The National Nuclear Security Administration is finally moving forward with a plan to establish a pit disassembly and conversion capability that relies primarily on existing facilities. In an expected cost-saving measure, the agency signed an amended Notice of Intent Friday that identifies a mix of facilities to provide plutonium feedstock for the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility, and the agency provided direction to contractors involved in the effort yesterday. The amended Notice of Intent is expected to be published in the Federal Register later this week, NNSA spokeswoman Courtney Greenwald told NW&M Monitor in response to questions. The decision would modify the scope of the NNSA’s Surplus Plutonium Disposition Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, and Greenwald said a Record of Decision is expected in 2013.
The agency’s preferred pathway includes the use of three Savannah River Site facilities—H-Canyon, the MOX facility, and the existing K Area reactor—as well as the expansion of Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Advanced Recovery and Integration Extraction System, which was established to provide initial feedstock for the MOX facility. When the agency decided to abandon its plan to build a dedicated pit disassembly and conversion facility several years ago, K Area appeared to be the top destination for the capability, but the cost of establishing the mission there was initially estimated between $4.5 and $4.8 billion. The K Area option has since been scaled back to “possibly a small cutting capability,” according to Greenwald. It’s unclear how the use of the rest of the facilities, including LANL’s ARIES line, will be apportioned. As the agency considered alternatives over the last year, those that “would not require extensive construction demonstrated particular merit because they avoid significant capital costs,” Greenwald said.