Pu Pit Production Engineering Assessment; Engineering Assessment Report.
Parsons, 2018. Revision 2. Wraps. Various paginations (approximately 250 pages--some pages blank were UNCI information had been removed). Acronyms. Tables. Figures. Appendices. This had previously been marked as Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information but that marking has been lined out on every page it appeared. This was produced in support of Enterprise Construction Management Services. 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. DOE/NNSA tasked Parsons, under the Enterprise Construction Management Services contract to conduct this engineering assessment (EA) of a 50 ppy capability in support of Pre-Critical Decision (CD)-1 activities to support decision making and conceptual design of preferred alternatives for enduring pit production and related plutonium operations. 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: 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, TA-55, Radiography, Engineering Feasibility
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