10 mo. ago • 94%

Why is the US ramping up production of plutonium ‘pits’ for nuclear weapons?

www.theguardian.com Why is the US ramping up production of plutonium ‘pits’ for nuclear weapons?

The Pentagon is concerned about the the US nuclear arsenal’s viability, but critics worry about a renewed arms race

44 comments

Because we need to replace and maintain the ones we already have. People have been talking about doing this to our aging stockpile for decades.

It makes sense to reduce our arsenal, but the nukes we do have need to be maintained for safety and reliability.

61
- That sounds awfully legit.
  
  I hate to think that the government is doing exactly what they've said they'd do in a sensible timeframe. What is this nation coming to?
  
  15
  
  People on the internet like to pretend that if the US just stopped making weapons then everyone else would also stop making weapons.
  
  5
- This, lifecycle renewal only goes so far and old plutonium is still very useful for things like breeder reactors.
  
  2
Perun made a quite interesting video about this. Basically the US, after the end of the cold war, stopped pit production and relied on the many pits they still had laying around. Now they are worrying that old pits might become unreliable and unserviceable which could weaken the US' nuclear deterrence. Because of that the US is seeking to restart pit production.

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- Permanently Deleted
  
  1
Because, despite us removing the lead from the air, the world is going fucking crazy.

27
- Oh, it’s still in the air… and in the water.
  
  15
  
  Friendly reminder that Flint, Michegan still doesn't have clean drinking water.
  
  0
  
  ~~Jet~~ Some planes still use leaded fuel unfortunately.
  
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Perhaps the plan is to reach sustainability by eliminating 90% of the population over a short period of time?

14
- TFW your domestic policy makes Thanos look like the reasonable one.
  
  13
  
  I don't know, man. Thanos was way worse. Earth is what, 0.00000001% of the universe population?
  
  0
- Would we consider nuclear annaliation a green project?
  
  1
  
  How else do you think the US is planning on meeting its climate goals? Certainly not by holding corporations accountable.
  
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Because we're coming up on cold war 2 : Chinese boogaloo

Edit: cold war 2: big trouble in little China.

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- I think for this one it would be Big Trouble in Big China.
  
  1
  
  Well Taiwan is also known as the Republic of China, so the trouble would be in the little China
  
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Maybe it's because the other major nuclear power keeps making new nuclear threats every week and just withdrew from a major nuclear proliferation treaty?

4
- This. How do people not pay attention to this stuff.
  
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For the Russian takeover. Putin has let his weapons deteriorate so he’s telling his minions here to get prepared for him.

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We also need to arm all of the new B-21 raiders. I believe I read they're going to start off with producing 100 of them.

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You know why. 🙄

-17
- Do you mean the 2024 war?
  
  -6
  
  Will it be an escalation of the Russia/Ukraine war? Or will the Israel/Gaza war spill over into the wider region? Or will America try to start some shit over Taiwan? Who knows!
  
  Clock is ticking, though.
  
  -12

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