The plutonium in nuclear warheads seems to be much sturdier than previously thought, with a reliable life span of as much as 100 years.
Scientists who studied all of the warheads in the government's nuclear arsenal reported that plutonium pits -- the core of the weapon -- can be counted on to work as expected for twice as long as once believed.
The classified report's conclusions were released on Wednesday by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi-autonomous agency within the US Energy Department that oversees the nuclear weapons program.
"These studies show that the degradation of plutonium in our nuclear weapons will not affect warhead reliability for decades," said Linton Brooks, head of the NNSA.
But he added the plutonium -- in the form of softball-size "pits" that serve as a trigger for nuclear detonation -- is not the only thing that might go wrong as a warhead ages. Therefore, plans to design sturdier, long-lasting warheads will proceed as planned.
"Although plutonium aging contributes, other factors control the overall life expectancy of nuclear weapons systems," Brooks said.
The agency also plans to continue to seek money from Congress for construction of a new factory to manufacture plutonium pits, although opponents of such a facility argue the new study suggests it is not needed.
The new findings "show, on a practical basis, that we don't need expensive, provocative new nuclear weapons designs and industrial-scale bomb production," said Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, a group that monitors activities at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
"These proposals make the US appear hypocritical when preaching to other nations that they can't have weapons of mass destruction," Coghlan said.
Susan Gordon, director of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, said the study makes a new pit-making plant unnecessary.
"The US has a huge surplus of plutonium pits and now DOE's own independent expert scientists confirm that they last 100 years," she said.
The alliance represents a network of citizen groups near federal nuclear weapons facilities.
The research was conducted by nuclear engineers at the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore weapons laboratories and then reviewed by an outside panel of nuclear physicists and weapons experts.
The government has long assumed that plutonium would deteriorate to where it no longer could be relied upon in 45 years to 60 years. The new study put the expected minimum lifetime for plutonium pits at 85 years to 100 years, depending on the warhead.
"What this [finding] does do is it informs us that pit age isn't the primary thing that concerns us," said Tom D'Agostino, NNSA deputy administrator for defense programs.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
The dramatic US operation that deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro this month might have left North Korean leader Kim Jong-un feeling he was also vulnerable to “decapitation,” a former Pyongyang envoy to Havana said. Lee Il-kyu — who served as Pyongyang’s political counselor in Cuba from 2019 until 2023 — said that Washington’s lightning extraction in Caracas was a worst-case scenario for his former boss. “Kim must have felt that a so-called decapitation operation is actually possible,” said Lee, who now works for a state-backed think tank in Seoul. North Korea’s leadership has long accused Washington of seeking to remove it from power
RSS