Agency outlines plan in Vegas for nuclear arms component plant

[NVMojo]

I posted a story about this a few days ago but people didn't seem to get the connection to the Bush regime. Maybe with this title and more info, we all will get what is afoot.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The U.S. nuclear weapons agency outlined plans Tuesday to consolidate operations and build a plant to produce nuclear arms components called plutonium pits by 2022.

The plan by the National Nuclear Security Administration, called "Complex 2030," calls for the construction of a plutonium pit plant in one of five locations, including the Nevada Test Site, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said Ted Wyka, document manager for the plan's environmental impact study.

Such pits, which serve as the trigger of a nuclear weapon, have been produced in low quantities at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico since the Rocky Flats facility near Denver, was shut down by the FBI in 1989 for alleged environmental crimes.

The Los Alamos facility was designed for interim production, and a new, higher capacity plant producing 125 pits per year is needed to help rejuvenate an aging stockpile that contains nuclear weapons averaging more than 20 years old, Wyka said at a public hearing in Las Vegas.

"We haven't replaced any weapon in over a decade," Wyka said. "Components will continue to age and wear out, and we must be able to continue to fix those problems."

Other sites being considered for the pit plant include the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, the Pantex Plant in Texas and Los Alamos.

more...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/nov/28/112810029.html

[LearnedHand]

1. Okay, I'll bite

The DOE has been tossing around the idea of consolidating the weapons complex for about 15 years now, since way before the * regime. Is there another, more sinister connection I'm missing here? (P.S. You always post the MOST interesting things! I really enjoy your stuff.)