'60s nuclear bomb gets life extension

The Washington Times ^ | June 30, 2006 | Bill Gertz

[edpc]

The Energy Department has completed the first life extension on a 1960s-era nuclear bomb that is part of the Pentagon's strategic deterrent, a senior department official said yesterday.

"Completing the B61 first production unit is an important step in keeping our nuclear weapons stockpile safe and reliable," said Tom D'Agostino, deputy administrator for defense programs at the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration.

[edpc]

The B61 is a candidate for the Pentagon's plan to develop a deep-penetrating nuclear bomb that could be used against underground or hardened targets, such as secret nuclear facilities in Iran or North Korea.

Everything old is new again......

[Southack]

We've always replaced some of the 6,000 components in each bomb on a regular basis...the new upgrades have bigger pits and cores, better reflectors, better boosting agents, and much more bang.

[garbageseeker]

I would rather see the United States completely modernize all its nuclear forces than upgrading old ones.

[rake]

Well, didn't Howard Dean say it was going to be the 60s again?

[EricT.]

[ReignOfError]

I once talked to a guy at Los Alamos who described the lab's role in maintaining the nuclear stockpile after the 1992 testing moratorium. I thought he had the perfect analogy (probably the official line):

Imagine that your full-time job is to keep a car ready to roll on a moment's notice. You can take it apart, put it together, replace, test and retest each individual component. You can build computer models and use every form of gauge the 21st century can produce. The one thing you can't do is put the key in the ignition until the moment of truth.

Now imagine that it's not a car, but an ambulance.

That said, re-engineering existing weapons makes sense. Recycling the core, at the very least -- it's not practical to restart the breeder reactors when we're still trying to clean up the God-awful messes at Hanford and Savannah River.

If we have a proven design, why re-invent the wheel? We have hundreds of test results to gauge the effectiveness of the old designs, and it's not politically feasible to resume chain-reaction testing. There's a much greater likelihood of success if we stick with what we know works.

Going back to the Los Alamos car analogy, would you rather have a 426 Hemi, however modified and modernized, under the hood or a new engine design no one has ever cranked?

[garbageseeker]

But they are working on Antimatter bombs. The USAF has invested money in it.It just the cost and stability that needs to be worked on.

[demlosers]

Actually, what usually gets replaced in the B61s are called Limited Life Components that degrade over time. ;-)

[mkjessup]

I say don't worry about life extension for the B61 inventory, use them now at the end of their life cycle so we can end the life cycles of scumbags like Iran's Amadjihad, North Korea's Menta Lee Ill, Syria's Bashir Asshat, Venezuela's Little Huey Chavez, certainly one for El Jeffe down Habana way, am I leaving anybody out?

[Whispering Smith]

"...life extension on a 1960s-era nuclear bomb..."
What is a bomb? There are some things that may require explanation here. There were things that we called "DoD components." There were also things we called "contractor provided" that encapsulated these components. Within the DoD components there were service components and (at that time) AEC components. So what is getting upgraded and by who?

[conservativecorner]

Meanwhile the Russians are racing to complete a new ICBM.

[conservativecorner]

Amen BUMP!

[garbageseeker]

While the Russians and Chinese are updating and modernizing their systems, our systems begin to age. It is about time the United States begin to modernize allland based,sea based and tactical nuclear weapon systems. This includes the development of antimatter weapons.

[garbageseeker]

Thanks for the Bump!

[Moonman62]

I once talked to a guy at Los Alamos who described the lab's role in maintaining the nuclear stockpile after the 1992 testing moratorium. I thought he had the perfect analogy (probably the official line):

Which these days works to our advantage. We have resources like computer power and the National Ignition Facility that the other guys don't.

[ReignOfError]

Meanwhile the Russians are racing to complete a new ICBM.

But new warheads? They're no better off than we are on that. Meanwhile, we have air- and sub-launched cruise missiles that can put a warhead within a pubic hair's breadth of wherever we want it to be. It isn't 1960, and Russian ICBMs don't worry me all that much.

[garbageseeker]

But we still still modernize all of our nuclear forces. We have not had a new land based ballistic missile in 20 years. It is about time we started investing and modernizing in all U.S. nuclear forces instead of "updating" old systems.

[ReignOfError]

It is about time we started investing and modernizing in all U.S. nuclear forces instead of "updating" old systems.

We may have to agree to disagree on that. I just don't see the need. If we can put as much destructive power as we want anywhere on Earth we want it, the money could be better spent elsewhere. Besides which, unless we're going to abrogate the test ban, the new designs will be untested and it will be more difficult to trust them than the older ones.

[garbageseeker]

the new designs will be untested and it will be more difficult to trust them than the older ones.

Lawerence Livermore and Los Alamos are home to two IBM supercomputers. We can test and simulate those new design without a "live fire" test. They have data on every atomic explosion ever conducted by the United States. Those data from those explosions are called "legacy codes" We need a brand new design to reflect the battlefield of the 21st century instead of the old outdated ones of the 20th century.

[Daaave]

Deactivation of Peacekeeper missiles begins

"10/04/02 - F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. (AFPN) -- On a blustery day in a remote corner of the plains of Wyoming, Secretary of the Air Force Dr. James Roche made a special trip to witness the first phase of the deactivation process of the Peacekeeper Intercontinental Ballistic Missile at Launch Facility S-07 near Hawk Springs, Wyo."

"This is the most accurate ballistic missile that was ever designed and fielded," Roche said.

"The deactivation is the first step of President Bush's stated goal to reduce the nation's nuclear arsenal from 6,000 warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200. Roche said Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin both verbally agreed to cut their nuclear arsenal without enacting a treaty."

globalsecurity.org/