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U.S.: Controversial Production Of Plutonium Pits Restarted

By Jeremy Bransten, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

The United States Department of Energy recently announced that it has restarted production of plutonium pits -- a key component in nuclear weapons -- for the first time in 14 years. Critics say the move could trigger a new arms race and contravenes U.S. commitments to de-emphasize reliance on nuclear weapons. Supporters say keeping America's nuclear weapons stockpile in mint condition is the only way to guarantee security.

Prague, 1 May 2003 (RFE/RL) -- The first question on most people's minds when the U.S. Department of Energy announced it had resumed production of plutonium pits last week was: what is a plutonium pit?

Simply, a plutonium pit is a steel-encased ball of plutonium found in most nuclear weapons that acts as the trigger for nuclear detonation. It is a key component in ensuring that a nuclear bomb explodes on impact. The fact that the United States, after a 14-year moratorium, is restarting production of these pits has reopened debate on the role of America's nuclear arsenal -- and sparked renewed debate between proponents of modernizing the country's nuclear capability and those who would like to see it downsized and eventually eliminated.

U.S. scientist Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, is a leading authority on nuclear issues and an advocate of disarmament. He told RFE/RL that the resumption of plutonium pit production contravenes Article 6 of the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty, which committed the five declared nuclear powers of the time: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, Britain, and France to work for nuclear disarmament.

At a conference in May 2000 to review the treaty, participants renewed that pledge, promising to work for the "total elimination" of their nuclear arsenals. Makhijani said the Department of Energy's announcement violates that pledge and sends a signal to the world that nuclear weapons remain the central component of the U.S. defense strategy.

The fact that the United States -- despite its overwhelming conventional military strength -- feels the need to modernize its nuclear forces will not be lost on countries like North Korea, said Makhijani, and will prompt them to redouble their own efforts to acquire a nuclear arsenal. The history of proliferation, he said, bears him out.

Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, the Department of Energy's office tasked with oversight of America's nuclear arsenal, could not disagree more. Wilkes notes that Russia, China, France, and Britain have themselves not halted pit production and rejects any causal link to North Korea's nuclear program.

Resuming production of plutonium pits, Wilkes said, has nothing to do with a new arms race. It is not about building new weapons, but merely replacing the trigger switches on older weapons, to ensure the safety and reliability of current stocks. Wilkes.

Nevertheless, the Department of Energy's request for funds to build a new facility over the coming years, which will boost plutonium pit production from the current estimated 50 to 80 pits a year, up to 500, has raised eyebrows.

Makhijani points to the fact that last year's Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty (SORT) between the United States and Russia has a 10-year automatic expiration date and until that time, only provides for the storage -- not permanent decommissioning -- of extra nuclear warheads. Makhijani believes that the Department of Energy's restarting of pit production and its long-term plans to mass produce them indicates that the U.S. administration's ultimate intention is to eventually bring old nukes out of storage and put them back on active duty.

Again, at the National Nuclear Security Administration, spokesman Wilkes disagreed, saying plutonium pit production is a necessity -- among other factors for safety reasons. He noted that a new pit production facility is not due to come on-line until the year 2020, by which time most pits in America's stockpile could be in need of replacement. Until that time, low-level pit production must be maintained to ensure continuity.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in his foreword to the United States' 2002 Nuclear Posture Review -- a strategic document outlining America's defense strategy for the next decade -- wrote that America's nuclear infrastructure had "atrophied."

He emphasized the importance of revitalizing it "to increase confidence in the deployed forces, eliminate unneeded weapons, and mitigate the risks of technological surprise." Rumsfeld concluded by saying that maintaining America's "ability to respond to large strategic changes can permit us to reduce our nuclear arsenal and, at the same time, dissuade adversaries from starting a competition in nuclear armaments."