Program to refurbish aging nuclear warheads faces setbacks

[bemildred]

Source: LAT

A decadelong effort to refurbish thousands of aging nuclear warheads has run into serious technical problems that have forced delays and exacerbated concerns about the Energy Department's ability to maintain the nation's strategic deterrent.

The program involves a type of warhead known as the W76, which is used on the Navy's Trident missile system and makes up more than half of the deployed warheads in the U.S. stockpile.

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The delay in retrofitting the warheads appears to validate long-standing concerns about an erosion of technical expertise at the Energy Department, as Cold War-era scientists and engineers retire and take with them detailed knowledge about the bombs.

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"I don't know how this happened that we forgot how to make fogbank," Coyle said. "It should not have happened, but it did."

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-broken-warheads29-2009may29,0,787677.story

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To summarize, we have forgotten how to make and maintain nuclear stuff from the 70s and 80s.

[jwirr]

1. And if we have then probably the rest of the world has to. Could that

mean that forced disarmament?

[izquierdista]

2. Forgetting and resurrecting

As Martha would say, this is a good thing. Since it has been done before, a team of smart people (not nearly as big as the Manhattan project team) could, if it was necessary, resurrect the technology.

I'd be more interested in seeing other forgotten technologies, like butanol-acetone fermentation of biomass, brought back to life, since the need for obliterating entire cities is (thankfully) a gauche and dated technology, and the need for liquid fuels is very real.

[bemildred]

3. That's an interesting thought.

I would bet we could come up with a long list of things we'd like to see forgotten. Still, it smacks of decline and decadence when you lose technical capabilities.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. Didn't I read somewhere that the USA was going to reduce its nuke stockpile anyways?

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.
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Was I dreaming?

If not

what's the problem ?

OH !

I know . . .

Iran and North Korea MIGHT be able to make ONE or TWO in the next decade

AND

take another decade to be able to have a delivery system that can cross the globe

I can see the problem now

silly me