Plutonium pit plan involving SC endorsed by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm

• By Colin Demarest cdemarest@aikenstandard.com
• May 6, 2021

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at a Thursday budget hearing endorsed a plan to craft nuclear weapon cores in both South Carolina and New Mexico, a vote of confidence as the multibillion-dollar venture clambers forward.

Asked by Rep. Ken Calvert of California if she supports the National Nuclear Security Administration’s two-site approach to producing 80 plutonium pits per year, Granholm answered concisely: “I do.” Calvert, a Republican, was pleased.

The secretary’s response Thursday aligns with previous comments she’s made – and goes one step further in terms of specificity.

“We have to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal,” Granholm said at the White House in early April. “We have to keep and maintain the stockpile to make sure that it is safe and effective, and we will continue to do that to ensure that we can deter nuclear aggression from other countries.”

Federal law mandates the production of 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030. To meet the requirement and deadline, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Defense Department in May 2018 recommended producing the key warhead components in two places: the Savannah River Site, south of Aiken, and Los Alamos National Lab, near Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The National Nuclear Security Administration late last month approved a major project milestone, known as Critical Decision-1, for Los Alamos. A related, if not similar, decision for the Savannah River Site is expected soon; preliminary plans for South Carolina pit production were submitted to the federal government earlier this year.

The hearing at which Granholm testified Thursday focused on her department’s fiscal year 2022 budget request. President Joe Biden’s spending blueprint, published in early April, floated $46.1 billion for the Energy Department.

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s potential share remains hazy. Granholm did not clear things up Thursday. The administration has pledged to provide more budget information in the near future.

Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, recently lobbied for $495 million for the proposed Savannah River Site pit factory, officially known as the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility.

Colin Demarest covers the Savannah River Site, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration and government in general. Follow him on Twitter: @demarest_colin