{"id":9907,"date":"2026-05-08T08:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/public-hearings-come-to-kansas-city-as-us-ramps-up-plutonium-production-for-nuclear-weapons-2\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T08:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:38:19","slug":"public-hearings-come-to-kansas-city-as-us-ramps-up-plutonium-production-for-nuclear-weapons-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/public-hearings-come-to-kansas-city-as-us-ramps-up-plutonium-production-for-nuclear-weapons-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Public hearings come to Kansas City as US ramps up plutonium production for nuclear weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n

Ann Suellentrop, vice chair of PeaceWorks Kansas City, with other protesters outside the Kansas City National Security Campus at 14520 Botts Road in south Kansas City (photo submitted).<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After years of protests and a hard-won court battle, anti-nuclear activists in Kansas City will get a chance this week to tell the federal government why they oppose a plan to ramp up production of plutonium pits \u2014 the bowling-ball-sized cores of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

The National Nuclear Security Administration, a division of the Department of Energy, will hold a public hearing<\/a> in Kansas City on May 7 to collect feedback on its report<\/a> about the potential environmental and health consequences of increasing plutonium pit production to at least 80 per year by 2030. The country virtually stopped making plutonium pits at the end of the Cold War.<\/p>\n

Members of PeaceWorks Kansas City, a volunteer organization that has long protested nuclear weapons part manufacturing in the area, see the hearing \u2014 one of five scheduled across the country \u2014 as a rare opportunity to have a voice in the secretive nuclear weapons industry.<\/p>\n

PeaceWorks members have been handing out flyers encouraging the public to attend and are planning a \u201cteach-in\u201d<\/a> the day before the hearing to help prepare the public to testify.<\/p>\n

The government contends<\/a> that making more plutonium pits is necessary to modernize the country\u2019s nuclear weapons stockpile. But environmental activists and some scientists argue the effort is unnecessary, dangerous and a thinly disguised effort to re-ignite nuclear weapons production.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new nuclear arms race,\u201d said Ann Suellentrop, a retired pediatric nurse who serves as vice chair of PeaceWorks and on the national board of Physicians for Social Responsibility. \u201cThey\u2019ve called it the modernization program. But it\u2019s not to fix up and refurbish weapons that already exist. It\u2019s to make new weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why is Kansas City involved?<\/h4>\n

\t<\/p>\n

Congress mandated the 80-pit manufacturing goal in 2015. But the federal government launched an effort to upgrade the country\u2019s nuclear program even earlier as a result of a compromise the Obama administration made with Republicans in Congress.<\/p>\n

In order to get Republican support for a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia \u2014 a treaty the Trump administration let expire in February<\/a> \u2014 the Democratic president agreed to begin updating the country\u2019s nuclear weapons complex.<\/p>\n

That complex includes the Department of Energy\u2019s National Security Campus<\/a> in south Kansas City, which has been a clear beneficiary of the nuclear modernization push. The Kansas City facility, operated by Honeywell International Inc. at 14520 Botts Road, manufactures 80% of the nonnuclear parts used in the country\u2019s nuclear bombs.<\/p>\n

The south Kansas City complex is in the midst of a 15-phase construction boom, which could reportedly cost<\/a> $6.4 billion and is expected to add 2 million square feet of office and manufacturing space.<\/p>\n

The first phase of the project, a $200 million, 700-person office building and parking structure, is expected to open this month, according to a spokesperson.<\/p>\n

The government contracted with Promontory 150 LLC, a real estate developer affiliated with Terry Anderson<\/a> of Platform Ventures, to purchase land and develop \u201cbuild-to-suit\u201d facilities immediately east of the existing location. In 2024, Missouri lawmakers adopted legislation<\/a> to give the developer a tax break on the project.<\/p>\n

The building project will accommodate significant growth that has already happened at the weapons facility. When it relocated to Botts Road in 2014 from the Bannister Federal Complex \u2014 its home since 1949 \u2014 the plant employed 2,400 people. By 2024, it had 7,000 employees<\/a>. The agency said in 2024 it expected to begin a new phase<\/a> of the project every year for the next decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we\u2019ve said repeatedly over the last few years, our infrastructure needs to be more capable, flexible and resilient to meet our mission requirements for the next couple decades and beyond,\u201d Jill Hruby, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said in remarks<\/a> during an Aug. 7, 2024, event celebrating the expansion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to take a moment to put things into perspective,\u201d she said. \u201cThe current campus was sized for one weapon modernization program in production and one modernization program in development.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the workload has grown to seven warhead modernization programs and other \u201cstockpile stewardship activities,\u201d a 2024 press release<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

In her written remarks, Hruby said the National Nuclear Security Administration had delivered more than 200 \u201cmodernized warheads\u201d to the Department of Defense in 2023, the most since the end of the Cold War. The warheads are made primarily of nonnuclear parts coming out of Kansas City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect that rate of production and delivery to continue to be demanding over the next decade,\u201d Hruby said at the time.<\/p>\n

The Department of Energy did not respond to requests for comment before The Beacon\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n

In a written statement, Molly Hadfield, a spokesperson for the National Security Campus, said the plutonium pit production being discussed at the public hearing \u201cwill not change the type of manufacturing done\u201d at the Honeywell campus, which includes \u201cstandard manufacturing processes, such as machining, welding and inspection technologies commonly found in the aerospace industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Increased push under Trump<\/h4>\n

\t<\/p>\n

The weapons modernization plans have accelerated under the Trump administration. That includes the effort to significantly increase plutonium pit production, which is the subject of upcoming public hearings.<\/p>\n

The federal government argues<\/a> that making more pits is a matter of national security. The pits need to be replaced for various reasons, it said, including age, safety and security advancements, global risk and weapons modernization.<\/p>\n

