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Nuclear Modernization

Senate-passed NDAA includes Wicker amendment on Pantex Plant

Sarah Salem

Friday, October 10th, 2025

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Senate-passed NDAA includes Wicker amendment on Pantex Plant

Pictured is an undated Department of Energy photo of the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

The Senate, amid an ongoing government shutdown, passed its mammoth annual authorization bill, the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), 70 to 20 last Thursday night with an en bloc amendment that includes a provision on an explosives facility in Amarillo, Texas. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had a 71-page en bloc amendment approved and passed into the bill. Section 31 of the amendment had the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)…

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