The National Nuclear Security Administration and its Y-12 site contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security, are moving forward with infrastructure improvements at two key facilities at the Oak Ridge, Tenn., facility. This is apparently one of the top priorities at Y-12, needed to support efforts to ensure the scaled-back plans for the Uranium Processing Facility keep the big project within its $6.5 billion ceiling.
A newly released weekly report, dated March 18, from Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board staff said aging electrical equipment is one of the most significant concerns at Building 9215 (a uranium facility that is to host some of the purification work done for decades at the 9212 complex) and Beta-2E (where, among other things, nuclear warhead parts are assembled and dismantled).
The safety board memo said the National Nuclear Security Administration earlier this year began funding a project called Nuclear Facilities Electrical Modernization.
According to the DNSFB’s mid-March report, Y-12 has indicated the electrical overhaul is likely to cost roughly $85 million. The project is scheduled to be finished by the end of fiscal 2020. It will replace much of the electrical equipment inside the decades-old facilities, such as switchgears, lighting panels, and motor control centers.
Getting 9215 and Beta-2E into better shape for future use is essential to the NNSA’s revised plans for the Uranium Processing Facility, which were based on the 2014 report by a Red Team headed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason.
The intent is to make infrastructure improvements that extend use of the two production facilities and allow existing missions there to continue or to incorporate new activities that otherwise would have to be included in the new construction of a special complex for UPF.
If the plan is successful, it will greatly reduce the amount of new construction and lower the project’s overall price tag.
Consolidated Nuclear Security recently posted on its website some of the plans for upgrading Building 9215 and Beta-2E.
The contractor already has hosted two workshops this year to gather input from representatives at other nuclear facilities, including the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Atomic Weapons Establishment in the United Kingdom.
“The workshop attendees concluded that current elements of the proposed Y-12 ELP (Extended Life Program), with improvements to the aging management program and outage program, addressed the essential elements of a workable management program,” CNS said in its posting. “However, sustained investment will be needed to restore key facility processes and supporting infrastructure, along with an increase in maintenance resources.”
CNS said it is using a three-pronged approach to “aging management.”
That includes extracting the greatest amount possible of the “material at risk” to keep the inventory of weapon-grade uranium as low as reasonable to minimize consequences in case of an accident.
The contractor also is intent on replacing or refurbishing process equipment to improve operational safety.
Obeying regulations while extending the life of the facility is the third priority.
