Final Report for the Plutonium Pit Production Analysis of Alternatives
Washington DC: United States, National Nuclear Security Administration, Defense Programs, 2017. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Wraps. Various paginations (approximately 400 pages). Figures. Tables. Appendices. List of Acronyms. This had previously been Marked Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information but this marking has been struck through on every page where it had appeared. The National Nuclear Security Administration requires a sustained production capacity of no fewer than 80 pits per year (PPY) by 2030. NNSA is developing and installing capability at LANL in Plutonium Facility (PF)-4 to produced 30 ppy by 2026. The Analysis of Alternatives (AOA) for meeting pit production requirements, completed in September 2017, assessed alternatives to close this identified mission gap in the NNSA's pit production capability. The AoA is a post Critical Decision (CD)-0, pre-CD-1 activity to identify a preferred alternative for conceptual design in preparation for the Deputy Secretary of Energy to make a program decision at CD-1. The pit, named after the hard core found in fruits such as peaches and apricots, is the core of an implosion nuclear weapon – the fissile material and any neutron reflector or tamper bonded to it. Some weapons tested during the 1950s used pits made with U-235 alone, or in composite with plutonium, but all-plutonium pits are the smallest in diameter and have been the standard since the early 1960s. Between 1954 and 1989, pits for US weapons were produced at the Rocky Flats Plant; the plant was later closed due to numerous safety issues. In 1996 the pit production was also relocated to Los Alamos. The current LANL production of new pits is limited to about 20 pits per year, though NNSA is pushing to increase the production, for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program. The US Congress however has repeatedly declined funding.
Up until around 2010, Los Alamos National Laboratory had the capacity to produce 10 to 20 pits a year. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Analysis of Alternatives, Pit Production, Plutonium, Simulation Model, Verification, Validation, Pit Types, Pit Re-use, Pit Manufacturing, Risk Analysis, PF-4, Pu-238, Sensitivity Analysis, Los Alamos, Life-cycle Cost, Risk Analysis
[Book #76194]
Price: $250.00