Y-12 and ORNL, now it has two: CNS for Y-12 and UT-Battelle for ORNL.
Y-12 and ORNL, now it has two: CNS for Y-12 and UT-Battelle for ORNL.
Y-12, well even nuns can get into that. Bad idea. Bechtel should run it all.
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