Image from U.S. Government Accountability Office report in May 2018 on the B61-12 nuclear bomb.
Y-12 approved for B61-12 weapons work
Y-12 part of extending life of nation’s oldest nuclear weapons
Image from U.S. Government Accountability Office report in May 2018 on B61-12 Nuclear Bomb.
The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is part of a program to extend the life of B61 bombs, the oldest nuclear weapons in the nation’s active stockpile, federal officials said.
The life extension program, or LEP, for the B61 bombs is the most complex and expensive since the U.S. Department of Energy began stockpile life extension activities in January 1996, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Critical components of the bombs are reaching the end of their operational lives, and the life extension program will result in a bomb known as B61-12. It will consolidate four versions of the bomb into one. The bombs could be carried on B-2A bomber aircraft and F-15E, F-16, F-35, and PA-200 fighters.
A GAO report described the role of six National Nuclear Security Administration sites and laboratories in the LEP. Besides Y-12, the NNSA sites are Kansas City National Security Campus in Missouri; Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico; Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas; Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina.
Y-12 is designated as the production site for the secondary. All weapons in the U.S. nuclear stockpile are two-stage nuclear weapons, or thermonuclear weapons. The first stage, known as the primary, is a fission device that is the initial source of nuclear energy, the GAO said. The secondary, which is the second stage, is a nuclear stage physically separate from the primary. Together, the primary and secondary are referred to as the weapon’s nuclear explosive package, the GAO said. [Read more…]
Y-12 to build replacement parts for nuclear warheads on submarine missiles
A Trident II D5 missile test launch (Photo courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration)
The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge has been approved to build parts for a system being replaced in the W88 nuclear warhead, which is deployed on submarine-launched missiles, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The W88 has been a key part of the nation’s nuclear deterrent since it became part of the weapons stockpile in 1988, the NNSA said on its website Tuesday. But it needs maintenance.
The W88 Alteration (Alt) 370 program will replace the warhead’s Arming, Fuzing, and Firing, or AF&F, subsystem and address other aging issues to maintain its current state of readiness, the NNSA said.
Y-12 has been approved to build component parts for the W88 Alt 370 nearly two years ahead of schedule. [Read more…]
