While nearly two years have passed since Consolidated Nuclear Security took over operation of the Y-12 and Pantex plants as part of an unprecedented contract that combined the management of two nuclear weapons production facilities, the National Nuclear Security Administration still hasn’t decided whether to exercise its option to make it a three-way deal.
Steven Wyatt, chief spokesman in the NNSA’s Production Office, confirmed that the federal agency hasn’t decided whether to include the tritium activities at the Savannah River Site as part of the weapons production contract held by Bechtel-led CNS.
“There has been no decision on the exercise of the tritium option,” Wyatt said in an email response to questions. The work is now conducted by SRS contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.
NNSA officials throughout the procurement process and, at the time CNS took over the management contract on July 1, 2014, indicated the agency would likely make the tritium decision about a year into the contract. The idea reportedly was to give the team time to get comfortable and to evaluate how well the Y-12/Pantex combo was working.
The NNSA last year said it had deferred the decision until 2016. But now it’s not clear what the plans are.
Asked if he could say when NNSA plans to make a decision on whether to expand the scope of the CNS contract, Wyatt replied, “No.”
Under the option reportedly being considered, the tritium operations currently conducted at Savannah River would not be relocated, but rather would simply be placed under different management.
The management of the tritium work was part of the work scope included in the original contract that was competitively bid.
CNS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the tritium operations, but last year spokesman Jason Bohne indicated the contractor was focused on delivering the missions at Y-12 and Pantex and wouldn’t say if the company was pushing NNSA to add more work.
CNS received a 57 (out of 100) performance score on its first report card for managing Y-12 and Pantex.
