US takes another step toward gearing up nuclear pit factory

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. agency in charge of producing key components for the nation’s nuclear arsenal has taken another step toward getting equipment installed at a New Mexico laboratory as part of a multibillion-dollar mission. The National Nuclear Security Administration says the work will take place over multiple years and will include the design, fabrication and installation of gloveboxes and other tools needed to make plutonium cores. The manufacturing work will be split between Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. Nuclear watchdog groups say the project already is behind schedule and budgets have ballooned.