The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) does not have a plan to safely continue operating in an aged uranium processing facility until the new one is ready, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said.
The Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) is the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) next-generation factory for nuclear-weapons secondary stages at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennesee. Once construction is complete, UPF will replace facilities from World War II. However, the current 80-year-old building, Building 9212, does not meet modern safety codes, GAO says in its Sept. 18 report.
Originally, UPF was supposed to be completed by 2025-2026 and cost $6.5 billion, according to a 2020 GAO report that said UPF was on schedule at the time. The NNSA in December 2024 received approval to rebaseline the UPF project, an official told the Exchange Monitor at the 2025 Nuclear Deterrence Summit, and as such has added nearly $4 billion to the cost estimate at $10.35 billion, and eight years to the estimated completion date at 2034.
The report said NNSA determined in January 2023 that poor contractor performance, late cost overrun notice and limited workforce availability were all factors in the UPF delay. Additionally, the report said the contractor at UPF estimated to safely continue operations in Building 9212 until 2035, a year after the new facility is expected to be operational, it will cost $463 million. The report said NNSA acknowledged “increasing risks” of relying on Building 9212 and its aging infrastructure that does not meet “modern nuclear safety codes for earthquakes or high-wind events.”
“We recommend that NNSA establish a comprehensive plan to maintain safe operations in Building 9212 until 2035 or operations are ceased,” the report said in its recommendations, which NNSA agreed to.
In late June, UPF entered what NNSA said was its last construction phase and energized its final building.
Editor’s note, 3:43 p.m Eastern time. The story was corrected to show that the contractor at UPF estimated to safely continue operations in Building 9212 until 2035, a year after the new facility is expected to be operational, it will cost $463 million.
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