Los Alamos National Laboratory late last week delivered to the National Nuclear Security Administration the so-called “60-day” study of alternatives to the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement-Nuclear Facility, and there don’t appear to be any showstoppers, according to an official with knowledge of the report. NNSA spokesman Josh McConaha declined to comment on the document, which was requested when the agency decided to defer construction of the CMRR-NF in early February, but the options considered are believed to cost close to previous cost estimates of $100 million a year at Los Alamos. Lab officials briefed officials from NNSA headquarters last week on the report, which is considered Unclassified Controlled Nuclear Information and is not publicly releasable. The lab is believed to be working on an unclassified version that can be released.
To mitigate the deferral of CMRR-NF, the NNSA plans to use an existing facility at Los Alamos, the Radiological Laboratory/Utility/Office Building, as well as Lawrence Livermore’s Superblock Facility and the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada National Security Site, and Los Alamos was expected to analyze several key components of the project in the 60-day study. That includes closing out design of the CMRR-NF, phasing out usage of the current Chemistry and Metallurgy Research building by 2019, increasing the use of the RLUOB, moving material between the RLUOB and the lab’s existing Plutonium Facility, exploring options with other sites, and decreasing the amount of nuclear material in the Plutonium Facility through the use of the DAF.