U.S. Weapons Program Faces Lithium Shortage

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) could run out of a vital isotope needed to refurbish its nuclear weapons stockpile by 2018, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. GAO says the agency needs to reevaluate its options for increasing production of ⁶Li. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee separated ⁶Li from its more abundant ⁷Li counterpart until 2013, when its aging production facility was partially closed because of its deteriorating condition. The closure means NNSA doesn’t have a place to turn its ⁶Li stocks, which are stored as lithium chloride, back into a usable form. Instead, the agency has been recovering ⁶Li from nuclear weapons that are being disassembled. NNSA previously said it could run out of ⁶Li by 2020, but increased demand means that could happen by 2018. Earlier this year, NNSA approved the first step toward building a new lithium production facility without fully exploring other options, such as leasing an outside facility or outsourcing the work, the GAO report says.