NNSA: MAJOR CHANGES NEEDED ON DESIGN OF URANIUM PROCESSING FACILITY

In another blow to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s project management record, the agency confirmed yesterday that the multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility must be redesigned to fit the necessary equipment into the 340,000-square-foot building that’s been under design for years. Project officials, including Federal Project Director John Eschenberg, had previously suggested that space issues were not that unusual and would be worked out during the final stages of design, but he said yesterday during a field hearing convened by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in Knoxville that the roof of the facility must be raised by 13 feet and the walls and basemat  need to be strengthened. The facility’s concrete foundation will grow by about a foot, Eschenberg said, while the walls must be thickened from 18 inches to 30 inches. The changes would boost the cost of the project, which is currently estimated to cost between $4.2 and $6.5 billion. “The project prematurely established a hard footprint,” said Eschenberg, who added that the NNSA had not yet determined the root causes for why the building’s design didn’t meet the UPF space needs. He noted that it could have been related to having the early design team doing work from three different geographic locations.