The Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tenn., has been qualified by the feds to make a “binary” alloy for the first time in 20 years that could help modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in a Nov. 5 press release that Y-12 has received the green light to resume production of the binary alloy.
The binary alloy is used to make “radiation cases, which enclose essential components within America’s nuclear weapons,” NNSA said in the release. Resumption of production means the U.S. nuclear weapons program can stop drawing down a dwindling supply of this alloy manufactured years ago.
NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams said this is an example of the Donald Trump administration reinvesting in the nation’s nuclear weapons infrastructure.
“This is not just about a warhead ingredient,” Williams said in the news release. “This shift symbolizes our commitment to the long-term health of our weapons stockpile and the lasting security of our country.”
Experts from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico collaborated with NNSA on restarting the manufacturing at Y-12, according to the release.
