The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Y-12 National Security Complex announced the “diamond-stamping” of a secondary stage of a nuclear weapon through the W80-4 Life Extension Program. “Diamond-stamping,” as the Sept. 25 release calls it, refers to marking a product as war-reserve quality, or reliable and safe to use in a nuclear weapon. It is named after the physical process of applying a diamond-shaped mark to the component to model succeeding components after it. The secondary stage, or the canned…
