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crazytown

(7,277 posts)
Tue Jan 29, 2019, 08:58 AM Jan 2019

Trump Administration Begins Production Of A New Nuclear Weapon

Source: NPR

The U.S. Department of Energy has started making a new, low-yield nuclear weapon designed to counter Russia.

The National Nuclear Security Administration says production of the weapon, known as the W76-2, has begun at its Pantex Plant in the Texas Panhandle. The fact that the weapon was under production was first shared in an e-mail to the Exchange Monitor, an industry trade magazine, and independently confirmed by NPR.

The weapon is a variant of the Navy's primary submarine-launched nuclear weapon, the W76-1. That warhead is a "strategic weapon," meaning it makes a very big boom. The W76-1 is believed to have a yield of around 100 kilotons, according to Hans Kristensen, director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists, an arms control advocacy group. By contrast, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a yield of about 15 kilotons.

The Energy Department would not provide details about the W76-2, but it's believed to have a yield of around 5 to 7 kilotons, Kristensen says.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/689510716/trump-administration-begins-production-of-a-new-nuclear-weapon



The new nukes will likely arm the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBMs) Trump intends to deploy after quitting the 1987 treaty.
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Trump Administration Begins Production Of A New Nuclear Weapon (Original Post) crazytown Jan 2019 OP
Just what we need. Botany Jan 2019 #1
A New Era Roy Rolling Jan 2019 #6
Making the world less good by the minute UpInArms Jan 2019 #2
Low yield means tactical. nt hack89 Jan 2019 #3
"A nuke is a nuke ... once it's used, the gloves are off." Auggie Jan 2019 #4
Have the plans been Scarsdale Jan 2019 #5
Just think about the lack of regulations in Texas. Delmette2.0 Jan 2019 #7
And that tower of intelligence - Rick Perry - is heading the department producing it. Texin Jan 2019 #8

Botany

(70,450 posts)
1. Just what we need.
Tue Jan 29, 2019, 09:00 AM
Jan 2019


Can somebody get that crazy man out of the White House?
We already have enough nuclear bombs to en life on earth.

Delmette2.0

(4,158 posts)
7. Just think about the lack of regulations in Texas.
Tue Jan 29, 2019, 10:40 AM
Jan 2019

They may contaminate half of the US before a weapon is actually produced.

Texin

(2,590 posts)
8. And that tower of intelligence - Rick Perry - is heading the department producing it.
Tue Jan 29, 2019, 10:57 AM
Jan 2019

Maybe he just plans to have them blow the EPA up. His plan was to do away with the EPA doncha know.

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