US is producing plutonium cores for warheads again
Model of plutonium core and means for storage and transportation
The US is resuming production of plutonium cores, which are needed to assemble strategic nuclear warheads. weapons. Recently, one of the nuclear industry organizations successfully completed the production of the first such product from a new batch and successfully passed all the necessary tests. Now this core is being transferred to another enterprise, which will use it in the assembly of a real warhead.
Recent successes
In the early 2010s, the US military and political leadership assessed the state of its nuclear industry and came to the conclusion that it needed to be urgently restored. It was necessary to re-master a number of technologies and establish the production of various products and devices. The result of this process was to be new warheads for strategic weapons.
Over the past several years, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and its affiliates have been working hard to meet their goals. They have repeatedly reported small accomplishments in the past, and now they proudly announce that they have completed a major milestone.
By now, the organizations involved in the project have fully restored their plutonium core manufacturing capabilities. The main production site is located at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Kansas City National Security Enterprise are also involved in the project in varying roles.
On October 1, NNSA announced that the first core of the new batch had been completed at Los Alamos. It had passed all the necessary tests and received all the required documents. After that, the core was sent to Kansas City, where it will be installed in the W87-1 warhead, intended for the advanced missiles.
W87-1 warheads on the LGM-118A missile's warhead
It is noteworthy that this is the first plutonium core for a warhead manufactured since 1989. Its appearance is a major milestone in stories American nuclear industry. In essence, we are talking about restoring critically important production, without which the prospects for the development of US strategic nuclear forces remain uncertain.
Plans for the future
NNSA has already revealed some rough plans for the future, although it has not released all the details. At this point, we are only talking about initial achievements, and the nuclear industry organizations will have to work long and hard to realize all the planned goals.
The first core of the new release has already been delivered to the plant, where it will be used to assemble a full-fledged warhead of the W87 Mod 1 type. The timeframe for completing this work has not yet been announced.
In the next decade, the emphasis will be on developing and expanding production. By the mid-thirties, it is planned to increase it to 50 cores per year. Then a new plutonium processing plant will begin its work, which will allow for an even greater increase in production rates. By the end of the next decade, it is planned to produce 80 cores per year.
The plutonium cores of the new series will be used to update the arsenals. In the near future, they are planned to be installed on the W87-1 type warheads intended for new ICBMs. It is expected that reaching the production rate of 50-80 cores per year will allow all existing warheads to be updated in a limited time frame and the ICBMs on duty to be re-equipped.
Breeding stage for LGM-30
In the future, the development and production of new types of warheads is not ruled out. What they will be like and what cores they will require is still unknown. But it is already clear that these activities will become possible, in particular, thanks to the restoration of plutonium core production. NNSA will be able to produce cores and related products of any required configuration, corresponding to the requirements of the customer and a specific project.
Technical aspects
The plutonium core is a fairly simple product. It is a simple sphere of plutonium-239, the mass of which is less than the critical mass. Depending on the design of the nuclear warhead, this sphere can weigh up to 10 kg and have a diameter of less than 100 mm.
The core is placed in a warhead and equipped with means to initiate a chain reaction. When the warhead is triggered, the core substance begins to divide, releasing a huge amount of energy.
The new cores will be used in the W87-1 warheads. These warheads will eventually become the main equipment of the new generation LGM-35A Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The history of the modern W87 Mod 1 block dates back to the early eighties. At that time, the Livermore National Laboratory created the W87 Mod 0 warhead, intended for the prospective MX-type ICBM, which later received the index LGM-118A Peacekeeper.
Minuteman missile liftoff
In 1986, the W87 Mod 0 charge was developed based on the serial W87-1. It featured a more advanced design and increased power. This warhead was planned to be used on future MGM-134 Midgetman missiles. However, in 1992, the development of the Midgetman was stopped, and the W87-1 project was archived.
The finished warhead project was remembered only in 2019, when the development of the new generation LGM-35A ICBM began. It was decided to modify the W87-1 product using modern solutions and technologies, and then use it on the new missile.
There is no precise information about the new version of the W87 Mod 1 project. The Pentagon, NNSA and other organizations participating in the project do not disclose any data. Even the general principles of the project and the degree of its relationship with the development of the same name from the eighties remain unknown.
Apparently, the new version of the W87-1 warhead will not differ fundamentally from the one created in the past in its main features. It will be a medium-sized product weighing no more than 250-300 kg. It will be made in a conical body with heat protection necessary for passing through dense layers of the atmosphere. Like other products of this class, the W87-1 block will not receive flight control. It will have to move to the target along a ballistic trajectory, to which it will be brought by the dispensing stage.
The W87 Mod 1 block, developed in the 475s, was equipped with a thermonuclear charge with a capacity of XNUMX kt of TNT equivalent. A fuse with two operating modes was used - upon contact with the surface or at a specified height above it. What characteristics the deeply modernized warhead will have is still unknown.
Design appearance of the LGM-35A ICBM
The prospective LGM-35A Sentinel ICBM is being developed by Northrop Grumman and is still in the earliest stages of development. Only the most basic details about this project have been disclosed to date, and the bulk of information remains unavailable. In particular, the payload of the future missile and the configuration of its combat equipment are unknown.
It is assumed that the Sentinel will carry a multiple warhead. With technical characteristics at the level of the Minuteman or better, this ICBM will be able to carry up to 8-10 warheads of the new type. However, other options are also possible. Thus, the current LGM-30 were once re-equipped with single-block warheads with one W87-1 block.
Big plans
The current state of the US strategic nuclear forces leaves much to be desired, and the Pentagon is actively working to address this problem. Over the past decade, it has taken a number of measures aimed at restoring lost production capacity, as well as developing new missiles and related combat equipment.
These programs are complex and moving slowly. However, NNSA and others are already showing early results. Critical production is gradually being restored, giving the Pentagon reason for optimism. Whether the current successes can be built upon and all the desired results achieved in the future remains to be seen.
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