Plutonium Pit Production

North Augusta, S.C., a city near the Savannah River Site, recently opened its $2 million waste transfer station, a facility paid for with money from a $600 million settlement in South Carolina’s case against the Department of Energy.  The settlement stemmed from DOE cancelling of the SRS Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication (MOX) Facility, one that […]

While the National Nuclear Security Administration expects a final record of decision for pit production analysis should be complete by 2027, some stakeholders said this week they are “deeply concerned” about the “human cost” of plutonium pits. “This is very dangerous material,” one commenter said Wednesday during an online forum, speaking tearfully of how her […]

North Augusta, S.C., a city near the Savannah River Site, recently opened its $2 million waste transfer station, a facility paid for with money from a $600 million settlement in South Carolina’s case against the Department of Energy.  The settlement stemmed from DOE cancelling of the SRS Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication (MOX) Facility, one that […]

One of President Donald Trump’s Friday executive orders instructs the secretary of energy to replace the surplus plutonium dilute and dispose program with one to process excess plutonium for fuel for advanced nuclear technologies. Trump’s executive order entitled “Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base,” one of four nuclear-themed executive orders released last week, said the program […]

James McConnell, acting principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the design for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility in South Carolina should be 90% complete in calendar year 2026. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), chair of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Strategic Forces, asked McConnell how the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

Triad National Security, the prime contractor at Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced the beginning of phasing into 24/7 operations at the New Mexico lab’s plutonium facility, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report. The nuclear watchdog report dated April 18 said that contractor management determined continuous operations at the facility were needed at […]

James McConnell, acting principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the design for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility in South Carolina should be 90% complete in calendar year 2026. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), chair of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on Strategic Forces, asked McConnell how the National Nuclear Security Administration […]

Here are events related to nuclear matters that Exchange Monitor staff are tracking: May:  21: Subcommittee hearing: The proposed fiscal 2026 budget for the Department of Energy is the subject of a hearing starting at 2:30 p.m. E.T. by the Senate Appropriations  Energy & Water Subcommittee.  22:  Spent Fuel Solutions webinar with Energy Communities Alliance […]

Triad National Security, the prime contractor at Los Alamos National Laboratory, announced the beginning of phasing into 24/7 operations at the New Mexico lab’s plutonium facility, according to a Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report. The nuclear watchdog report dated April 18 said that contractor management determined continuous operations at the facility were needed at […]

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), a vocal nuclear critic and member of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, told the Exchange Monitor Los Alamos National Laboratory “ought to be able to produce” 100 pits in four years. Garamendi spoke to the Monitor last week in the halls of the Capitol about Secretary of Energy Chris […]

On the heels of a federal judge’s ruling last fall, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration formally announced plans Friday for a detailed review of environmental impacts of planned plutonium pit production. DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced in the Federal Register it is kicking off a programmatic environmental impact statement […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said rebooting plutonium pit production is key to bringing nuclear power forward for energy and defense during the Donald Trump administration, according to Fox News Sunday. Plutonium pits, the bowling-ball shaped fissile core placed inside a thermonuclear weapon to trigger its explosion, were produced at the highest rate during the […]

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said rebooting plutonium pit production is key to bringing nuclear power forward for energy and defense during the Donald Trump administration, according to Fox News Sunday. Plutonium pits, the bowling-ball shaped fissile core placed inside a thermonuclear weapon to trigger its explosion, were produced at the highest rate during the […]

A representative from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) Tuesday said government  urgency for plutonium pit production at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is “unnecessary” —and increases risk to workers. Dylan Spaulding, a senior scientist researching nuclear weapons production at the Union of Concerned Scientists, laid out his case […]

A representative from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) Tuesday said government  urgency for plutonium pit production at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is “unnecessary” —and increases risk to workers. Dylan Spaulding, a senior scientist researching nuclear weapons production at the Union of Concerned Scientists, laid out his case […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration and environmental plaintiffs settled a lawsuit that could put a pause on plutonium pit production efforts at Savannah River Site if approved. The agreement, made public Jan. 16, would leave Los Alamos National Laboratory as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) sole pit factory until an environmental impact statement is […]

