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投稿者 衛星屋 日時 2000 年 11 月 01 日 12:46:24:
PANTEX PLANT
Zone 12 - Weapons Assembly / Disassembly
Nuclear Explosive Bays
Buildings 12-64, 12-84, 12-99, and 12-104 are part of the
production area of Zone 12 and are located inside the material
access area (MAA). These buildings provide bays for weapons
assembly, disassembly, examina- tion, testing, training, process
demonstration, nuclear explosive safety studies, procedure
verification and similar operations, and packaging and staging of
component parts. The bays in these buildings were designed as
nuclear explosive facilities with the capability to process
encased explosive components that contain plutonium and other
hazardous materials.
The bays range in age from 7 to 25 years. Buildings 12-64, 12-84, 12-99, and 12-104 contain 62 bays. All but three
bays are used for assembly or disassembly. Two bays in Building 12-84 are used for radiography operations; one bay
in Building 12-104 is a vacuum chamber bay. The 62 bays total approximately 300,000 square feet. Essential safety
systems include the structure's blast design, the structure (concrete walls and earth overburden), blast doors, and
fire suppression system.
The major operations conducted in the assembly/disassembly bays are the partial assembly/disassembly of nuclear
weapons containing high explosives (HE) and the complete assembly or disassembly of weapons containing
insensitive high explosives (IHE). Operations on encased components rely on the casing to provide the primary
containment; operations involving unencased HE are not allowed in bays that contain plutonium, but are allowed in
bays that do not contain plutonium. Final disassembly of primary subassemblies involving plutonium and unencased
HE is permitted only in assembly/disassembly cell facilities. Bays 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Building 12-64 are used for the
testing and staging of tritium reservoirs.
Nuclear Explosive Cells
Buildings 12-44 (Cells 1 to 6), 12-85, 12-96, and 12-98 (Cells 1 through 4) are part of the production area of Zone
12 and are located inside the MAA. These buildings, totaling 73,000 square feet, provide cells for weapons
assembly, disassembly, examination, training, process demonstration, nuclear explosive safety studies, procedure
verification and similar operations, packaging, staging, and testing. The cells range in age from 9 to 36 years.
Essential safety systems include the blast valve
s, blast door interlocks, and facility structure (concrete walls and
slab, blast doors, and earth overburden). Nuclear explosive special purpose Buildings 12-26 (Bays 27 and 28), 12-41,
12-50, 12-60, and 12-94 are part of the production area of Zone 12 and are located inside the MAA. These buildings
provide testing/support facilities for nuclear weapons and weapon components that contain special nuclear
material. The buildings range in age from 3 to 51 years and total approximately 95,000 square feet in area.
Except for Building 12-26, these facilities were constructed for nuclear weapons work. Building 12-26 was
constructed in 1944 for munitions work as part of the World War II construction of the Pantex Army Ordnance Plant.
It was originally used for shipping and staging ordnance, but is now used for component accelerated aging, tritium
reservoir testing and inspecting, weapons vacuum and leak testing, and tool storage. The facility was used for
assembly and disassembly of nuclear explosive-like assemblies (NELAs) and war reserves units as late as the early
1980s. A NELA is an assembly that represents a weaponized nuclear explosive, such as a warhead, bomb, reentry
vehicle, or artillery shell. NELAs do not contain an arrangement of HE and fissile material capable of producing a
nuclear detonation.
Presently, the prime function of the facility is to provide space for tooling storage. Other significant operational
areas include the weapon vacuum and leak test bays, the component accelerated aging bays, the tritium reservoir
testing and inspection bay, and the pit vault for special nuclear material.
Building 12-41 is a weapons paint facility. It is used primarily to support painting buildings operations on joint
test assemblies (JTAs), weapons components (tails, fins, cases), weapon "H" Gear (containers), and roadables. Unit
roadables are also repaired and modified in the building.
Building 12-50, the separation test facility, is used to provide data for evaluating specific nuclear weapons release
assembly hardware and installation procedures and for detecting and monitoring time and service related
deterioration of the system. Selected reentry body assemblies are subjected to a functional separation test as a
continuing requirement of these surveillance programs.
Building 12-60, the mass properties facilities, is used to provide data for evaluating specific nuclear weapons to
ensure that certain tolerance specifications for various nuclear weapons, NELAs, and subassemblies are met.
Building 12-94, the weapons aging facility, conducts operations consisting of exposing weapons or weapon
components to variable temperature cycles for prolonged periods to simulate long-term stockpile effects. The aging
studies can involve complete nuclear weapons, explosives core samples, weapons components, and weapon-like
assemblies.
