Nuclear Pantex plant building that received best project award t.co/BfpO87AguT is now out of power and at risk of flooding. No word on conditions inside the nuclear complex. t.co/j25tyKhZY7 pic.twitter.com/VISS5eKqYw
— Hans Kristensen (@nukestrat) June 1, 2023
Access to the JCDC parking lot and building will be refused. Those who have telework capability should do so as scheduled or use office space inside the plant if available. All other personnel report to their assigned schedule.
— Pantex Plant (@PantexPlant) June 1, 2023
Pantex is the primary United States nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility that aims to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.[1][2] The facility is located in the Panhandle of Texas on a 16,000-acre (25 sq mi; 65 km2) site 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Amarillo, in Carson County, Texas. The plant is managed and operated for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) by Consolidated Nuclear Security and Sandia.
History
Conventional weapons being assembled at Pantex in 1944
Bunkers at Pantex used for temporary staging of nuclear weapons.
The Pantex plant was originally constructed as a conventional bomb plant for the United States Army Air Force during the early days of World War II. The Pantex Ordnance Plant was authorized February 24, 1942. Construction was completed on November 15, 1942 and workers from all over the U.S. flocked to Amarillo for jobs.
Pantex was abruptly deactivated when the war ended and remained vacant until 1949, when Texas Technological College in Lubbock (now Texas Tech University) purchased the site for $1.[4] Texas Tech used the land for experimental cattle-feeding operations.
In 1951, at the request of the Atomic Energy Commission (now the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)), the Army exercised a recapture clause in the sale contract and reclaimed the main plant and 10,000 acres (40 km2) of surrounding land for use as a nuclear weapons production facility. The Atomic Energy Commission refurbished and expanded the plant at a cost of $25 million. The remaining 6,000 acres (24 km2) of the original site were leased from Texas Tech in 1989.
Pantex was operated by Procter & Gamble from 1951 to 1956, Mason & Hanger from 1956 to 2001, and Babcock & Wilcox from 2001 to 2014.[5]
In 2010, the plant employed about 3,600 people and had a budget of $600 million.[6]
h/t B.O.T.A.