Govt. Approves LANL PF-4 Restart

Los Alamos National Laboratory has received federal approval to move forward with the first phase for restarting Plutonium Facility operations and contractors hope to start the second phase of the restart by the end of Fiscal Year 2015, Weapons Complex Morning Briefing has learned. The federal government has approved LANL’s June 5-submitted request for federal startup approval and the associated corrective action plan for the T-Base 2 machining activity, an industry official with knowledge of the situation told Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. The approval apparently came approximately six months sooner than LANL had hoped, as the lab’s baseline schedule showed a request for restart authorization by Jan. 5, 2016.

 

The sooner-than-expected T-Base 2 approval could potentially open the door for expediting the second restart phase, as LANL officials aim to begin the Balance of Machining activity by the end of this fiscal year, according to the official. PF-4 operations were halted in June 2013, because of criticality safety and conduct of operations issues. Reached yesterday via email, the National Nuclear Security Administration did not comment on the matter.