December 22, 2015

Y-12 Lithium Production Faces Additional Scrutiny

By ExchangeMonitor

The future of lithium production at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee has again come under scrutiny with the release of an audit report by the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office that cites many of the concerns raised earlier this year by the Government Accountability Office.

Y-12 is the sole source of purified lithium-6 for use in weapons components, but the growing demand for use in refurbishing weapons and the changes in production capabilities have elevated the discussion and put pressure on the National Nuclear Security Administration to take action.

In 2012, Y-12 shut down the lithium-purification processes that had been used for decades to meet the defense needs of the U.S. nuclear weapons program. That move at the time was viewed as part of the government’s efforts to improve efficiencies in the post-Cold War era, as Y-12 introduced a new Direct Material Manufacture program to take care of the lithium needs.

However, the IG report said the DMM could not meet the production projections because there wasn’t enough source material and because the DMM has some limiting requirements.

Y-12 reportedly intended to mesh the DMM program with defense needs by qualifying as many as 11 weapon systems, but that hasn’t worked as planned, according to the IG report. That is because each of those systems must be qualified individually by one of the designs labs – either Los Alamos or Lawrence Livermore. That’s not expected to be completed until at least 2017.

As of June 2015, only three of the weapon systems had been qualified for use in the Direct Material Manufacturing program, the report stated.

The situation is further clouded by the deteriorating condition of the 70-year-old home to lithium work at Y-12. The facility known as Beta-2 has housed both the traditional lithium work as well as the DMM. The IG auditor criticized Y-12 for not maintaining the facility, citing safety problems – such as chunks of concrete falling from the ceiling – and a large backlog in maintenance tasks, with 233 jobs reportedly waiting to be accomplished at a projected cost of $19.4 million.

Y-12 is reportedly pursuing two strategies to deal with the lithium uncertainties, one of which is tied to a proposed new facility for lithium production. It could cost as much as $646 million. The plant contractor is also looking at ways to address the potential lithium shortfall for the near term (before the new production facility comes online around 2025) by evaluating advanced technologies or possibly outsourcing some of the work to commercial entities.

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