SCHEDULE FOR Y-12 LITHIUM FACILITY ACCELERATING
NS&D Monitor
1/24/2014
The National Nuclear Security Administration has its hands full with the Uranium Processing Facility, but there’s another new production facility at Y-12 in the early planning stages at Y-12 and—unlike the UPF—the schedule for the new Lithium Production Facility appears to be accelerating. The NNSA, however, isn’t saying much about the Lithium Production Facility at this point. “Y-12 is currently preparing information to support a request for approval of mission need (Critical Decision-0) for a new lithium production facility to replace outdated and inefficient facilities,” NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt said in response to questions a month ago.
When pressed for additional information, Wyatt this week responded by email, “This project would replace Building 9204-2 (also known at Beta-2), which was built in 1944.” Asked if he could provide a preliminary cost estimate or description of the work to take place in the new facility, the NNSA spokesman said, “No. The scope, funding and the timeline for this proposed facility have not been established.”
A Cost Between $100-500 Million?
The project was referenced in an appendix of the GAO’s December 2013 report on “Modernizing the Nuclear Security Enterprise: NNSA’s Budget Estimates Do Not Fully Align With Plans.” The report compared project cost and schedule ranges as reported in the 2012 and 2014 stockpile stewardship and management plans, and changes between 2012 and 2014 suggest that the timetable for bringing the new lithium facility online is being accelerated.
The NNSA’s 2012 report on the Lithium Production Facility shows it starting in 2021 and concluding around 2028. The 2014 plan, however, has the project starting in 2016 and concluding in 2021. The color coding on the chart indicates that the lithium project is in the estimated cost range of $100 million to $500 million. When asked about that chart, estimated costs and earlier work start, Wyatt declined further comment. He confirmed that work continues in Y-12’s Beta-2 facility, but would not discuss the details of those activities or provide a schedule for its planned shutdown.
The plant’s 2011 Sitewide Environmental Impact Statement provides background on the lithium work that takes place at Y-12. “The lithium process provides finished lithium hydride and lithium deuteride parts,” the report states, “Primary functional elements of this process include powder production and forming, finishing and inspection, and deuterium production. … The lithium hydride and lithium deuteride from storage, recycled weapons parts, and manufacturing scrap are broken, crushed, and ground to produce powder. The powder is located into molds and cold-pressed isostatically to form solid blanks.” Most of the work reportedly takes place inside gloveboxes.
ATTORNEY PUSHES FOR LENIENCY FOR NUN IN Y-12 BREAK-IN
NS&D Monitor
1/24/2014
If the federal judge presiding over the case of the three Transform Now Plowshares protesters follows the recommended sentencing guidelines, Sister Megan Rice—the nun who attracted worldwide attention in 2012 for breaking into the inner sanctum of the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant—could be 90 years old or older before she gets out of prison. Rice, who was 82 at the time of the July 28, 2012 intrusion at Y-12, repeatedly acknowledged over the past year and a half that her prison sentence could indeed be a death sentence, and she said she was at peace with that.
The nun will turn 84 on the last day of January, three days after the sentencing hearing for her and her cohorts, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli. According to documents filed in federal court, the recommended sentence for Rice is somewhere between 5 years, 10 months, and 7 years, 3 months. The range is based on the seriousness of the charges, criminal record and other factors. The recommended sentences for Walli and Boertje-Obed are several years longer.
Attorney: Nun’s Case ‘Differs Greatly’
Thousands of supporters have sent letters and postcards to U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar or signed petitions urging the judge to be lenient. Lawyers for the peace activists have filed motions arguing for lighter-than- recommended sentences. In a motion filed Jan. 14, Rice’s attorney, Francis Lloyd, said the sentencing for the nun “differs greatly” from other cases where federal sentencing guidelines are used to promote respect for the law and to protect the public from further crimes by the defendant. “The defendant Megan Rice is 83 years old, and has served most of her life as a sister of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, a Roman Catholic order,” the motion states. “Her conduct in this case was motivated by her unshakable conviction, based on her studied and devoted understanding of Christian principles of nonviolence, that nuclear weaponry is inescapably evil. Megan Rice has been open throughout this case about her affiliation with the Plowshares Movement. Like-minded individuals in this movement have engaged in similar expressive conduct in the past, and no doubt will do so in the future.”
Federal prosecutors filed a motion asking Judge Thapar to show no leniency, saying the protesters have shown no remorse for their criminal activity and actually “reveled” in their actions and used to spur more of the same.
