Mark Thompson's article "Obama's Showdown Over Nukes," published in Time Magazine earlier this week, did a great job of highlighting the controversy over Secretary Gates' statements in favor of developing a new series of nuclear weapons and President Obama's clear statements against such a development.
However, in stating that “there is concern that aging pits may fail to detonate properly, or perhaps at all,” the article fails to acknowledge the most current research findings on plutonium pits. The scientific authority on nuclear weapons, the JASON panel, as well as studies from DOE's own nuclear labs, have concluded that the plutonium pits in the current U.S. stockpile are viable for up to 100 years.
Unfortunately, despite this research, DOE has paved the way for the production of new pits at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In addition to pit production being unnecessary and costly (at least $130 million apiece)--not to mention the fact that it requires the construction of costly new facilities--it also sends the wrong message to the international community about U.S. efforts to drawdown its stockpile.
Also, POGO has doubts about the quality of the new generation of pits after learning that LANL asked for 72 waivers for the manufacturing specifications of pits, and that the new pits would not be subject to the rigorous testing required of those pits currently in our stockpile.
-- Peter Stockton & Ingrid Drake
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