Technical Assessment of Options for Robotic Operations in the Special Nuclear Material Component Staging Facility at the Pantex Plant

Sandia National Laboratories, Intelligence Systems and Robotics Center

Published by Sandia National Laboratories, Intelligence Systems and Robotics Center, Albuquerque, NM, 1995

About this Item

[2], iii, [1], 31, [1] pages plus a one page transmittal letter at the front. Illustrations. Stapled in upper left corner. Has some wear and soiling. This is a report summarizing an assessment of certain options to merge robotic systems being developed for Pantex by Sandia National Laboratories. This appears to be a transmittal of the final version, and references incorporation of comments received. Plutonium pits are a critical core component of a nuclear weapon. To ensure the reliability, safety, and security of nuclear weapons without underground nuclear testing; weapons go through a surveillance process, where they are regularly taken apart, examined, and tests run on their components. Most of the weapons are reassembled and returned to the stockpile; however, some of the inspections are so thorough that the pit and other components are destroyed during evaluation. In order for this weapon to reenter the stockpile, a replacement pit is needed. The Pantex Plant is the primary United States nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility that aims to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. The facility is located on a 16,000 acre (65 km2) site 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Amarillo, in Carson County, Texas in the Panhandle of Texas. The plant is managed and operated for the United States Department of Energy by Consolidated Nuclear Security and Sandia National Laboratories. Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS) is composed of member companies Bechtel National, Inc., Lockheed Martin Services, Inc., Orbital ATK, Inc, and SOC LLC, with Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. as a teaming subcontractor. CNS also operates the Y-12 National Security Complex. As a major national security site, the plant and its grounds are strictly controlled and off-limits to all civilians, and the airspace above and around the plant is prohibited to civilian air traffic by the FAA as Prohibited Area P-47. The Pantex Plant was originally constructed as a conventional bomb plant for the United States Army Air Force during the early days of World War II. The Pantex Ordnance Plant was authorized February 24, 1942. Construction was completed on November 15, 1942 and workers from all over the U.S. flocked to Amarillo for jobs. Pantex was abruptly deactivated when the war ended and remained vacant until 1949, when Texas Technological College in Lubbock (now Texas Tech University) purchased the site for $1. Texas Tech used the land for experimental cattle-feeding operations. In 1951, at the request of the Atomic Energy Commission (now the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)), the Army exercised a recapture clause in the sale contract and reclaimed the main plant and 10,000 acres (40 km2) of surrounding land for use as a nuclear weapons production facility. The Atomic Energy Commission refurbished and expanded the plant at a cost of $25 million. The remaining 6,000 acres (24 km2) of the original site were leased from Texas Tech in 1989. The Pantex Plant was operated by Mason & Hanger from 1956 to 2001.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Technical Assessment of Options for Robotic Operations in the Special Nuclear Material Component Staging Facility at the Pantex Plant
• Publisher: Sandia National Laboratories, Intelligence Systems and Robotics Center, Albuquerque, NM
• Publication Date: 1995
• Binding: Wraps
• Edition: Presumed First Edition, First printing.
• Condition: Good