> The Black Hills are a relatively obscure source of the semiconductor-grade quartz we use in everything from chips to nuclear warheads.

Maybe read the thread you're replying to?

Nuclear warheads have electronics with very sensitive timing requirements. It is these components, and not the processing of fissile material, that the quartz is needed for.

I see. If a component is in a nuclear warhead, it must be made of plutonium. The things one learns!

I just saw that it was the target of "non-proliferation protestors" so I thought it had some arcane use as a component of a warhead.

They have a use, but my ability to talk about it is limited.