nuclear-news

America’s mounting piles of plutonium cores – to be removed, perilously, by contract workers

Reuters 20th April 2018 , In a sprawling plant near Amarillo, Texas, rows of workers perform by hand
one of the most dangerous jobs in American industry. Contract workers at
the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pantex facility gingerly remove the
plutonium cores from retired nuclear warheads. Although many safety rules
are in place, a slip of the hand could mean disaster.

In Energy Department facilities around the country, there are 54 metric tons of surplus
plutonium. Pantex, the plant near Amarillo, holds so much plutonium that it
has exceeded the 20,000 cores, called “pits,” regulations allow it to
hold in its temporary storage facility. There are enough cores there to
cause thousands of megatons of nuclear explosions. More are added each day.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-nukes-plutonium-specialreport/americas-nuclear-headache-old-plutonium-with-nowhere-to-go-idUSKBN1HR1KC

April 22, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | - plutonium, employment, USA