The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration has selected Los Alamos National Laboratory as its preferred alternative site for plutonium research, development, and limited manufacturing, along with nuclear weapons design and engineering, and supercomputing. Los Alamos has a long and successful history in plutonium science and limited manufacturing that support a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear deterrent.
This action is part of a larger effort to transform the nation's nuclear weapons complex into a smaller more responsive enterprise consistent with the security challenges of the 21st century. Los Alamos is at the forefront of the stockpile stewardship program, providing scientists and engineers a fundamental, science based understanding of nuclear weapons physics and engineering. The success of stockpile stewardship allows the nation to adhere to a test moratorium, reduce the size of the stockpile, and begin the transition to a smaller weapons complex.
"The preferred alternative selection confirms that Los Alamos is first and foremost a science R&D Laboratory," Said Michael Anastasio, Laboratory Director. The Laboratory is the nation's choice for materials-centric national security science that relies on effective integration of experiments with exceptional theory, modeling, and high-performance computing. Interdisciplinary excellence in theory, modeling, and simulation with experimental science and nuclear science continue to provide the Laboratory with innovative and responsive solutions to broad national security challenges through the agile, rapid application of key science and technology strengths.
For more information see the Preferred Alternative Fact Sheet
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.