Menu Search Account

LegiStorm

Get LegiStorm App Visit Product Demo Website
» Get LegiStorm App
» Get LegiStorm Pro Free Demo

Nuclear Materials: Plutonium Processing in the Nuclear Weapons Complex

  Premium   Download PDF Now (42 pages)
Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date Aug. 20, 1992
Report No. RCED-92-109FS
Subject
Summary:

This fact sheet describes the methods and facilities that the Department of Energy (DOE) uses to process plutonium for use in nuclear weapons. Plutonium is not found in nature and has to be artificially produced. DOE no longer manufactures new plutonium, however. Instead, it processes and recycles the plutonium from retired nuclear weapons and the plutonium that remains as scrap or residue from plutonium processing. In summary, DOE recovers plutonium in two main ways--aqueous and pyrochemical--at four processing sites. Due to environmental and safety concerns and cuts in the numbers of nuclear weapons, only the Los Alamos processing facility is now up and running.

« Return to search Government Accountability Office reports