NNSA Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty

NNSA News:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) announced the completion of the Argus security project at the Device Assembly Facility (DAF) at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) near Las Vegas.

Argus will enhance the security mission to protect nuclear material and other assets that are critical to NNSA’s national security work.

NNSA Administrator and DOE Under Secretary for Nuclear Security Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty attended the Argus dedication ceremony Sept. 3 along with representatives from NNSS to mark the project’s completion. The Argus installation, completed in August 2020 at the DAF, will complement existing technical security processes and equipment.

“Argus will keep the Nation’s special nuclear material and NNSA’s vital workforce safer,” Administrator Gordon-Hagerty said. “The completion of this project will enable better protection for the nuclear material, personnel, and crucial equipment used as part of NNSA’s Nevada complex.”

The DAF was designed and built in the 1980s to consolidate all weapon assembly functions, including assembly, disassembly, modification, staging, transportation, maintenance, repair, retrofit, and testing of nuclear devices, and to provide a state-of-the-art safeguards and security environment.

The facility is a collection of more than 30 individual steel-reinforced concrete buildings covered by compacted earth. The mission of the DAF shifted to stockpile stewardship after the nuclear weapons testing moratorium began in October 1992.

The Argus Project was a capital line item project with an overall budget of $35.3 million. The project was completed approximately $1.7 million under budget, and 5 months ahead of schedule. It was the first line item project at the NNSS since 2010.

NNSS is located approximately 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas in an unpopulated area, and the site spans approximately 1,370 square miles.

Click here to learn more about NNSA’s stockpile stewardship mission and capabilities.