Whee! It's NOOK-U-LAR War! US Resume Making Triggers

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

And it's one-two-three, what are we fightin' for? 

Profits!! War Contracts! Plutonium triggers! 
Radioactive OIL! It's NOOK-u-lar War!


AP via Times of India - June 1, 2002
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_Id=11632244


US to make triggers for nuclear warheads

WASHINGTON, June 1 (AP)--The US government plans to resume making
plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads and is beginning design work
on a manufacturing plant, the Energy Department has said.

The department halted the production of plutonium "pits," or
triggers, for warheads in 1989. The pit is a critical component of a
nuclear weapon.

"We need to have the capacity to manufacture certified pits to
maintain the safety, security and reliability of the US nuclear
deterrent into the future," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in
a statement.

The manufacturing plant is expected to cost $2.2 billion to $4.4
billion, depending on the production capacity, said a statement from
DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration.

The plan would start the new plant's production by 2020. While the
plant will be at an existing Energy Department weapons facility, the
announcement said no decision has been made on a site. The
site-selection process begins in September.

Currently the department relies on refurbishing triggers from
disassembled warheads when they are needed. That limited production
capability at the Pantex facility in Texas cannot meet long-term
needs, officials said.

The plutonium pit, about the size of a softball, is the trigger that
allows modern nuclear weapons to operate properly. They were last
produced at the DOE's Rocky Flats facility in Colorado. That facility
has been closed and now is in the midst of being cleaned of
radioactive waste.

 
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