U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project

This project was completed in August 1998 and resulted in the book Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 edited by Stephen I. Schwartz. These project pages are only occassionally updated and should be considered historical.
U.S. Nuclear Weapons Research, Development, Testing, and Production, and Naval Nuclear Propulsion Facilities


Compiled by Stephen I. Schwartz
Director, U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036-2188
E-mail:



Interactive map guides to the current and historical United States nuclear weapons and naval nuclear propulsion complex are available courtesy of the Office of Environmental Management at the U.S. Department of Energy. You can choose between a basic overview by function or a detailed overview by state and facility (data accurate as of 1996). For information on formerly utilized sites, see the section below on transitional/closed facilities or visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.

NOTE: Facility budget data reflect actual expenditures in 2001 (expressed in constant 2002 dollars). Accounting data for stored quantities of plutonium and highly-enriched uranium exclude (for uranium) materials in intact nuclear weapons, materials not in Department of Energy custody (e.g. deployed weapons), and materials in spent fuel and irradiated fuel targets. Both categories exclude materials designated as radioactive waste (including 3,919 kilograms of plutonium). These figures were accurate as of September 30, 1994 (plutonium) and December 1996 (uranium), the last time the U.S. Government chose to release information on these inventories.

Operational Facilities

- Revised August 16, 2002 -


Ames Laboratory (Ames, Iowa)

ESTABLISHED: 1947
SIZE: 10 acres (435,600 square feet)
BUDGET: $23.1 million (5.6 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 0 [federal]; 375 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Conducts basic research on nuclear materials and nuclear waste remediation
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 15.5 grams of plutonium and 31 grams of uranium-235
CONTRACTOR: Iowa State University (formerly Iowa State College)



Argonne National Laboratory [ANL]
(Argonne, IL [ANL-East], 22 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho [ANL-West])

ESTABLISHED: July 1, 1946
SIZE: 1,704 acres (2.7 square miles) [ANL-E]
BUDGET: $342.8 million ANL-East (9.3 percent defense-related); $71.0 million ANL-West (6.8 percent defense-related) [not including DOE's Chicago Operations Office] (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 315 [federal]; 3,862 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Conducts research on advanced nuclear reactor technologies.
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 1.15 kilograms of plutonium and less than one metric ton of uranium-235 [ANL-E]; 4.0 metric tons of plutonium-239 and less than 10 metric tons of uranium-235 [ANL-W]
CONTRACTOR: University of Chicago and Argonne Universities Association



Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory (West Mifflin, Pennsylvania)

ESTABLISHED: 1948
SIZE: 160 acres (0.25 square miles)
BUDGET: $354.8 million [including DOE's Pittsburgh Naval Reactors Office] (100 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 67 [federal]; 2,972 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Designs, builds and tests prototype naval nuclear reactors and trains U.S. Navy personnel in their operation and maintenance.
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 272 grams of plutonium and approximately 5.5 kilograms of uranium-235
CONTRACTOR: Bechtel National, Inc.
FORMER CONTRACTOR: Westinghouse Bettis Co. (formerly Westinghouse Electric Corp., Atomic Power Division), 1948-1998



Brookhaven National Laboratory [BNL]
(Upton, Long Island, New York, 60 miles east of New York City)

ESTABLISHED: January 31, 1947
SIZE: 5,300 acres (8.3 square miles)
BUDGET: $383.4 million (9.0 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 33 [federal]; 3,101 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Conducts research on nuclear weapons, nuclear waste remediation, nuclear materials production, nuclear safeguards and security, and verification and control technologies.
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: Approximately 41.6 kilograms of uranium-235 (all declared excess by President Clinton on March 1, 1995)
CONTRACTORS: Brookhaven Science Associates (a 50-50 partnership between The Research Foundation of the State University of New York?on behalf of the State University of New York at Stony Brook?and Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, Ohio); Bechtel National, Inc.; Duke Engineering and Services; Waste Management Federal Services, Inc.
FORMER CONTRACTOR: Associated Universities, Inc. (a consortium founded in 1946 by Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, The Johns Hopkins University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the University of Rochester, and Yale University), 1947-1998



Holston Army Ammunition Plant
(Kingsport, Tennessee, 85 miles northeast of Knoxville)

