Doubling Production at Y-12 9212 Facility to Pose Major Challenge for Contractor CNS
NS&D Monitor
3/20/2015
Doubling production at the aged 9212 uranium processing facility and maintaining safety won’t be easy, but National Nuclear Security Administration chief Frank Klotz said last week the recent goal put in place by the agency is important, doable and reflects the kind of challenges that the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant has met in the past. “This is a tough business,” Klotz said during a visit to Y-12, “and this is a challenging business. And it always has been since the very beginning. You know the history of this facility very, very well. But we think that the team that’s here, both the federal and the M&O partners, are up to the task.”
The NNSA has asked Consolidated Nuclear Security, the Y-12 contractor, to double its production of purified bomb-grade uranium metal to 1,000 kilograms a year. A CNS spokesman confirmed that the 9212 complex hasn’t reached that production level since 1991 (the year the Soviet Union fell apart). The production step-up is reportedly a key part of NNSA plans to get out of the World War II-era 9212 complex as soon as possible. Before getting to that point, however, it appears that 9212’s capabilities will be pushed to the limit.
A Two-Pronged Goal
The near-term goal is to reduce the “material at risk,” although no specific deadlines have been released publicly for reducing the amount of highly enriched uranium in processes at Y-12. “One of the things that we’re attempting to do is reduce the material at risk that currently goes through 9212 by improving the processes and how we move things through the facility,” Klotz said. “So that maybe we can eliminate some steps in that process, move things from Point A to Point B without having to go through Point C. That’s doing two things for us. It’s reducing the total amount of material at risk in 9212 and it’s also paving the way for us to get out of 9212.”
By processing the uranium stocks to a purified metal form, it would be more suitable for transferring out of 9212 to another facility, presumably the Highly Enriched Uranium Material Facility. But it would seem that increasing production at 9212—where operations have been described as bordering on unsafe for years—would be an exceptionally difficult challenge. Some of the essential processes used to recycle uranium scraps and produce purified uranium metal have been subject to equipment breakdowns and failures over the past two decades. “It will be difficult,” Morgan Smith, the CNS chief operating officer, said. “There’s no doubt about that.”
CNS to ‘Build a Balanced Plan’
According to Smith, CNS will “build a balanced plan” to address the production challenge. “We’re going to fairly assess the risk, put in risk-mitigation approaches and then just work it day by day,” the contractor executive said. “We want to take a circumspect approach to what is the condition of equipment, what are the condition of the facilities, what do we need from a preventive maintenance standpoint to stay out front. Plan that in for the overall picture. Work with the entire team to figure out the best approach and get it done.”
Smith said he think CNS will take on the challenge. “I believe in the end we’re going to say we can do that and will go do that. We’re going to work our way through it,” he said. CNS program integration manager Dave Beck added, “It’s an important national security deliverable, and we’re going to do our best to meet it, safely and securely.” While acknowledging the past operational issues at 9212, Beck said CNS believes it has a “reasonable chance to do that [meet the goal]. It’s not a sure thing. But it’s like any big challenge we take on. We think we’re up to it. And we’re going to make a good try at it, do our best.”
CNS Seeking Staff Augmentation Contractors at Y-12, Pantex
NS&D Monitor
3/20/2015
Consolidated Nuclear Security has revised and reissued a posting that seeks expressions of interest for two staff augmentation contracts for support services at the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear weapons plants. According to the posting, the two Basic Ordering Agreements—one for professional and technical support, the other for information technology support—will be set aside for small businesses. There will be two statements of work, but the actual number of awards could be greater than two should CNS decide the split things up.
Expressions of interest are due no later than March 24. The posting on the CNS website indicates that CNS is currently preparing a Request for Proposals, but no schedule for its release was available. The “size standard” for the two support services are $38.5 million for the technical support and $27.5 million for the IT support, according to the CNS posting. “CNS contemplates award of one or more Time and Material Basic Ordering Agreements (BOAs), reserving the right to make split awards (i.e., one or more awards for the Information Technology Support Services and one or more for the Professional and Technical Support Services). “
The criteria for the selection will be based on “best value,” CNS stated. Among the criteria for the work is that an offeror agrees to establish or maintain an office within a 45-mile radius of Y-12 and also have a point of contact designated for the Pantex site in the area of Amarillo, Texas.
Oak Ridge Peace Group Dropping Opposition to Y-12 Fence
NS&D Monitor
3/20/2015
A protest group, which had said the government was violating its First Amendment rights by blocking the front yard of the Y-12 National Security Complex—an area where demonstrations traditionally took place—will apparently drop its legal challenge after another setback. The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance complaint challenging a fence erected along Scarboro Road in front of Y-12 has been dismissed in federal court for a second time.
OREPA’s complaint was filed in July 2013 after the National Nuclear Security Administration ordered construction of a fence that blocked the area that been used for protests for more than 30 years. In a judgment issued last month, U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier denied the peace group’s second attempt to amend its motion and granted the government’s motion to dismiss the complaint—which named Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz as a defendant—on grounds that it did not have “subject matter jurisdiction.” Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of OREPA, indicated it’s unlikely that the legal action will be pursued further.
