LAST W70 WARHEAD DISMANTLED

The National Nuclear Security Administration said late last week that the last nuclear weapon used by the Army has been completely dismantled. The agency said that the Y-12 National Security Complex had completed the dismantlement of components used in the W70 warhead, which was deployed on the Lance mobile artillery tactical missile system. The Lance was retired from the nation’s nuclear stockpile in the early 1990s, and while the bulk of the weapon is dismantled at the agency’s Pantex Plant, its uranium parts are dismantled at Y-12. The NNSA said Y-12 used “infrared debonding” technology to complete the dismantlement “years ahead of schedule.”