Executive Summary:
Direct pit reuse,
the use of existing pits with no modifications, does not meet all the objectives
of the RRW program, but can offer limited improvements in performance margin and
surety for some systems. Modifications of existing pits would allow for more
margin and surety improvements than direct reuse; this would require some of the
same investments in our R&D and manufacturing infrastructure as is required
to establish a production capacity for new pits. Using newly manufactured pits
offers the most flexibility for improving performance margin, surety, and for
meeting all of the goals of the RRW program. The Nuclear Weapons Council
believes that a pit production capacity of 50-80 new pits per year is the
capacity that should be implemented, consistent with the March, 2008 DoD/DOE
white paper. All options for the future stockpile will require investments in
the science tools that allow us to assess and certify the stockpile in the
absence of nuclear testing.
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