Los Alamos plutonium “Plan B” – the documents

We know a bit more about Los Alamos National Laboratory’s mysterious “Plan B” to do plutonium work for the nation’s nuclear stockpile thanks to a pair of PowerPoint presentations published recently. Here’s my story for today’s Journal North:

Los Alamos National Laboratory’s proposed alternative to building a multibillion dollar plutonium laboratory would require $800 million over the next decade to upgrade existing buildings to do the lab’s nuclear weapons work, according to lab documents.

The proposal includes doing work in a smaller existing laboratory, shipping some plutonium for chemical analysis to a lab in California, and construction of a $120 million tunnel to allow lab workers to move plutonium from building to building at Los Alamos without the security and safety risks associated with above-ground transport.

One small plutonium-capable lab building, the Radiological Laboratory Utility Office Building, would require nearly $200 million in upgrades to handle larger quantities of plutonium, according to the proposal.

And here are the relevant documents (both pdfs):

• Los Alamos National Laboratory Weapons Program Laboratory Director Update LANS/LLNS Mission Committee
• CMRR Background Briefing to Senate Foreign Relations Staff

Hat tip to Trish Williams-Mello at the Los Alamos Study Group for help in locating the second set of briefing slides.