1 bomb core: $50 million, or 1,000 teachers. Choose.
updated 14 Sep 2021

In August 2021, this billboard was installed on Interstate 25, facing the southbound traffic traveling toward Albuquerque, NM, just before the Bernalillo exit for Hwy 550, and seen by 451,000 pairs of eyes per month. The plutonium bomb core ("pit") -- a first on any billboard we are sure! -- shown happens to be ellipsoidal. Imagine that. What do pits cost these days at the neighborhood plutonium facility? As you might think, there has been some inflation since the good old days of the "heroic mode of production" (h/t Joe Masco) (EEOIPCA results for Rocky Flats, for comparison at LANL). The answer is: at least $50 million (M) apiece. See our Bulletin 282 for more information.