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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 04, 2002

US Orders Design of New Weapons Plan: Washington Post

The Bush administration has ordered conceptual design work started for a new 2 billion dollarsto 4 billion dollars plant that would produce plutonium triggers for the U.S. nuclear weapons force beginning in 2020, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the U.S. nuclear weapons program.


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The Bush administration has ordered conceptual design work started for a new 2 billion dollarsto 4 billion dollars plant that would produce plutonium triggers for the U.S. nuclear weapons force beginning in 2020, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the U.S. nuclear weapons program.

Because the plutonium in the current triggers on the thermonuclear weapons is expected to decay, the triggers will be needed even though President George W. Bush last month signed an agreement with Russia to reduce the number of U.S. deployed nuclear warheads by two-thirds over the next 10 years, the Post said.

The triggers, called "pits," provide a small atomic burst that creates the nuclear fusion explosion in the more powerful thermonuclear weapons. Pit production, which took place at Rocky Flats, Colorado, ended in 1989.

The U.S. Nuclear Posture Review completed earlier this year said that "having the ability to produce pits is important to ensure the future viability of the nation's nuclear deterrent."

"We need to have the capacity to manufacture certified pits to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear deterrent into the future," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Friday.


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