The Nuclear Weapons Complex Management for Health, Safety, and the Environment (1989) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix B: The DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex: A Descriptive Overview
Appendix B: The DOE Nuclear Weapons Complex: A Descriptive Overview
Pages 102-112
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From page 102... ...
The weapons production facilities fabricate the required nuclear components, supply the hundreds of non-nuclear components, and assemble the warheads. In addition, DP manages He test facility and a waste repository for the operation, which is currently the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
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From page 103... ...
SNL also has responsibility for engineering modifications and upgrades to weapons already deployed and for monitoring the stockpile. MATERIALS PRODUCTION FACILITIES The materials production facilities include the gaseous diffusion plants at Oak Ridge in Tennessee, Paducah in Kentucky, and Piketon in Ohio; Herald, Ashtabula, Hanford; the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, Y-12 at Oak Ridge, and the Savannah River Site.
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From page 104... ...
~ Lithium bydroxide Li-6^ stockpile enrichment stockpile F etired weaponS=_| ~ Li~ _ D2O ~Not in operation at present APPE:NDIX B U03 Biliets HANFORD DU ~ N-Reactor. LEU nitrate ~ , HEU nitrate SAVANNAH RIVER HEU Fuel fabrication | Water _ Heavy water plant.
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From page 105... ...
APPENDIX B l U03 ~- ~ _ PUREX plant _ Plutonium Pu metal Finishing Plant I_ i Pu metal _ F-Canyon i Tritium facility : Filled reservoirs 1 ~ To deployed Tritium recycled weapons from weapons HEU 8 DU components ' Li~deuteride components Hasten, Tennessee (Army) Bulk explosive ROCKY FLATS Pu scrap Fission cores T3 reservoirs n ~ _ ~ ~ Kansas City Bendix Electronic, mechanical, plastic components Pinellas, Florida Neutron generators Retired weapons Mound, Ohio Actuators, igniters, detonators 105 PANTEX Recycled materials / V Nuclear weapons ~ _ V
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From page 106... ...
LEU was used for the fuelltarget rods at the Hanford N-Reactor, which is now on cold standby. For purposes of companson, the fuel in commercial power reactors is about 3 percent uranium-235, the driver fuel for the production reactors at SRS is typically 60 percent uranium-235, and naval reactor fuel is 97.3 percent uranium235.
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From page 107... ...
PEP can also be used to recycle scrap plutonium from Hanford and Rocky Flats. - r ICPP/Y-12/Savannah River The other heavy metal stream is somewhat newer, and it depends to some extent on heavy elements previously produced.
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From page 108... ...
At the SRS Fuel Fabrication Facility, the uranium metal from Y-12 is alloyed with aluminum and ex~uded into fuel rods with aluminum cladding. At the SRS Target Fabrication Facility, the hollow tubes of depleted uranium from Fernald are electroplated with nickel and bonded into aluminum cans to serve as target rods for transmutation into plutonium.
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From page 109... ...
Tritium is recovered from the lithium Beget rods in a separate Tritium Facility, where remote handling is not required (see Light Element Production below)
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From page 110... ...
. The Li6D is formed into weapons components and shipped to Pantex (see Weapons Production Facilities below)
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From page 111... ...
The Y-12 Plant and the Rocky Flats Plant contain specialized machine shops that process raw nuclear materials into the finished components required by the warhead designs. The Y- 12 Plant bakes and machines Li6D into ceramic weapons components for shipment to Pantex.
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From page 112... ...
The nuclear components are returned to the plants that produce them for processing and recycling. Pantex is Be only Cecilia with He capability to disassemble nuclear weapons It is therefore the swing point for any maintenance or modification of weapons, excel for the replenishment of the trivium resenro~s.
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