ESTABLISHED: 1942; began making high explosives for nuclear weapons in 1961
SIZE: 6,020 acres (9.4 square miles)
EMPLOYEES: 475 (as of 11/30/97)
FUNCTION: Sole source (since 1961) of a high explosive (HE) chemical powder used to fabricate high explosive lenses for nuclear weapons (see footnote 16 for further information).
CONTRACTORS: managed and operated for the U.S. Army by BAE Systems Ordnance Systems, Inc., a subsidiary of BAE Systems (formerly British Aerospace); Wackenhut Services, Inc.
FORMER CONTRACTOR: Holston Defense Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eastman Chemical Company, 1942-December 31, 1998



Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory [INEEL] 1
(42 miles northwest of Idaho Falls, Idaho)

ESTABLISHED: 1949
SIZE: 571,800 acres (893 square miles)
BUDGET: $832.0 million [including DOE's Idaho Operations Office] (72.6 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 393 [federal]; 5,868 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Researches, develops, tests and evaluates naval and breeder reactors, manages high-level and transuranic nuclear waste, and produces plutonium-238 fuel in the Advanced Test Reactor. Fabricates depleted uranium armor at the Specific Manufacturing Capability Project for M1-A1 and M1-A2 Abrams tanks. From 1953-1992, the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP)2 reprocessed spent naval reactor fuel to recover uranium-235 (some of which was fabricated into fuel for the Savannah River reactors beginning in 1968) and krypton-85. Facilities include 52 reactors (3 still operating, 10 operable but currently shut down for lack of funding) and 11 stainless steel high-level waste underground storage tanks. Four reactors (two submarine prototypes and two aircraft carrier prototypes), all inactivated, are at the Naval Reactors Facility maintained by the Navy's Nuclear Reactors Office.
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 0.5 metric tons of plutonium-239 (0.4 metric tons declared excess by President Clinton on March 1, 1995), 26.2 metric tons of uranium-235 (23.4 metric tons declared excess by President Clinton on March 1, 1995), and 40 kilograms of uranium-233
CONTRACTORS: Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC (composed of Bechtel National, Inc. and BWX Technologies); Bechtel Bettis, Inc. [Naval Reactors Facility]; University of Chicago [Argonne National Laboratory-West]; Inland Northwest Research Alliance
FORMER CONTRACTORS: Phillips Petroleum Co., Atomic Energy Division, 1950-1966; American Cyanamid Co. [ICPP], 1953; Combustion Engineering Inc., Nuclear Division [Naval Reactor Facility], 1959-1965; Aerojet General Corp. and Aerojet General Nucleonics, 1959-1965; Aerojet General Corp., 1965-1966; General Electric Company, 1965-1968; Idaho Nuclear Corp. (a jointly owned subsidiary of Aerojet General Corp., Allied Chemical Corp. and [beginning in 1969] Phillips Petroleum Co.), 1966-71; Aerojet Nuclear Co. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Aerojet General Corp.), 1971-1976; Allied Chemical Corp. [ICPP], 1971-1980; Exxon Nuclear Idaho Company [ICPP], 1980-1984; EG&G3 Idaho, Inc., 1984-1994; Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Co. [ICPP], 1984-1994; Rockwell International Corp. [SMC] (Special Manufacturing Capability for M1-A1/A2 tank armor), December 1986-1991; Babcock and Wilcox [SMC] (Special Manufacturing Capability for M1-A1/A2 tank armor), 1991-1994; Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company (composed of Lockheed and Babcock & Wilcox Idaho, Coleman Research, Duke Engineering and Services, NUMATEC, Parsons Environmental Services, Rust International [Rust Federal Services] and the Thermo Electron Corporation [Thermo Technology Ventures]), a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, 1994-1999; Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company [ICPP], 1994-1999; Westinghouse Electric Corp. [Naval Reactor Facility], 1994-1999; Argonne National Laboratory-West [fast breeder reactor program], 1994-1999; Lockheed Idaho Technologies Company [SMC] (Special Manufacturing Capability for depleted uranium M1-A1/A2 tank armor), 1994-1999



Kansas City Plant 4
(12 miles south of downtown Kansas City, Missouri)

ESTABLISHED: 1949
SIZE: 136 acres (0.2 square miles; 113 acres of process buildings covering 3.2 million square feet)
BUDGET: $364.6 million (100 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 61 [federal]; 3,679 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Produces or procures electronic, electro-mechanical, rubber, plastic and metal components for nuclear weapons, including arming, fuzing and firing systems, radars and coded safety locks known as PALs (Permissive Action Links).
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 1.2 grams of plutonium
CONTRACTOR: Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, a division of Honeywell, Inc.
FORMER CONTRACTOR: Bendix Kansas City Division of Allied-Signal (formerly the Bendix Aviation Corporation), 1949-2000



Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory [KAPL]
(Niskayuna and West Milton, New York; Windsor, Connecticut)

ESTABLISHED: 1947
SIZE: 170 acres (0.3 square miles) at Niskayuna; 3,900 acres (6.1 square miles) at West Milton; 10.8 acres at Windsor
BUDGET: $274.2 million [including DOE's Schenectady Naval Reactors Office] (100 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 65 [federal]; 2,700 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Designs, builds and tests prototype naval nuclear reactors and trains U.S. Navy personnel in their operation and maintenance. Maintains two operational and two inactive (defueled) test reactors at Niskayuna, NY, and an inactive (defueled) reactor at Windsor, CT (shut down in March 1993).
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 1.6 metric tons of uranium-235 and 171.7 grams of plutonium
CONTRACTOR: KAPL, Inc. (formerly Lockheed Martin-KAPL Company, Inc., a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation)
FORMER CONTRACTOR: General Electric Company, 1947-1993



Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory [LLNL] 5
(Livermore, California)

ESTABLISHED: July 1952
SIZE: 7,321 acres (11.4 square miles)
BUDGET: $1,132.5 million [not including DOE's Oakland Operations Office] (93.4 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 110 [federal]; 6,403 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Conducts research, development and testing activities associated with all phases of the nuclear weapons life-cycle, as well as research on non-proliferation, arms control and treaty verification technology. Facilities include an explosives test site, a tritium facility, the NOVA laser, the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) plant, Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) facilities, the National Ignition Facility (NIF, currently under construction) and the High Explosive Application Facility (HEAF).
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 0.3 metric tons of plutonium-239, 0.2 metric tons of uranium-235, and 3.1 kilograms of uranium-233
CONTRACTOR: University of California, Board of Regents



Los Alamos National Laboratory [LANL] 6
(Los Alamos, New Mexico)

ESTABLISHED: Site selected on November 25, 1942 (code name Site Y).
SIZE: 27,520 acres (43 square miles)
BUDGET: $1,761.3 million [not including DOE's Albuquerque Operations Office] (81.2 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 70 [federal]; 6,687 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Conducts research, development and testing activities associated with all phases of the nuclear weapons life-cycle, as well as arms control and nuclear proliferation. Facilities include plutonium and tritium processing plants, an eight megawatt research reactor and various laser and high explosives buildings. Until April 1984, Los Alamos had the capability to fabricate and assemble nuclear weapon test devices.7
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 2.7 metric tons of plutonium-239 (1.5 metric tons declared excess by President Clinton on March 1, 1995), 3.2 metric tons of uranium-235 (0.5 metric tons declared excess by President Clinton on March 1, 1995), and more than 1 kilogram of uranium-233
CONTRACTOR: University of California, Board of Regents



Nevada Test Site [NTS] 8
(65 miles northwest of Las Vegas)

ESTABLISHED: Selected in December 1950; first nuclear test on January 27, 1951; last on September 23, 1992; 928 total tests (100 atmospheric, 828 underground, including 24 joint U.S.-United Kingdom tests)
SIZE: 864,000 acres (1,350 square miles)
BUDGET: $581.8 million [including DOE's Nevada Operations Office] (92.6 percent defense-related) (2001)
EMPLOYEES: 17 [federal]; 2,345 [contractor] (as of 9/30/97)
FUNCTION: Field tests nuclear weapons for development, safety and weapons effects purposes. From the 1959 through 1972 a portion of the site, designated the Nuclear Rocket Development Station (NRDS), was used to test 21 above-ground prototypes of space nuclear propulsion reactors.9 In mid-1993, construction was completed on the $109 million Device Assembly Facility, (DAF), a 100,000 square foot building within a highly secured 22 acre portion of the test site. The facility includes five high explosives containment cells, called "Gravel Gerties," three weapon assembly bays, two radiographic areas and storage bunkers. In August 2002, the DOE announced that the TA-18 facility at Los Alamos will be relocated to the DAF.
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS ON-SITE: 16 kilograms of plutonium-239 and 217 grams of uranium-235 (does not include significant residues resulting from testing activities)
CONTRACTORS: Bechtel Nevada Corporation; Johnson Controls Nevada, Inc.; Lockheed Martin Nevada Technologies, Inc.;