The Y-12 National Security Complex must ramp up maintenance at its existing uranium operations facilities to meet mission needs until new plants, including the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), are available, the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office (IG) found in a report released Tuesday.
Y-12’s enriched uranium processing operations are housed in the aging 9212 and 9215 complexes, as well as the newer 9204-2E building. The UPF, initially due to begin operations in 2018, is now expected to be completely online in 2025 and will not replace all the operations in the 9212 and 9215 complexes.
This led the IG to investigate whether the existing facilities, which house uranium processing operations that support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) defense programs, including the nuclear weapons life-extension programs, can meet Y-12 needs for longer than their intended life.
Y-12 recently made upgrades to the 70-year-old 9212 complex, which consists of 15 support and storage facilities that contain radioactive and chemical materials and do not currently meet safety requirements designed for cases of earthquakes, high winds, or aircraft crash, the report said. The 9212 facility is at the end of its intended service life.
While the upgrades are intended to reduce risks to operations at the facility through 2021, critical operations are projected to continue through 2025, according to the IG.
The IG issued several recommendations to the NNSA administrator, including that Y-12 plan for operations at 9212 through 2025; that Y-12 plan for continued operations at 9215 indefinitely; that the complex report to the NNSA “complete and accurate maintenance data”; and that the NNSA include deferred maintenance in its budget priorities.
Agency management agreed with the recommendations, but “noted that because the audit activities largely concluded 1 year ago, they did not think the information presented in the draft report adequately reflected the depth and breadth of steps NNSA had taken in the last 2 years,” according to the report.
The NNSA noted that it has taken action to address all four recommendations. For example, the agency said it would provide an additional $27 million for recapitalization and $11 million for maintenance for building 9215 during fiscal years 2018-2020.
