Federal memo urges increased plutonium pit production at LANL

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s deputy administrator for defense programs argued in a memo this month that Los Alamos National Laboratory should increase its annual production of plutonium pits.

“Strategic deterrence is as critical to U.S. national security today as it has been at any point in history,” David E. Beck wrote in the Feb. 11 memo, sent to more than two dozen officials, including LANL Director Thom Mason. “Our adversaries are advancing their capabilities in key nuclear domains, eroding traditional sources of the United States’ strategic advantage.”

The memo was released last week by the Los Alamos Study Group, a LANL watchdog. 

“The memo outlines the Trump administration’s plans to accelerate design and production of nuclear weapons,” said Greg Mello, executive director, in an interview with the Journal on Friday. “NNSA has been told to go fast and get ready.” 

The federal Department of Energy describes plutonium pits as a key part of nuclear warheads, which are spherical shells of plutonium about the size of bowling balls. 

NNSA on its webpage says that, for various factors, including plutonium aging, these pits need to be replaced from time to time. But for three decades, the U.S. has not been able to produce them in quantities required for the nuclear weapons stockpile. 

The agency is statutorily required to produce no fewer than 80 pits annually by 2030. The agency wants to recapitalize facilities at LANL and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to increase pit production.

Mello said increased production of the plutonium pits raises environmental and safety issues as it would lead to “more transportation of plutonium waste products.” 

“Los Alamos National Lab and NNSA are loosening the safety rules,” Mello said.

A LANL spokesperson declined to respond to Mello’s comments and directed questions about the memo to the NNSA. The administration did not respond to an email seeking comment.

LANL produced the first plutonium pits as part of the Manhattan Project in 1945, its website notes. But it limited pit production for research purposes after World War II, and the Rocky Flats plant near Denver took up plutonium pit production during much of the Cold War.

The Colorado facility closed in 1989 after the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency raided it over environmental contamination. From 2007 to 2011, LANL ran a short production campaign to support the W88 warhead.

LANL’s PF-4 facility “currently contains the sole U.S. pit production capability and will reach its 50-year life before 2030,” NNSA says.

Beck’s memo calls for the completion of “near-term” modifications to the LANL pit facility to enable the production of 100 pits and achieve a sustained production rate of at least 60 pits per year. As that work occurs at LANL, Beck in the memo called for the Savannah River Site to “facilitate expanded pit production at LANL until the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility achieves full operations.” 

“Pits are to be qualified by being produced using qualified processes, equipment, and staff rather than each pit being independently evaluated and qualified,” the memo adds. 

Following his nomination, Beck told Congress that he has over 40 years of experience in the nuclear weapons complex, seven of which were spent at LANL as the associate director for weapons and engineering and as a principal deputy for its weapons programs. 

His memo advocated for accelerated development of long-range, nuclear-armed cruise missiles, sea-launched cruise missiles, the B61-13 thermonuclear gravity bomb and for the completion of “required initial flight tests of the W93 and W87-1 warheads, achieving test objectives and readiness to proceed to subsequent development phases.”

Those warheads are used by the U.S. Navy’s ballistic submarine force. 

“Our overarching imperative is to forge a nuclear security enterprise with the agility and resilience to prevail in an era of renewed great power competition,” the memo said. “Only such an enterprise will be able to field a more diverse, flexible, and effective deterrent on a timeline that influences our adversaries’ calculus surrounding the use of force against the United States and its allies.”

Justin Horwath covers tech and energy for the Journal. You can reach him at jhorwath@abqjournal.com.