Los Alamos Accelerates Nuclear Pit Production

Los Alamos National Laboratory is racing ahead on plutonium pit production—its only U.S. facility still capable of this critical task—and doubling down on upgrades to aging infrastructure amid rising geopolitical urgency. Since 2024, they’ve already delivered their first pit under a new mission, fueled by a budget that’s doubled since 2019 and a proposed presidential increase, though Congress still holds the final say. Safety remains non-negotiable, with Director Thom Mason stressing that missing deadlines would only happen if operations shut down due to safety failures. To ease worker strain, they’re exploring off-site campuses, while also rolling out open-source AI tools to boost research efficiency and pushing forward a controversial new power line to support their growing supercomputing demands. Support the show:Get a discount at https://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/a87576c514a24a3d