Under the Cap of Invisibility: The Pantex Nuclear Weapons Plant and the Texas Panhandle

Pantex was built during World War II near the town of Amarillo, Texas. The site was converted early in the Cold War to assemble nuclear weapons and produce high explosives. For nearly fifty years Pantex has been the sole assembly and disassembly plant for nuclear weapons in the United States. Today, most of the activities of the plant consist of the manufacture of high explosive components and the dismantlement or life extension of weapons, including retrofitting aging warheads in the Unite...