GAO DETAILS SHORTCOMINGS IN NOW-DEFERRED CMRR-NF PROJECT

If the National Nuclear Security Administration restarts the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, it will likely need to be bigger—and more expensive—than current plans, according to a Government Accountability Office report released yesterday. According to the report, “New Plutonium Research Facility at Los Alamos May Not Meet All Mission Needs,” the NNSA hasn’t comprehensively analyzed its plutonium research, storage and environmental testing needs of homeland security and nonproliferation work involving plutonium and “therefore cannot be sure that the CMRR plans will effectively accommodate these needs.” The problem was exacerbated by the NNSA’s decision to consolidate its plutonium mission to Los Alamos, clearing all major quantities of plutonium out of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. “Plutonium research for the nuclear weapons stockpile and for other missions may have to compete for limited laboratory and storage space in CMRR and other facilities at Los Alamos, especially if the demand for newly manufactured pits unexpectedly increases,” the GAO said. “As a result, expansion of CMRR or construction of costly additional plutonium research, storage, and testing facilities at Los Alamos or elsewhere may be needed sometime in the future.”