Line 1/IAAP

History

Nuclear weapons were assembled, disassembled, modified, and tested at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAP) between approximately 1949 and 1975 on what was known at the facility as Line 1, Division B, or the Burlington Atomic Energy Commission Plant (BAECP). In 1975, the nuclear weapons operations were shut down and transferred to the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

The IAAP site is unique among the FWPs because both conventional high explosives (Department of Defense contract) and nuclear weapons (Atomic Energy Commission, AEC, contract) were assembled and disassembled during a roughly 26-year timeframe. The IAAP site was shared with the Department of Defense (DOD), which continues to produce conventional weapons to this day. Conventional weapons’ production areas at the IAAP were referred to as Division A. Many workers at the IAAP worked in either Division at one time or another. This overlap and the lack of available records make it difficult to identify and locate the target population of former AEC workers. For the FWP, any former worker who ever worked for Line 1/Division B during their employment at the IAAP will be considered eligible for a medical screening.