Manufacturing for national security

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s labs, plants, and sites work together and with industry partners to produce America’s nuclear weapons and other technology with national security applications. Here’s a high-level look at where some items are manufactured. ★

Los Alamos National Laboratory

• Detonators
• Graphite molds
• Heat sources
• Isotopes
• Magnets
• Nonnuclear weapons components
• Plutonium pits
• Prototypes
• Space instruments
• Targets

Kansas City National Security Campus

• Nonnuclear weapons components, including:
  
  • fiber optics
  • firing systems
  • gas transfer systems
  • polymers
  • radar systems

Pantex Plant

• High explosives

Sandia National Laboratories

• Electronics
• Neutron generators

Savannah River Site

• Plutonium pits (future)

Y-12 National Security Complex

• Uranium components 

Enterprise assistance:

Holston Army Ammunition Plant

• High explosives

Tennessee Valley Authority

• Tritium

*For a deeper dive into the nuclear security enterprise—the National Nuclear Security Administration’s network of labs, plants, and sites—see the spring 2023 issue of this magazine.