by Glenn Hedin
January 30, 2026
A representative of Los Alamos National Laboratory confirmed nuclear weapons research will be a priority for its portion of the data center it intends to construct in collaboration with the University of Michigan in Ypsilanti Township.
Patrick Fitch, deputy laboratory director for science, technology, and engineering at Los Alamos, was present at the University’s open house on the project in Ypsilanti Thursday. When The Michigan Daily asked if Los Alamos intended to use its portion of the data center to support nuclear weapons research, Fitch said yes.
“The short answer is yes, because aspects of a nuclear weapon is key to our simulation expertise,” Fitch said. “We want this loop to include large investments in national security, so that spins back into the basic science, and what we learn here — that list of non-nuclear weapons stuff — spins into nuclear weapons.”
The proposed data center has garnered significant opposition from Ypsilanti residents and U-M community members who worry about its potential to negatively impact the surrounding environment and electrical grid, as well the possibility that the facility could be used in the development of nuclear weapons. The University has maintained the facility will not “manufacture” nuclear weapons.
Some activists consider this statement misleading, as data centers are generally used for computing activities and not manufacturing. However, their computing capabilities could be used to support nuclear research in other ways, including in the production of plutonium pits, which serve as the cores of nuclear weapons. While plutonium pits need not be located at a data center, their development requires intensive computing power. Los Alamos has operated under federal directive to modernize the United State’s nuclear arsenal through the development of these pits since 2018.
In an interview with The Daily held the day prior to the open house, Chris Kolb, University vice president for government relations, said the University’s previous statements regarding the data center’s potential role in nuclear weapons development were not misleading.
“We’ve never shied away from identifying Los Alamos once we were able to publicly, or the mission they have,” Kolb said. “They’ve talked about four main components. One is to maintain the viability of our nuclear stockpile.”
However, Kolb said he could neither confirm nor deny whether Los Alamos would use the data center for plutonium pit research.
Fitch said while the Los Alamos portion of the data center would not exclusively be used for computational research for plutonium pits, nuclear weapons research would be a key part of the center’s mission.
“One of the two computers we’re planning in our 55 megawatts (section) — if this facility is built — will be for what’s called secret restricted data,” Fitch said. “So it’ll be for the nuclear weapons program. Not exclusively, but it’ll be able to do that work.”
Daily News Editor Glenn Hedin can be reached at heglenn@umich.edu.
