Five-Year Contract Extension for ORNL Finalized
NS&D Monitor
4/3/2015
UT-Battelle, which has managed Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 2000, has signed a new five-year contract with the Department of Energy. ORNL Director Thom Mason confirmed March 30 that the extension had been signed. The existing contract was due to expire April 1. DOE announced in late 2013 its intent to extend UT-Battelle’s contract, praising the contractor’s performance and ongoing role in modernizing the department’s largest Office of Science lab.
Mason said the new contract is essentially the same as the old one, but it took a while to make sure all the necessary details were in place. “It actually turns out there’s a fairly lengthy document, so there’s a lot of details that have to be sort of checked and cross-checked,” he said. In a message to lab staff, Mason said that under UT-Battelle’s leadership, the lab had “maintained its preeminence in high-performance computing and materials sciences, continued to build on its strengths in neutron science, bioenergy and global security, and watched an amazing growth of both capability and public interest in advanced manufacturing.”
NNSA to Spend $8.7M in FY 2015 on Beta-2E, 9215
NS&D Monitor
4/3/2015
The National Nuclear Security Administration is spending about $8.7 million this year on activities to extend the life of two production facilities at Y-12—Beta-2E and Building 9215—that are important to the new strategy for the Uranium Processing Facility. Much more will be spent in the years ahead to keep them operational and perhaps accept new production missions while the Oak Ridge plant focuses on getting out of the antiquated 9212 complex as soon as possible and begins constructing the newly conceived three-building Uranium Processing Facility.
According to the reported plans, Beta-2E apparently won’t be replaced with a new facility until sometime after 2040, while 9215 is expected to maintain operations into the late 2030s. Even though the two building as an important part of the UPF plans—and were once going to be located inside the “big box” design for UPF—the money being spent to extend their operational lifetime is not included in the UPF budget.
No Long-Range Estimates Available For 9215, Beta-2E
NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt declined to provide long-range estimates for the cost of life-extensions at the 9215 and Beta-2E. NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz indicated that such estimates would be made available during a visit last month to Y-12 for a UPF ceremony. “This (UPF) isn’t the only facility associated with uranium operations here at Y-12, and we have to continue to maintain those other buildings, which requires the annual process of going in and assessing the state of health of those buildings and then making the kind of maintenance and repairs and upgrades that are necessary to keep them viable for the long-term as well,” Klotz said.
Wyatt, in an email response to questions, said, “The sustainment of Buildings 9204-2E and 9215 will require investments to be made by NNSA in the underlying infrastructure (electrical, structural, mechanical). In FY 2015, we expect to spend approximately $8.7M over and above base maintenance and operations in support of sustaining B2E and 9215 facility structure and facility systems. We are aware that additional investments will be needed in the future, but estimates on those costs have not been developed at this time.”
In an earlier statement, he said, “We are in the early stages of planning for a long-term life extension effort for these facilities. This plan will likely include facilities upgrades and a strategy for maintenance outages and the planned replacement of aging equipment. Our overall goal is to maintain continued safe and reliable operating conditions and to reduce mission risk. As part of our planning process, we will apply lessons learned in addressing aging infrastructure challenges from other facilities across the complex, other government agencies, the commercial nuclear power industry and the private sector.”
He declined comment on the eventual cost of replacing the two facilities. “Speculating about additional future work would not be advisable, since UPF has not even been base-lined yet,” he said.
NNSA Trying to Stabilize Alpha-5 Facility
NS&D Monitor
4/3/2015
Alpha-5, an old production facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, has been cited in recent reports by the Department of Energy’s Inspector General Office and the Government Accountability Office as an example of what’s wrong with the DOE system for decommissioning and decontaminating the no-longer-need facilities in the weapons complex. The National Nuclear Security Administration, while acknowledging the problems with the 70-year-old deteriorating building, cited a number of mitigation activities that have been carried out at Alpha-5 in recent years—with about $24 million spent on reducing risks at the site. That’s in addition to tens of millions of Recovery Act dollars that were spent emptying much of the materials and surplus equipment from the 530,000-square-foot facility.
Among the project were repairs on two of Alpha-5’s seven roofs to help stem water leaks that have spread contamination around the site and removal of all pyrophoric and combustible materials to eliminate the risk of explosions. “Over the past seven years we have applied considerable resources and efforts to reduce the risk of Alpha-5 to Y-12 employees, the environment, and the public,” NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt said in an email response to questions. “We continue to closely monitor the deteriorating conditions within this facility and will take additional steps as needed to continue to reduce risks. The permanent solution, however, is decontamination and decommissioning of this facility.”
No Timetable for Demolishing Alpha-5
Alpha-5 was a part of Y-12’s uranium-enrichment network during the Manhattan Project, and it later housed a number of other production activities. But it has not been operational since 2005. Since then, the building has deteriorated greatly, posing greater risks because of migrating hazards, according to the recently released GAO report that criticized the backed-up system that delays the cleanup of old facilities and doesn’t establish priorities according to their hazards. At this time, there apparently is no timetable for demolishing Alpha-5.
One of the criticisms in the recent GAO report was that DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, which takes ownership of cleanup activities once the funding becomes available, doesn’t always take risks into consideration when establishing the priority for projects. Because of inadequate funds for the work, dozens of facilities in the nuclear weapons complex are awaiting D&D, and it could be well into the 2030s before they get on a definitive schedule for demolition. “NNSA documents show that some facilities will require significant additional maintenance to prevent the spread of contamination,” the GAO report stated. “For example, the Alpha-5 facility at NNSA’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee has degraded to the extent that site officials now detect contaminants, such as mercury, in areas where they were not detected two years earlier, and additional funds are needed to repair its failing roof.”
The NNSA provided a list of activities carried out at Alpha-5 to help prevent the risk to the workers, the environment and the general public. Wyatt said Y-12 workers had replaced antiquated oil-type transformers at Alpha-5 with new “pole-mounted dry transformers” to reduce fire risks. They also removed two of the highest-risk emission stacks at the old facility, with plans to remove another 11 of the roof-mounted stacks, he said.
ORISE Solicitation Expected This Summer
NS&D Monitor
4/3/2015
The Department of Energy is moving forward with its plan to have a full-and-open competition for the management of the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, a contract historically held by Oak Ridge Associated Universities. The current contract is due to expire at the end of 2015. In late December, DOE’s Office of Science confirmed that the agency intended to put the contract up for bids and, according to a notice published this week on fbo.gov, the solicitation is expected to be released this summer.
ORAU has already said it intends to submit a proposal in hopes of keeping the contract. The Oak Ridge institute performs a variety of support activities for DOE, ranging from matching tomorrow’s top scientists with research lab opportunities and conducting a range of applied research programs on its own. ORISE is involved in environmental characterization and radiation emergency training and response, performing public outreach for a number of programs and connecting the federal agency with university resources.
A draft performance work statement was posted in the FedBizOps notice, and additional information will be posted in the future at http://orisecomp.science.energy.gov. The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education was created in 1992, essentially making a formal institute out of the programs that ORAU had managed for DOE or its predecessor agencies since the 1940s.
