The Senate, amid an ongoing government shutdown, passed its mammoth annual authorization bill, the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), 70-20 Thursday with an en bloc amendment that includes a provision on an explosives facility in Amarillo, Texas.
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had a 71-page en bloc amendment approved and passed into the bill. Section 31 of the amendment had the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) “carry out the plan” to continue construction on the Pantex Plant’s High Explosives Synthesis Formulation and Production facility, also known as 21-D-510.
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), whose district abuts the Pantex Plant, has also submitted amendments on this facility, including for the 2025 NDAA where he placed a moratorium on halting construction on the facility, and again for the House’s version of the 2026 NDAA.
The amendment also said NNSA’s administrator had 90 days after the NDAA is enacted to “accelerate and modernize” plans to replace aging facilities within the nuclear security enterprise.
The Pantex Plant is the only NNSA site where it assembles, disassembles, and services active nuclear weapons. It also serves as a warehouse for special nuclear materials, as well as retired warheads and bombs. The 21-D-510 facility is a planned Pantex facility to develop full-scale high-explosive manufacturing.
This version of the NDAA authorized the highest limit yet for NNSA at $26.87 billion.