The U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile consists of nine weapon types. (See table 1.) These weapons include gravity bombs deliverable by dual-capable fighter aircraft and long-range bombers; cruise missiles deliverable by aircraft and submarines; submarine-launched ballistic missiles; and intercontinental ballistic missiles. There are seven major phases associated with pit manufacturing operations at LANL (see fig. 1). Disassembly–takes a source of plutonium (e.g., an existing pit) and extracts the plutonium metal. Metal preparation–uses various chemical or electro-refining processes to remove impurities from the plutonium metal. Foundry–heats up the plutonium metal and casts it into the desired shape. Machining and inspection–removes unwanted material from the cast shape and inspects the machined shape for any defects. Nonnuclear components–manufactures, tests, and qualifies nonnuclear subcomponents for pit manufacturing. Assembly and joining–assembles the various pit components and nonnuclear components into a finished pit. Nondestructive evaluation–inspects assembled pits to assure that final product specifications have been met. In addition, three operations support these major phases (as shown in fig. 1). Liquid and solid waste management–Pit manufacturing operations generate transuranic liquid and solid waste, which must be disposed of in a safe, secure manner. Storage–Pits and associated waste materials from pit operations must be stored in a safe, secure environment to minimize their effect on human health and to ensure that they do not initiate a nuclear chain reaction. Analytical chemistry–Samples are taken from pits to accurately determine their chemical composition and to provide assurance that a pit will meet its performance specifications. Other operations are also required to support pit manufacturing, including quality assurance measures (e.g., calibration of equipment), maintenance of infrastructure, and support of facilities. Pit manufacturing at LANL occurs in the PF-4 building, which was constructed in 1978 as a multiuse, plutonium research and development facility. Other pit-related facilities at LANL include the following: The CMR building, which was constructed in the early 1950s, houses most of LANL’s analytical chemistry equipment. The Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility in Technical Area-50 (TA- 50), which has been in operation since 1963, processes transuranic liquid waste. The Solid Waste Facility in Technical Area-54 (TA-54) stores transuranic solid waste pending disposal off site at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The Sigma and machine shop buildings carry out nonnuclear manufacturing and equipment installation. In addition to these facilities, the Superblock buildings at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California are used for plutonium research and development. NNSA oversees the pit manufacturing program at LANL through its Pit Manufacturing and Certification Campaign, which is composed of the following three subprograms: (1) Pit Manufacturing, (2) Pit Manufacturing Capability, and (3) Pit Certification. However, starting in fiscal year 2009, NNSA will transfer funding associated with the first two subprograms to the Directed Stockpile Work program, while activities associated with Pit Certification will be transferred to the Science Campaign program. NNSA achieved its major goals for reestablishing its pit manufacturing capability at LANL as defined by the agency in 2002. Specifically, NNSA’s schedule and production goals were to: (1) establish a capability to manufacture 10 pits per year by 2007, (2) deliver one W88 war reserve pit to the stockpile by 2007, and (3) certify LANL-produced W88 pits for use in the stockpile by 2007. In addition, NNSA estimated that pit manufacturing and certification expenditures for fiscal years 2001 through 2007 would be about $1.55 billion. NNSA officials said they believe that LANL exceeded its 2002 schedule and production goals by manufacturing 11 W88 pits, 8 of which were war reserve pits, in fiscal year 2007. In addition, according to NNSA data, LANL’s expenditures related to pit manufacturing and certification activities for fiscal years 2001 through 2007 were about $260 million under its original cost estimate. However, NNSA did not have a consistent set of production goals for W88 pit manufacturing between 2002 and 2007 and never specified the number of war reserve pits that LANL would be required to manufacture each year. In addition, NNSA’s cost estimate did not include almost $300 million in costs for a number of activities that were directly associated with the pit manufacturing and certification mission. Finally, NNSA’s cost estimate did not include a portion of over $1 billion in costs for other activities that were needed to support the production of pits, as well as a wide variety of other defense- related activities, at LANL for fiscal