CargoAdmin, Bureaucrats, Moderators (CommentStreams), fileuploaders, Interface administrators, newuser, Push subscription managers, Suppressors, Administrators
5,236
edits
Pantex: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
m (1 revision imported) |
No edit summary |
||
| (6 intermediate revisions by one other user not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{for | {{Organization | ||
|OrganizationName=Pantex | |||
|OrganizationType=Executive Departments (Sub-organization) | |||
|Mission=To maintain the safety, security, and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile through assembly, disassembly, modification, and surveillance of nuclear weapons. Pantex also serves as the primary storage site for plutonium pits. | |||
|ParentOrganization=National Nuclear Security Administration | |||
|TopOrganization=Department of Energy | |||
|Employees=3300 | |||
|Budget=$1.5 billion [2025 FY] | |||
|OrganizationExecutive=Manager of the Pantex Field Office | |||
|Services=Nuclear weapons assembly; Nuclear weapons disassembly; High explosives development; Storage of nuclear materials | |||
|HeadquartersLocation=35.31178, -101.55752 | |||
|HeadquartersAddress=16181 National Road, Amarillo, TX 79120 | |||
|Website=https://www.pantex.com/ | |||
}} | |||
{{Short description|U.S. nuclear weapons assembly facility}} | {{Short description|U.S. nuclear weapons assembly facility}} | ||
'''Pantex''' is the primary United States [[nuclear weapon]]s assembly and disassembly facility that aims to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the [[Nuclear weapons of the United States|U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile]].<ref name="Gross">{{cite journal|last1=Gross|first1=Daniel A.|title=An Aging Army|journal=Distillations|date=2016|volume=2|issue=1|pages=26–36|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/an-aging-army|access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About Pantex Plant |url=http://www.pantex.com/about |website=www.pantex.com}}</ref> The facility is named for its location in the [[Texas Panhandle|Panhandle of Texas]] on a {{convert|16000|acre|sqmi km2|adj=on}} site {{convert|20|mi|km}} northeast of [[Amarillo, Texas|Amarillo]], in [[Carson County, Texas]]. The plant is managed and operated for the [[United States Department of Energy]] (DOE) by [[Consolidated Nuclear Security]] (CNS) and [[Sandia National Laboratories]]. CNS is composed of member companies [[Bechtel]], [[Leidos]], [[Orbital ATK]], and [[Day & Zimmermann|SOC]], with [[Booz Allen Hamilton]] as a teaming subcontractor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://cns-llc.us/about|title=About|website=CNS – Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref> CNS also operates the [[Y-12 National Security Complex]] in Tennessee, a manufacturing facility for nuclear weapons components.<ref name=":0" /> | '''Pantex''' is the primary United States [[nuclear weapon]]s assembly and disassembly facility that aims to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the [[Nuclear weapons of the United States|U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile]].<ref name="Gross">{{cite journal|last1=Gross|first1=Daniel A.|title=An Aging Army|journal=Distillations|date=2016|volume=2|issue=1|pages=26–36|url=https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/an-aging-army|access-date=22 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About Pantex Plant |url=http://www.pantex.com/about |website=www.pantex.com}}</ref> The facility is named for its location in the [[Texas Panhandle|Panhandle of Texas]] on a {{convert|16000|acre|sqmi km2|adj=on}} site {{convert|20|mi|km}} northeast of [[Amarillo, Texas|Amarillo]], in [[Carson County, Texas]]. The plant is managed and operated for the [[United States Department of Energy]] (DOE) by [[Consolidated Nuclear Security]] (CNS) and [[Sandia National Laboratories]]. CNS is composed of member companies [[Bechtel]], [[Leidos]], [[Orbital ATK]], and [[Day & Zimmermann|SOC]], with [[Booz Allen Hamilton]] as a teaming subcontractor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://cns-llc.us/about|title=About|website=CNS – Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC|access-date=2017-09-09}}</ref> CNS also operates the [[Y-12 National Security Complex]] in Tennessee, a manufacturing facility for nuclear weapons components.<ref name=":0" /> | ||
| Line 52: | Line 64: | ||
==Safety incidents== | ==Safety incidents== | ||
* In 1977, three men were killed in an explosion while machining [[LX-09]], a plastic explosive.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Relatives of 3 Killed in Blast At Nuclear Plant Lose Suit |newspaper= | * In 1977, three men were killed in an explosion while machining [[LX-09]], a plastic explosive.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Relatives of 3 Killed in Blast At Nuclear Plant Lose Suit |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 3, 1980 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/10/03/us/relatives-of-3-killed-in-blast-at-nuclear-plant-lose-suit.html |access-date=July 9, 2020}}</ref> | ||
* In 2005, the [[Project on Government Oversight]] (POGO) claimed that Pantex workers could have caused a nuclear explosion when they improperly applied too much pressure on an obsolete [[W56]] warhead while dismantling it.<ref name=ArizStar>{{Cite web | * In 2005, the [[Project on Government Oversight]] (POGO) claimed that Pantex workers could have caused a nuclear explosion when they improperly applied too much pressure on an obsolete [[W56]] warhead while dismantling it.<ref name=ArizStar>{{Cite web | ||
| last = Nesmith | first = Jeff | title = Watchdog: Firm nearly detonated nuke bomb| work = Arizona Daily Star | date = December 15, 2006 | url = http://azstarnet.com/news/article_f069a585-4e0a-51b6-830d-b7712c7d776d.html | access-date = October 5, 2011}}</ref> POGO said unidentified experts knowledgeable about the event told it of the danger. The U.S. Department of Energy fined the contractor running the plant at the time, [[Babcock & Wilcox|BWXT]], $110,000 for incidents involving the bomb, but did not mention any possibility of an explosion or identify the warhead. | | last = Nesmith | first = Jeff | title = Watchdog: Firm nearly detonated nuke bomb| work = Arizona Daily Star | date = December 15, 2006 | url = http://azstarnet.com/news/article_f069a585-4e0a-51b6-830d-b7712c7d776d.html | access-date = October 5, 2011}}</ref> POGO said unidentified experts knowledgeable about the event told it of the danger. The U.S. Department of Energy fined the contractor running the plant at the time, [[Babcock & Wilcox|BWXT]], $110,000 for incidents involving the bomb, but did not mention any possibility of an explosion or identify the warhead. | ||