Savannah River Site pit production fully funded in House defense spending recommendations

Jul. 2—The U.S. House of Representatives committee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023 includes full funding for the pit production operations at the Savannah River Site.

U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., the only member of Congress to work at the site, spoke to the Aiken Republican Club about the funding proposed in the act on Tuesday, June 28, at Newberry Hall.

The National Defense Authorization Act is one component of how the Department of Defense receives its funding. The act serves to recommend funding levels and establishes the policies as to how the funding will be spent. It alternatively originates in the House or the Senate. This year, it was introduced by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith and referred to his committee.

The committee held its markup of the act on June 22.

Marking up is the process of a committee reviewing a piece of legislation. As part of the process, members of the committee can propose amendments to the text of the legislation. The committee then votes on what amendments to recommend to the full House.

Wilson serves as the No. 2 Republican on the committee and participated in the markup.

"We were able to maintain the two pit solution which means for certain that the development at the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility is going to continue," Wilson said.

Pits are an essential component of a nuclear weapon.

In order to understand what pits are, it's important to remember that all matter is composed of millions of tiny atoms, that atoms consist of protons, neutrons and electrons and that protons and neutrons form the nucleus at the center of an atom.

Normally, the nucleus of an atom is stable and doesn't change, but the nuclei of certain elements — hydrogen, uranium and plutonium — can begin to change when an extra neutron is added. When a neutron is added to uranium or plutonium, the nucleus splits into smaller versions of itself, releasing energy and neutrons. This is known as nuclear fission.

Those neutrons can cause a chain reaction when they're absorbed by nearby atoms of uranium or plutonium. In nuclear weapons, this chain reaction is uncontrolled and begins when neutrons are injected into a plutonium shell, called a pit, by an inward-focused explosion. Over time, the plutonium in these shells can begin to change on its own, which necessitates their replacement every so often.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has announced plans to construct the replacements at the Savannah River Site and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. At the Savannah River Site, the pits would be built at the former Mixed-Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility.

But there have been delays in the process of getting the production started. Originally, plans called for pit production to begin in 2030. That date has since been moved back to 2035 or later.

Those delays have caused some consternation among decision makers.

Smith said at a Brookings Institution event that he was highly skeptical that the former MOX facility at the Savannah River Site could be turned into a pit production facility. Smith said the Savannah River Site gave him an involuntary twitch after the failure of the MOX facility and that he didn't believe the site could produce the pits the National Nuclear Security Administration's plan calls for it to by 2030.

Wilson said Russia's invasion of the Ukraine has led to changing attitudes about the necessity of modernizing the nuclear stockpile and doing it at the Savannah River Site.

"I almost have to give a little bit of credit to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin almost accidentally," Wilson said. "Over the years, on this issue about modernization of our nuclear capability, we've had to convince people about why we need to do it. Well, Putin's convinced people why we need to do it."

Smith told reporters recently that Congress should move forward with the plan to produce 80 pits per year by 2030.

Wilson said the final vote on the markup was 57-1.

He added in a news release that the act also contains full funding of the annual payments in lieu of taxes made by the Department of Energy to the counties that contain a part of the Savannah River Site.

The payments usually total around $5.7 million and fund schools and emergency services.

The next step for the act is consideration by the full House. From there, it goes to the Senate and its armed services committee. After that, assuming its approved, it would go to President Joe Biden for a signature.