As the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration awaits its marching orders from the President Donald Trump (R) administration, the Los Alamos National Laboratory is now saying it will get to an annual plutonium pit production goal of 30 “ASAP.” Such pits are the triggers for thermonuclear weapons. David Dooley, the associate laboratory director […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration is “clear-eyed about the work ahead” with its two-site strategy for plutonium pit production, NNSA’s acting administrator Terea Robbins told the opening of the 17th annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit Monday. Much work remains over the next decade for NNSA to achieve its goal of […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration and environmental plaintiffs settled a lawsuit that could put a pause on plutonium pit production efforts at Savannah River Site if approved. The agreement, made public Jan. 16, would leave Los Alamos National Laboratory as the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) sole pit factory until an environmental impact statement is […]

As the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration awaits its marching orders from the President Donald Trump administration, the Los Alamos National Laboratory is now saying it will get to an annual plutonium pit production goal of 30 “ASAP.” Such pits are the triggers for thermonuclear weapons. David Dooley, the associate laboratory director for […]

ARLINGTON, VA — The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration is “clear-eyed about the work ahead” with its two-site strategy for plutonium pit production, NNSA’s acting administrator Teresa Robbins told the opening of the 17th annual Nuclear Deterrence Summit Monday. Much work remains over the next decade for NNSA to achieve its goal of […]

WASHINGTON — Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s (R) pick for secretary of energy, said he would make it a priority to enrich uranium domestically Wednesday at his confirmation hearing. “We have lost our ability to enrich uranium in this country, to construct plutonium pits, and to do so many critical things that are key to […]

WASHINGTON — Chris Wright, President-elect Donald Trump’s (R) pick for secretary of energy, said he would make it a priority to enrich uranium domestically Wednesday at his confirmation hearing. “We have lost our ability to enrich uranium in this country, to construct plutonium pits, and to do so many critical things that are key to […]

A federal judge granted the order Tuesday to vacate a judgement favoring environmentalists in a plutonium pit lawsuit and stop the case from going to an appeals court. The defendants, the Department of Energy and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), asked district judge Mary Geiger Lewis to vacate her Sept. 30 judgement validating […]

The federal government last week asked a judge to vacate a judgement favoring environmentalists in a plutonium pit lawsuit and stop the case from going to an appeals court. The defendants, the Department of Energy and its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), asked district judge Mary Geiger Lewis to vacate her Sept. 30 judgement […]

A 2019 law ordering production of pits at Los Alamos is not a substitute for a required environmental analysis of the program that, an antinuclear activist said this week in court, the National Nuclear Security Administration still has not done. “There is no such exemption here, and Congress cannot order the Los Alamos National Laboratory […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration, in asking a court to deny an activist’s amicus brief in an ongoing lawsuit, said it conducted a review of producing warhead cores in New Mexico.  At the end of October, Greg Mello, executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group in Albuquerque, N.M., filed a proposed amicus brief saying […]

The federal government and environmental groups have until Dec. 12 to figure out how to review the environmental effects of plutonium pit production without stopping development of a pit factory in South Carolina, a judge said Friday. It was more than a month ago that Judge Mary Lewis ruled, in a lawsuit filed in 2021 […]

The federal government and environmental groups have until Dec. 12 to figure out how to review the environmental effects of plutonium pit production without stopping development of a pit factory in South Carolina, a judge said Friday. It was more than a month ago that Judge Mary Lewis ruled, in a lawsuit filed in 2021 […]

The Los Alamos National Laboratory looked at ‘every possible alternative’ for building a powerline through Caja del Rio Plateau, the lab’s top federal manager wrote in a local newspaper over the weekend. “After years of study, debate and consultation that included the brightest minds at one of the world’s premier science and engineering laboratories, we […]