High Explosive Pressing Facility (HEPF)

Amarillo , Texas

The new High Explosive Pressing Facility (HEPF) at the Pantex Plant consolidates high explosives operations from several buildings. The 45,000 SF state-of-the-art facility provides safe and reliable high explosives production at Pantex, which dismantles, modifies, and assembles the nation’s nuclear weapons. Taking advantage of advanced isostatic pressing technique, high explosives are pressed into molds at immense pressures and machined into hemispheres, which surround the plutonium core of nuclear weapons.

Construction on the HEPF includes an administrative area, pressing bays, loading ramp with magazine storage and supporting site work, including utilities, parking, grading, communications, and turfing. The facility combines operations conducted from six different buildings with aging infrastructure and equipment. Kiewit was the only subcontractor to pass the Pantex NQA-1 audit on the first attempt.