Nuclear Staging Facilities/Zone 12
Buildings 12-2
6 pit vault, 12-42 south and north vault, 12-44 cell 8, and 12-58 Bays 4 and 5 are part of the
production area of Zone 12 and are located inside the MAA. These buildings provide temporary staging facilities for
nuclear weapon components that contain special nuclear material. These components include pits, Oak Ridge
ordnance (ORO) items, radioisotopic thermoelectric generators (RTGs), and reservoirs. These facilities range up to
51 years old and total approximately 15,000 square feet in area. Building 12-26 was built in 1944 as part of the
World War II construction of the Pantex Plant and was originally used for shipping and staging of conventional
ordnance. The other staging facilities were constructed for nuclear weapons work.
The pit vault is used as a staging facility for pits. Pits are encapsulated components that are packaged in specially
designed containers for staging and intra-plant transport. The containers in the pit vault are not opened during the
operations conducted within the vault. The Building 12-42 south vault is used as a staging facility for weapon
components called "reservoirs," which are small, metal bottles filled with tritium. Reservoirs are shipped to and
from the Pantex Plant in specially designed Department of Transportation certified containers. Metal cases are used
for the intra-plant transport of reservoirs.
The Building 12-42 north vault is used as a staging facility for RTGs, which are small, self- contained, sealed
sources of thermally produced electricity used in several of the nuclear weapon systems. The RTGs consist of a heat
source (Pu-238), a thermopile, an insulator, and a container.
Building 12-44, Cell 8 is used as a temporary staging facility for pits. The primary activity conducted in Cell 8 is
the automated placement and retrieval of pits in sealed containers. However, some containers are opened within the
facility, and those pits undergo a variety of inspection, testing, and verification operations. Pits are repackaged in
Cell 8.
Bays 4 and 5 of Building 12-58 are used as staging facilities for nuclear weapons components.
Explosives Development/Zones 11 and 12
Buildings 11-17, 11-22, 11-36, 11-38, 11-51, 11-55, 11-56, 12-8, 12-19, 12-59, and 12-62 are part of Pantex's
explosive processing and development resources and are located in Zones 11 and 12 of the Plant. These buildings
contain laboratories that have been historically used to develop and test new high explosives, examine the
morphology of bulk formulated explosives, and perform routine analysis of explosives, pilot activities for new
plastic bonded explosives, aging studies on various explosives, and chemical analysis of explosives and associated
materials. Their primary current use is for surveillance support. The buildings range in age from 14 to 51 years.
The 11 buildings total approximately 90,500 square feet. Requirements for these facilities do not vary with
p
roduction schedules, and known future missions will not change these requirements. Included are chemical
laboratories, a gas analysis laboratory, a metrology laboratory, a stockpile system testing laboratory,
environmental laboratories, and radiation monitoring laboratories.
Explosives Manufacturing
Buildings 11-51, 11-20, 11-50, 12-17 A&B, 12- 63, 12-121, and 12-24 are used for formulating, pressing,
machining, gauging, and staging a variety of high explosives. These buildings range in age from 11 to 51 years and
total approximately 113,450 square feet. Most of these buildings were con- structed to manufacture explosives
main charges and small components for nuclear weapons, and to meet the high explosives research and development
mission of the site. Current missions remain the same as efforts continue to remove obsolete weapons from the
stockpile. Two-thirds of these buildings were built prior to 1955. They are in poor condition and are rapidly
approaching the ends of their useful lives.
Explosives Staging
Buildings 4-45 to 4-75, 11-23, 11-25, 11-37, 11-42, 11-45, 11-46, 12-55, 12-58, 12-65, 12- 68B, 12-71, 12-83,
12-92, 12-95, 16-2, and 16-7A&B are used to store and stage all types of HE and IHE. These facilities will continue
to be used for this purpose. These facilities range in age from 8 to 51 years and contain 46 structures covering a
total area of approximately 63,300 square feet. The primary hazard in these buildings is explosives. Over 50 percent
of the explosives storage facilities were constructed prior to 1950; they are in deteriorating condition and need
replacement.
Testing and Evaluation
This key facility includes Buildings 11-5, 11- 16, 11-18, 12-21, and 12-21A and Firing Sites FS-2, FS-3, FS-4,
FS-5, FS-10, FS-11, FS- 11A, FS-16, FS-18, FS-21, FS-21A, FS-22, FS-23, and FS-24. The buildings are used for
testing and evaluation of both HE and IHE, test firing of explosives, and non-destructive evaluation of explosives
(the firing sites are no longer being used for this purpose). The facilities range in age from 8 years to 51 years. The
buildings total approximately 68,200 square feet; the Firing Sites are several square miles in size. Many of the
facilities have high speed cameras to monitor and analyze tests. Missions are not expected to change until the
current effort to remove obsolete weapons from the stockpile is complete in six to eight years.
題名には必ず「阿修羅さんへ」と記述してください。