Staff Reports
NS&D Monitor
6/27/2014
Incoming Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security has confirmed that it’s considering moving part of the Uranium Processing Facility’s design work to Bechtel’s Government Services home base in Reston, Va., but a spokesman said it’s not a done deal and emphasized that it won’t involve a large-scale relocation of work now done in Oak Ridge. “Wholesale removal of work from Oak Ridge is not the plan,” CNS spokesman Jason Bohne said. “It’s targeted activities where the Reston office has expertise.”
As the UPF design team has been whittled down significantly over the past couple of months, there have been rumors of Bechtel—the lead partner in CNS—taking charge of some of the workload at the corporate level where there is depth of engineering expertise. Bohne said no UPF work has been assigned elsewhere at this point. But he acknowledged there have been discussions about what work might be suitable for Bechtel’s Reston, Va., facilities.
‘We’re Looking at Different Alternatives’
Any changes would be directed at better carrying out the recommendations of the Red Team, which evaluated the Y-12 uranium mission earlier this year and came up with a new strategy to replace the UPF plan for a single facility that consolidated all uranium activities. “We’re looking at different alternatives on how to best perform the work going forward. So, one of those options is certainly to have a portion of the design work done out of Reston,” Bohne said. He did not directly respond to questions about whether such a move would cut costs associated with the project but that’s thought to be one of the motivations.
A number of UPF design activities have been put on hold while the National Nuclear Security Administration and its contractors decide how to translate the Red Team’s recommendations into workable tasks. Much, if not all, of the procurement activity associated with UPF has reportedly been put on hold, although the NNSA would not directly comment on that situation. ”All procurements will be based upon NNSA’s ongoing review of the Red Team report,” federal spokesman Steven Wyatt said in an email response. He declined to comment further. UPF Procurement Manager Rich Brown is currently on a special assignment for Bechtel in the United Kingdom.
The Red Team proposed a reduced amount of new construction at Y-12. Where possible, the new approach would use existing facilities capable of being refurbished and upgraded. The new strategy reportedly would improve the chances of getting out of the aged and decrepit 9212 complex by 2025 and reduce the overall cost of the project, keeping it under $6.5 billion. Bohne said CNS is awaiting some guidance on how to carry out the Red Team’s suggestions and preparing alternatives for how to implement the work. “One of the options is to use Bechtel expertise that’s located at the Reston office, to use that as part of the mix,” he said.
