| Need for pit is real; time to proceed is now FOR MOST OF its life, the Savannah River Site has been part of a far-flung national complex that provided America's nuclear deterrent. This nuclear deterrent played a major role in winning the Cold War. With the end of the Cold War, both the American and Russian governments have decreased their nuclear-weapon stockpiles. Many of the facilities of the Department of Energy's weapons complex - including some at SRS - have been or are being shut down. Still, the defense strategy of the United States relies on our nuclear deterrent. And, that requires a capability to ensure the continuing quality and effectiveness of the weapons in our smaller stockpile. Incredibly, our nation no longer has the capability to recycle old weapons or to determine the extent of their deterioration. Without that capability, the United States may be sliding toward de facto unilateral nuclear disarmament. Consider the following remarkable statements from a 2003 blue-ribbon panel report to Congress on the reliability of the nuclear stockpile: "Our ability to field new options in response to surprises could be measured in decades, not years. Today, the United States remains the only nuclear power without the ability to produce a complete nuclear weapon. Especially critical: the United States needs to accelerate work on a modern, modular (plutonium) pit facility." Another statement from that committee was equally blunt: "We currently do not have all of the capabilities essential for maintaining the stockpile." A CRITICAL COMPONENT of a nuclear weapon, and the major concern, is a hollow sphere of plutonium called a "pit" that is the weapon's trigger. Old pits can be recycled. The Department of Energy is planning a new state-of-the-art, high-tech facility to do this. The new plant will incorporate extensive safeguards to ensure the protection of the public, operating personnel and the site's environment. The Department of Energy will soon choose a site for this Modern Pit Facility, and the SRS site is one of the leading candidates. If this job is to be done correctly, efficiently and at the lowest cost, SRS should be selected. It has in place trained people, support facilities and infrastructure that no other site can match. These in-place assets also include analytical capabilities, waste-management systems, safety procedures, environmental monitoring, a top-rated security system and many more. The site's record of protecting its employees, the public and the environment during the past 50 years has been exemplary. This mission is too important to leave to those other candidate sites that do not have the experience or elements in place that are necessary for success. Some sites that are competing with SRS for this mission are claiming an advantage because of shorter distances to ship the pits. This is a hollow argument. About 50 tons of plutonium has been shipped to and from SRS without incident. The vessels used to transport plutonium are called "Safe Secure Transporters," and they are indeed super-safe. Their record has been near perfect. We don't know how the competing sites think they can improve on perfection. In economic terms, there are extraordinary benefits for the area. It will cost between $2 billion and $4 billion to build (greater than the BMW automobile manufacturing plant near Greer, S.C.), about 800 workers will be needed during its five-year construction and it will employ about 1,200 operating personnel. CRITICS MAY ARGUE against the need for nuclear weapons, and therefore against building the Modern Pit Facility. The time for that debate has passed. The need is real; the time to proceed is now. Communities in the Central Savannah River Area have supported the Savannah River Site and its national defense missions for over 50 years. Now they have the opportunity to support a new mission that will serve the nation for the next 50 years. (Editor's note: The writer is the board chairman for Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness.)
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