years 2001 through 2007. According to NNSA officials, LANL first identified the activities necessary to manufacture and certify a W88 pit in a 1998 project plan entitled, “Integrated Pit Manufacturing and Certification Program Plan.” According to the plan, the pit manufacturing mission would require a total of about $1.25 billion for fiscal years 1996 through 2007 to fund three types of activities: (1) establishing the capability to manufacture W88 pits, (2) construction projects to support the pit manufacturing mission, and (3) engineering and physics tests to certify the LANL-produced W88 pits. In addition, the plan contained the following schedule and production milestones: (1) complete the first W88 war reserve pit in 2001, (2) complete a W87 manufacturing development unit in 2002, (3) establish a capacity to produce 10 war reserve pits per year by 2005, and (4) establish the capacity to produce 20 war reserve pits per year by 2007. However, according to NNSA officials, NNSA recognized in 2000 that it needed to establish a better baseline of the cost, schedule, and scope needed to guide the pit manufacturing mission at LANL. As a result of this effort, LANL issued a pit manufacturing plan—entitled “W88 Pit Manufacturing and Certification Integrated Project Plan”—in March 2001. The 2001 plan estimated that it would cost a total of about $1.55 billion for fiscal years 2001 through 2007 to manufacture and certify a W88 pit. In addition, the 2001 plan contained the following milestones: (1) establish a capability to manufacture 10 pits per year by 2007, (2) certify LANL- produced W88 pits for use in the stockpile by 2009, and (3) deliver a war reserve W88 pit to the stockpile by 2009. However, according to NNSA officials, NNSA revised the last two milestones in 2002. Specifically, NNSA moved up the milestones for LANL to deliver a war reserve W88 pit to the stockpile and certify LANL-produced W88 pits to fiscal year 2007. NNSA officials said that LANL exceeded its 2002 schedule and production goals by manufacturing a total of 11 pits during fiscal year 2007. Of these 11 pits: NNSA plans to use 8 pits to replace existing W88 pits that will be taken out of the stockpile for use in its stockpile surveillance testing program. Specifically, surveillance testing involves destructive and nondestructive analysis to identify any defects or failures in pits. NNSA uses these tests to help maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of the stockpile without nuclear testing. According to NNSA officials, these 8 pits have been designated as war reserve quality. NNSA plans to use 2 pits for its shelf life program, which examines how a pit ages over time. According to NNSA officials, these pits may, but are not required to, meet all of the quality standards of war reserve pits and, therefore, have not been designated as war reserve pits. NNSA plans to subject 1 pit to destructive testing as part of LANL’s manufacturing quality control. According to NNSA officials, this pit may, but is not required to, meet all of the quality standards of war reserve pits and, therefore, has not been designated as a war reserve pit. In addition, according to NNSA officials, LANL’s costs related to pit manufacturing were less than it estimated in its 2001 plan. According to NNSA data, the expenditures for the pit manufacturing and certification elements of the Pit Manufacturing and Certification Campaign for fiscal years 2001 through 2007 were about $1.29 billion. This amount is approximately $260 million under than the cost estimate in NNSA’s 2001 plan. While LANL’s 2001 plan contained goals related to a capability to manufacture 10 W88 pits per year and the delivery of a single war reserve pit to the stockpile, the 2001 plan did not define NNSA’s requirements for the total number of war reserve W88 pits that LANL needed to manufacture. In that regard, the capability to manufacture 10 W88 war reserve pits per year is different from the capability to produce 10 pits per year that are not of war reserve quality. According to NNSA officials, other types of pits, such as pits that are destructively tested as part of production quality control, may not meet the same standards and may be of lower production quality. NNSA only recently established final requirements for the exact number and type of W88 pits to be manufactured at LANL. Specifically, NNSA issued a memorandum in February 2007 that established a total pit production requirement for LANL of 31 W88 pits for the following purposes: 18 pits will be designated as war reserve quality and will replace existing W88 pits in the stockpile for use in NNSA’s stockpile surveillance testing program, 7 pits will be used for NNSA’s shelf life program, 4 pits will be used for LANL’s manufacturing quality control program, and 2 pits will be used as spares. However, the 2007 memorandum did not specify the number of war reserve pits that LANL would be required to manufacture each year.