Friday, January 13, 2023
GAO report on pit production
The Government Accountability (GAO) on Thursday issued a report to Congressional committees entitled ‘NNSA Does Not Have a Comprehensive Schedule or Cost Estimate for Pit Production Capability”. The report says the GAO found that NNSA plans to establish the ability to produce 80 plutonium pits, the central core of a nuclear weapon per year at two sites; Los Alamos National Laboratory plans to produce 30 pits per year, rely on a broad range of activities, five large capital asset projects and other projects. The Savannah River Site plans to produce 50 pits rely on one capital asset project and some program activities. Several other Department of Energy sites play a supporting role. Reestablishing pit production likely presents NNSA’s largest investment in weapons production infrastructure to date, the GAO report states.
Just from reading this I would think Savannah River has a better chance as it will need only one capital asset project. The issue at LANL is that with 5 different projects if one goes wrong it delays the whole thing. I really do not know the details so this speculation could be completely off.
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Let’s be honest. There cannot be a budget for a project that has an I’ll-defined goal. “Build 80 pits per year” is not a goal that can even be measured. Rocky built thousand of pits per year, but failed to meet environmental law. Others have built pits but failed to meet device specifications. Still others have counted pits that already exist as, “new”. Finally, as long as the DNFSB is in the loop, there can be no success because they get paid only if something is, “wrong”. The whole endeavor is a sham.
Certainly Savannah River is more experienced at turning their heads when something is amiss. That fact will remain well into the future. There are still some people left at Los Alamos who understand that 100 out-of-spec are worth less than a single pit that can do the job that our country and the world demand from our deterrent. Here’s a tip; Mason isn’t such a person and people who hold that view will continue to be excised from the Lab.
Livermore will continue to demand to be first in line for a vanishingly small fraction of the deterrent.
No problem. Full speed ahead.
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