A Congressionally mandated assessment of plutonium aging on pit lifetimes was conducted by scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, independently reviewed, and released in November 2006. The study found that the plutonium in most nuclear weapons will remain “reliable” for a minimum of 100 years, double the previous NNSA estimate of 45 to 60 years. These findings obviate the need to produce new pits, based on the argument of pit unreliability due to plutonium aging. The Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program and the proposed Complex 2030 were partly based on the need to replace aging plutonium pits.
Read more about Complex 2030 here.
Read the full report here.
