Los Alamos National Laboratory has successfully made the first nuclear weapons pit in 14 years that meets specifications for use in the U.S. stockpile. A pit is the fissile core of a nuclear weapon's physics package.

The six-year effort at Los Alamos' plutonium processing facility restores the nation's ability to make nuclear weapons, a capability the United States lost when the Rocky Flats Plant near Boulder, Colorado, shut down in June 1989.

"Our next challenge is to carry out the required experiments, analyses and computer modeling so we can certify that this newly manufactured pit will perform reliably in the stockpile, without conducting underground nuclear tests," said Pete Nanos, Los Alamos' interim director. Los Alamos has committed to complete the certification process and to have the ability to deliver a pit to the military that meets all stockpile requirements by 2007. The total cost of the manufacturing program to date is roughly $350 million; the total project cost for the manufacturing and certification program, beginning with the new baseline, is estimated at $1.5 billion.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and national security concerns. >from *Los Alamos restores U.S. ability to make nuclear weapons*. April 22, 2003

related context
> Doomsday Clock . Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
> Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). Information and analysis to combat the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
> Los Alamos Study Group. Nuclear disarmament organization.
> asci white 12.3 teraflops supercomputer, to simulate nuclear testing. june 29, 2000

imago
> NO MORE