But manufacturing the pits is not a simple process, and observers believe ramping up to 80 a year by 2030 is extremely unlikely. They also question whether the government is prepared to deal with the resulting radioactive waste.<\/p>\n

While plutonium pits were once manufactured at the Rocky Flats Plant outside Denver, production was halted there in 1989 following environmental violations. The plant was shut down altogether in 1992.<\/p>\n

That left the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, which technically has the facilities to do the job, and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, which is essentially starting from scratch.<\/p>\n

\"Protesters
Protesters gather at the National Security Campus property line during the annual Memorial Day anti-nuclear weapons protest in 2023. (Cody Boston | Flatland)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to a report<\/a> from the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Los Alamos lab produced only one pit that was certified for use in 2024. Due to facility constraints, workforce issues and \u201ca troubling accident history.\u201d The report said the Savannah River Site could be 10 years away from producing even one pit.<\/p>\n

Dylan Spaulding, a senior scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists\u2019 global security program who wrote the report, said many outside scientists believe that producing additional pits is not necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe warheads we have, we believe, are not at risk as a result of age,\u201d Spaulding said. \u201cThey could be reliable for decades into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, moving ahead with the plans to increase pit production could cost tens of billions of dollars, according to Spaulding\u2019s organization, but the government has not established a master schedule or official cost estimate. That\u2019s especially concerning, the group said, because previous attempts to revive pit production have failed \u201cat enormous cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, the federal government has said it plans a $1.7 trillion overhaul of the nuclear arsenal. That could include revitalizing missile silos, producing new warheads and arming new land-based missiles, bomber jets and submarines, according to reporting in The New York Times.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Health dangers<\/h4>\n

\t<\/p>\n

In addition to cost concerns, Spaulding said his group is concerned about the safety of manufacturing more plutonium pits. The radioactive man-made element, created from uranium in nuclear reactors, can lead to long-term health issues like cancer when inhaled, ingested or passed into the bloodstream through a wound.<\/p>\n

People who work with plutonium must handle it with special glove boxes that protect them from any exposure. It has an extremely long half-life, so if it is spilled into the environment, cleanup can be dangerous and difficult.<\/p>\n

Plutonium pits manufactured in New Mexico and South Carolina will have to be shipped, probably to Texas, where weapons are assembled. That leaves potential for human exposure across the country, experts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re expanding so quickly, you just increase the risk of issues or accidents because humans are prone to error,\u201d said Chanese Fort\u00e9, a scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists who studies population health and plans to testify at the Kansas City hearing.<\/p>\n

The organization is concerned that the National Nuclear Security Administration\u2019s draft programmatic environmental impact statement<\/a> on plutonium pit production doesn\u2019t fully address the potential health and environmental hazards, including those associated with moving plutonium across the country.<\/p>\n

The draft also doesn\u2019t adequately address new risks that will come about at the Kansas City facility as a result of the ramped-up manufacturing, the organization said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for people to know what\u2019s happening in their community,\u201d Spaulding said. The impact statement \u201cleaves Kansas City in the dark about what these changes are going to be, what the exposure is going to be and what the consequences are going to be to their community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kansas City has already had to absorb the environmental contamination left at the site of the former federal weapons plant.<\/p>\n

After Honeywell moved out of the 300-acre site at 1500-2012 E. Bannister Road, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources said<\/a> contaminants in the soil and groundwater included: common industrial chemicals, solvents, paints, volatile organic compounds, PCB oils, diesel fuel, gasoline, low-level radioactive waste and hazardous and radioactive waste.<\/p>\n

And news reports<\/a> have documented serious health concerns and premature deaths among former employees who worked at the complex.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lawsuit led to public hearings<\/h4>\n

\t<\/p>\n

The only reason the draft impact report was written was that a group of environmental organizations \u2014\u00a0including two affiliated with PeaceWorks \u2014 sued the National Nuclear Security Administration, accusing the agency of violating the National Environmental Policy Act by not producing a new environmental impact statement before moving ahead with plan to increase plutonium pit production.<\/p>\n

Last year, a federal judge in South Carolina ruled that the agency had \u201cneglected to properly consider the combined effects\u201d of the pit expansion plan that would rely on production in New Mexico and South Carolina.<\/p>\n

A settlement required the agency to conduct an environmental impact study and required public engagement, including the five hearings, which will be held this week and next. Public comments raised at the public hearings or submitted in writing<\/a> before July 16 must be addressed by the agency in its final report.<\/p>\n

Kimmy Igla, a founding member of No Nukes KC Coalition, said she wants to know why Kansas City has been called out as an impacted site. Information about Kansas City\u2019s role in the pit production expansion, she said, is \u201cwildly insufficient\u201d in the draft report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need more information,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re being asked to comment on something that is already underway and we don\u2019t even have sufficient information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without the court ruling, she added, the impact study wouldn\u2019t have even been done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf transparency were really the goal, then we would already be in the know for what their mission is,\u201d Igla said. \u201cInstead they had to get sued and be forced to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suellentrop, of PeaceWorks, is clear on what she wants to ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should we make more of this crap?\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge waste of our tax money. \u2026 The whole process of making them pollutes the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correction (May 6, 2026):<\/strong> This article has been updated to state that the Savannah River Site is 10 years away from producing a plutonium pit. The story originally stated that the Los Alamos lab was 10 years away from producing a plutonium pit.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article<\/a> first appeared on Beacon: Kansas City<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ann Suellentrop, vice chair of PeaceWorks Kansas City, with other protesters outside the Kansas City National Security Campus at 14520 Botts Road in south Kansas City (photo submitted). 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