Federal Memo Signals LANL May Be Asked to Produce 60 Pits Annually

Los Alamos National Laboratory may be expected to produce at least 60 plutonium pits per year, according to a federal memorandum dated Feb. 11 that circulated earlier in February and surfaced in local advocacy channels. The memorandum’s language, as reported, frames the change as part of a push “To help achieve ‘American nuclear dominance,’ Los Alamos National Laboratory may be expected to produce at least 60 plutonium pits per year — double the previously set minimum.”

The memo contains explicit national-security rhetoric, stating, “Our adversaries are advancing their capabilities in key nuclear domains, eroding traditional sources of the United States’ strategic advantage,” and adding, “To ensure continued supremacy of America’s deterrence posture, we must urgently accelerate the modernization of the nuclear weapons stockpile and the revitalization of its associated facilities and infrastructure.” The memorandum also called on sites to move quickly: “Beck called on involved national laboratories, plants and sites to submit plans to achieve the goals laid out in the memo by March 7.”

Operational details reported from the memo include an instruction that the Savannah River site support expanded pit production in New Mexico “until their own plutonium processing facility is fully up and running.” The coverage notes that in 2018, “neither site was set up for the large-scale manufacture of pits, according to a 2021 LANL publication,” highlighting the gap between the memo’s goals and past assessments of facility readiness.

The provenance of the document is contested in public channels. “The memo was provided to The New Mexican by the Los Alamos Study Group, a nuclear disarmament advocacy organization, which obtained it from a ‘trusted source,’” the reporting record shows. The Los Alamos Study Group posted Bulletin 374 on Feb. 27, 2026, under the headline, “LANL required to at least double plutonium pit production, new plutonium facility planned, Zoom meeting Monday March 2 10 MST to discuss, strategize.” Bulletin 373, dated Feb. 2, 2026, includes LASG framing that “NNSA to leave 'life extension,' 'stewardship' paradigm to build new weapons; LANL pit aspirations triple; LANL rad exposure standards loosened fivefold; Zoom discussion this Thursday noon MST.”

LASG’s site archive also lists earlier bulletins and activism dating back to 2018, including Bulletin 372 on Jan. 21, 2026 referencing a “deep transformation,” Bulletin 250 on Dec. 7, 2018, Bulletin 249 on Aug. 3, 2018 titled “Worker safety; pit fever; ‘Beyond Hiroshima’ Aug 6; lab power grab fail,” Bulletin 248 on June 26, 2018 urging protest at a Santa Fe City Council meeting, Bulletin 247 on April 16, 2018 “Update on US nuclear weapons; pit memorandum to NNSA,” Bulletin 246 on April 13, 2018 listing opposition by figures such as Bingaman, Domenici, Udall, Richardson, LANL, UC, and NNSA, Bulletin 244 on Nov. 21, 2025 seeking support and updating issues on pits and nuclear testing, Bulletin 366 on Sept. 15, 2025 sending a letter to Congress on plutonium pit production, Bulletin 365 on July 25, 2025 addressing congressional requirements and history of broken pit promises at LANL, Bulletin 364 on July 15, 2025 announcing a Trinity at 80 event, and Bulletin 363 on July 1, 2025 with speakers and discussion details.

Attempts to get official clarification are unresolved. “The federal nuclear agency did not respond to requests for comment or additional information this week. LANL referred questions to the NNSA,” the public reporting record states. The memo itself has not been released in full in public documents provided to local reporters, and the identity and role of the individual named Beck who set the March 7 planning deadline is not specified in the available excerpts.

Plans tied to the memorandum are time-sensitive for the Los Alamos community: the memo’s March 7 deadline for plan submissions stands while LASG has scheduled a Zoom meeting for Monday March 2 at 10 a.m. Mountain Standard Time to “discuss, strategize,” and local leaders and federal officials have yet to publicly clarify how or whether LANL will move toward the 60 pits per year posture.