New Nuclear Weapons Pit Production Sit Proposed
by Sally Breen
Plutonium pits are the triggers for thermonuclear weapons. They are the
essential component. The United States currently has 10,000 deployed nuclear
weapons, 5,000 "strategic pits," and an additional 12,000 "surplus"
plutonium pits stored at the Pantex plant in Texas. Under the Bush/Putin
agreement (Moscow or SORT Treaty), none of these will be destroyed. Rather
they will be kept in storage. There is no indication that the pits now in
use or in storage are or will become unsafe or unreliable for at least 60
years.
The Nuclear Posture Review, leaked in January 2001, calls for the
construction of a Modern Pit Facility to produce up to 500 nuclear pits per
year, approaching Cold War rates!
On September 16, 2002, the National Nuclear Security Administration a
nuclear weapons agency within the Department of Energy, formally announced
its intent to build a "Modern Pit Facility" (MPF). And on May 30, 2003, the
NNSA decided to proceed with the MPF, but did not specify a location.
Meanwhile, Los Alamos National Laboratories is gearing up to begin producing
up to 80 pits per year.
A Modern Pit Facility would be the world' s newest, most expensive, and
largest factory for manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. What would be
the impact of a MPF on other nations?
If the United States developed the MPF, it would be in violation of the
requirements of Article VI of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treat (NPT).
Rocky Flats, previously the site for plutonium pit production, was shut down
for gross environmental violations. Yet, there is no adequate analysis of
human health and environmental impacts at the Rocky Flats Plant. This is
necessary to establish a baseline to analyze such impacts at any MPF site.
The environmental impact statement fails to provide an analysis of the
impact of a permanent disposal site for large amounts of radioactive and
hazardous wastes generated during the MPF's projected 50-year operational
lifetime.
There are five proposed locations for the MPF, but the two most likely sites
for consideration are the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the
Waste Isolation Plant in New Mexico. However, both Texas senators are in
favor of locating the site at Pantex, which is situated over the Ogallala
Aquifer.
Write your senators now. NO MODERN PIT FACILITY IS NEEDED.
Sources: Nuclear Watch, New Mexico; Peace Farm, Pantex, Texas.
Back to Peace Talk Index, Fall,
2003