An essential part of the scaled-down plans for the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant’s Uranium Processing Facility is to extend the life of some existing production facilities at the Tennessee complex in order to reduce the costs of new construction and keep the project’s overall price tag at or below $6.5 billion.
The focus of those life-extension efforts are Beta-2E and Building 9215, and plans call for those two Y-12 facilities – 46 years old and 59 years old, respectively – to not only continue their current missions but to gradually adopt some of the work that has historically been carried out at the World War II-era 9212 complex.
The National Nuclear Security Administration wants to shut down 9212 as soon as possible and remove its enriched uranium contents to alleviate safety concerns there.
The NNSA has not revealed the costs of the life-extension projects at Beta-2E and Building 9215, but a report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act indicates that the “notional” costs could be in the range of $400 million or more.
A chart in the “Extended Life Program” report, which was completed in January, indicates the funding profile could be between $20 million and $25 million a year for the next 20 years for “maintenance above base,” repairs and replacement associated with the effort to upgrade the facilities, and tasks tied to the Nuclear Facilities Electrical Modernization.
The NNSA did not immediately respond to requests for a more definitive statement on the project costs.
The Extended Life Program is specific to “sustaining enriched uranium processes, infrastructure, and supporting utilities in Building 9204-2E (Beta-2E) and 9215 and is considered a pilot effort in applying the enhanced Aging Management Program at Y-12,” the report states.
The report said the Extended Life Program is a “subset” of a larger Enriched Uranium Infrastructure Strategy and focuses on sustaining the existing infrastructure until at least 2050. Through this strategy, the risk of off-site consequences has been and will be further reduced, the report says, “primarily through the ongoing reduction of material (highly enriched uranium) at risk.”
Additional relocations of processes and removal of material will further reduce the risks.
As a pilot, Y-12 is recommending an “incremental and sustained funding profile” similar to one shown in a chart in the report. “This funding profile builds on the current established profile of additional funds to support the initial phase of electrical infrastructure upgrades necessary to support extended operations in (Beta-2E) and 9215,” the report states.
The report, which was prepared by Y-12 contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security, notes that the overall recommended increase in funding “is at a pace that allows for appropriate planning and execution without spiking or straining execution resources.”
According to the report, “The enriched uranium processing facilities at Y-12 have reached or exceeded their design life.”
As has been reported for years, the plant’s primary capabilities for working with highly enriched uranium are housed in the Oak Ridge site’s dilapidated 9212 complex. The report notes that 9212’s production activities are to be replaced with newly constructed facilities in the “near future” (by 2025) or relocated to existing structures.
While much of that work will be transferred to new facilities that are to be part of the Uranium Processing Facility, the ability to extend and expand the operations at Beta-2E, which houses warhead assembly and disassembly operations, and 9215, which houses equipment for machining uranium parts, appears to be critically important to the strategy.
Besides their existing missions, Beta-2E and 9215 are to take on some new roles — and new technologies — to help replace some uranium work previously done in Building 9212.
The life-extension projects at those two facilities became more important a few years ago when the NNSA realized that the original plans for UPF could not be accomplished within the $6.5 billion spending cap. As originally envisioned, UPF would have consolidated virtually all of Y-12’s work with enriched uranium, including the work done at Beta-2E and 9215. But the costs of the so-called “big box” strategy had reportedly soared beyond any acceptable spending target.
A so-called Red Team headed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason in early 2014 recommended a more limited project, with smaller facilities done in phases. And, in order to reduce costs, the Red Team also recommended reuse of older buildings to supplement the production core.
The costs associated with revamping Beta-2E and 9215 apparently will not be included in the price tag for UPF.
“Since Buildings 9204-2E and 9215 have been maintained and funded as limited-life facilities, additional resources are necessary to augment the maintenance base as well as plan and execute the identified replacements and refurbishments,” the report states.
There are plans to eventually replace those two buildings as well, but that’s not expected for another 20 years or so. Based on the report, the tentative plan is to construct a new facility near UPF in the late 2030s to replace Building 9215. It appears that a replacement facility for Beta-2E would come about a decade later.
Y-12 is dealing with many of the existing risks at Beta-2E and 9215 by minimizing the amount of uranium housed in the buildings.
According to the report, the plan is to use a “just-in-time” strategy at Beta-2E and Building 9215, which would limit the uranium to quantities being processed at any one time.
