Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plutonium Science Laboratory (PluS Lab) has received its first plutonium shipment and is poised to begin operations, marking a pivotal milestone in the Laboratory’s fundamental plutonium science capabilities. The achievement reflects years of planning, investment and mission-focused program development.
Why this matters: Plutonium science underpins critical national security missions, from nuclear nonproliferation to nuclear energy, forensics and weapons. The PluS Lab is equipped with advanced capabilities in molecular chemistry and materials science, molten-salt science and aqueous systems to directly support these core mission areas.
How they did it: Renovations to the PluS Lab were finished ahead of schedule and under budget, thanks to a collaboration with the Science and Technology Operations division and the Plutonium Modernization Mission Office. The upgraded facility now offers state-of-the-art analytical instruments, fume hoods and custom gloveboxes for small-scale experiments.
Key capabilities: The PluS Lab is a unique resource within the U.S. Department of Energy complex for research in plutonium science, including separations and recycling technologies, novel material discovery, electrochemistry, advanced property measurements and more.
- Research will explore new plutonium compounds and novel plutonium separations, and it will advance analytical methods for plutonium-bearing compounds and materials.
- The facility’s unclassified setting will foster broad collaboration and workforce development.
- Combined with new depleted uranium facilities, refurbished using budget savings from PluS-Lab’s original renovation, the PluS-Lab facility offers a unique streamline for training, qualifying, and operating in sensitive material handling and plutonium processing, allowing professionals to gain experience working with less severe operations before progressing to the hallmark plutonium operations.
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