Government Eyes SRS for A-Bomb Production

June 19, 2002
Paraphrased by Steve Waldrop

The U.S. government is looking at the Savannah River Site, in South Carolina, for a new multibillion-dollar plant that would build atomic bombs. The bombs known as "plutonium triggers", or "pits", are used in thermonuclear warheads.

The Energy Department says new bombs are necessary because existing pits may degrade and become unreliable.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said that, "We need to have the capacity to manufacture certified pits to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent into the future."

Despite a recent agreement with Russia to reduce the number of America's deployed nuclear warheads by two-thirds- from 6,000 today to about 2,000 over the next ten years, the government says the pits will be needed. The warheads removed from operational status will not be destroyed, but will remain in ready service.

The new plant will be built at a cost of between $2 billion to $4 billion. Production would begin in 2020, according to sources at the Energy Department.

The Bush administration's "nuclear posture review", completed earlier this year, said having a large scale ability to produce hundreds of pits "is important to ensure the future viability of the nation's nuclear deterrent."

The Energy Department says design and conceptual work for the pit manufacturing facility, which would reprocess plutonium from old pits, is getting under way. The agency plans to begin a formal site selection process this fall.

Documents from the Energy Department indicates that the agency is already leaning toward the 310-square-mile Savannah River Site. "Savannah River Site is currently being considered for the large- scale pit manufacturing mission," the department said in an internal planning document last year. "This proposed facility will process return pits....into war reserve certified pits."

At the peak of the Cold War, Savannah River's five reactors churned out both plutonium and tritium for thermonuclear warheads. All five of Savannah River's reactors are now shut down.

Documents also mention Oak Ridge National Laboratory, near Knoxville, Tennessee, as a possible location.