Plutonium Pit
Production Mission
“An effective, responsive, and resilient nuclear weapons infrastructure [that
can] adapt flexibly to shifting requirements” - 2018 Nuclear Posture Review

Future

Recapitalized infrastructure to produce 80
pits per year in 2030 across two NNSA sites

To meet stockpile requirements, NNSA’s recommended alternative is to repurpose
the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) at the Savannah River Site (SRS)
to produce 50 pits per year with an enduring mission of at least 30 pits per year at
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
• Maintains LANL as the Nation’s Plutonium Center of Excellence for R&D
• Is the lowest risk approach
• Improves resiliency, flexibility, and redundancy by not relying on a single site
• Meets requirements of Nuclear Weapons Council and direction of 2018 Nuclear  
Posture Review
• Informed by analysis of alternatives, engineering assessment, and workforce  
analysis conducted by internal and external experts

Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication
Facility at Savannah River Site

More Responsive and Flexible Infrastructure
Savannah River Site

Activities

Los Alamos National Laboratory
Analytical
Chemistry

Disassembly/
Metal Prep

Mixed Oxide Fuel
Fabrication Facility

Present

Radiological
Laboratory
Utility Office
Building

Material
Characterization

Assembly

Plutonium Facility 4
Machining

Aqueous

Foundry

Aging infrastructure that poses significant risk to
pit production mission and our national security

LANL’s Cold War-era Plutonium Facility 4 is the only site presently capable of
plutonium pit production
Plutonium Facility 4 at Los
Alamos National Laboratory

Past

A vast, costly infrastructure to support a
large nuclear stockpile during the Cold War

1,000 pits per year were produced at Rocky Flats, which closed in 1992
and was supported by the Pinellas Plant, the Hanford Site, SRS, LANL, and
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado

energy.gov/nnsa

NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible
for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science.

May 2018