Pantex
Pantex is the primary United States
As a major national security site, the plant and its grounds are strictly controlled, and the airspace above and around the plant is prohibited to civilian air traffic by the FAA as Prohibited Area P-47.
History
The Pantex plant was originally constructed as a
Pantex was abruptly deactivated when the war ended and remained vacant until 1949, when Texas Technological College in Lubbock (now Texas Tech University) purchased the site for $1.[4] Texas Tech used the land for experimental cattle-feeding operations.
In 1951, at the request of the Atomic Energy Commission (now the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)), the Army exercised a recapture clause in the sale contract and reclaimed the main plant and 10,000 acres (40 km2) of surrounding land for use as a nuclear weapons production facility. The Atomic Energy Commission refurbished and expanded the plant at a cost of $25 million. The remaining 6,000 acres (24 km2) of the original site were leased from Texas Tech in 1989.
Pantex was operated by Procter & Gamble from 1951 to 1956, Mason & Hanger from 1956 to 2001, and Babcock & Wilcox from 2001 to 2014.[5]
In 2010, the plant employed about 3,600 people and had a budget of $600 million.[6]
Health and environmental concerns
There has been perennial interest in whether conditions at the plant have led to health problems in its workers or the surrounding communities. In 1998, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry documented a statistically significant incidence of increased cancer rates and low birth weights in some of the counties surrounding Pantex, but the counties closest to the plant (Armstrong and Carson) had no significant increase in cancer rates. The agency concluded that the plant was not likely to be associated with these findings.[4] A 2005 NIOSH study of cancer rates among Pantex workers over the timespan 1951–1995 found that they had a stastistically-significant increase in occurrence of prostate cancer and multiple myeloma with length of employment, leading the authors to recommend follow-up research to investigate whether the working conditions of those employees was the cause.[7] In 2013, the Amarillo Globe-News reported that some Pantex employees had been awarded financial compensation by the U.S. government after developing health problems that may have been related to depleted uranium or thorium exposure.[8]
In 1994, the
Public opposition
- In 1986 activists from the Red River Peace Network purchased 20 acres (81,000 m2) adjacent to Pantex to create the "Peace Farm", described as "a visible witness against weapons of mass destruction."[11] Its staff and board organized events, rallies, and gatherings opposing nuclear weapons through the 1990s and now organizes events related to the environment, nuclear proliferation and waste disposal, and peace issues.
- In the early 1980s, local Catholic Bishop Leroy Matthiesen tried persuading Catholic workers at the plant to leave their jobs, offering financial support to those who would do so.
Labor troubles
Labor troubles arose in 2007 following the implementation of stricter physical and performance requirements for armed security personnel following the
Safety incidents
- In 1977, three men were killed in an explosion while machining LX-09, a plastic explosive.[15]
- In 2005, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) claimed that Pantex workers could have caused a nuclear explosion when they improperly applied too much pressure on an obsolete W56 warhead while dismantling it.[16] POGO said unidentified experts knowledgeable about the event told it of the danger. The U.S. Department of Energy fined the contractor running the plant at the time, BWXT, $110,000 for incidents involving the bomb, but did not mention any possibility of an explosion or identify the warhead.
Footnotes
This article incorporates public domain material from Mortality Update for the Pantex Weapons Facility: Final Report. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
- ^ Gross, Daniel A. (2016). "An Aging Army". Distillations. 2 (1): 26–36. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
- ^ "About Pantex Plant". www.pantex.com.
- ^ a b "About". CNS – Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
- ^ a b ATSDR - PHA - Pantex Plant, Amarillo, Carson County, Texas
- ^ "History – About Pantex – Pantex Plant". www.pantex.com. Archived from the original on 2014-09-09. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
- ^ "Pantex Info" (PDF). U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 August 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
- NIOSHPublications and Products - Mortality. June 6, 2014. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
- ^ "Sickened Pantex workers could get more cash". Amarillo Globe-News. Amarillo, Texas. September 15, 2013. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
- ^ "Superfund Site: PANTEX PLANT (USDOE)". EPA Superfund. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Retrieved 2024-01-15.
- ^ Cartwright, Gary (November 1994). "Disarmed and Dangerous". Texas Monthly. Amarillo, Texas. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
- ^ The Peace Farm Retrieved November 9, 2016
- ^ Fit to Guard Weapons?. U.S. News & World Report. April 30, 2007.
- ^ "Guards Go on Strike at Nuclear Weapons Plant". Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
- ^ "Negotiations paused as Pantex strike continues". Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
- ^ "Relatives of 3 Killed in Blast At Nuclear Plant Lose Suit". The New York Times. October 3, 1980. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
- ^ Nesmith, Jeff (December 15, 2006). "Watchdog: Firm nearly detonated nuke bomb". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
External links
- "Home page".
- "Dismantling the Bomb, Or What I Did On My Summer Vacation". Archived from the original on December 30, 2003. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- Annotated bibliography for Pantex from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues
- Pantex links at Nuclearpathways.org