The Nuclear Weapons Council has validated the National Nuclear Security Administration‘s strategy to help the country meet the Defense Department‘s plutonium requirement of 80 pits per year by 2020.
NNSA recommended to repurpose the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina to generate more plutonium pits, while fully utilizing the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico for pit production, Ellen Lord and Lisa Gordon-Hagerty said in a joint statement published Thursday.
They added the “two-prong” approach calls for the MFFF to produce a minimum of 50 pits annually and the LANL to make at least 30.
The approved strategy is a result of collaboration between NNSA and the Defense Department.
Lord serves as the chair of NWC and defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, while Gordon-Hagerty serves as administrator of the NNSA and a member of NWC.