The Department of Energy (DOE) might not have enough heavy water inventory to meet its long-term nuclear weapons and non-weapons activity needs, according to a newly released audit report from the DOE Inspector General’s Office.
Heavy water for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) weapons activities is stored primarily at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee and is used for the production of life-extension program parts and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory National Ignition Facility (NIF) nuclear-weapon design and simulation.
The Department of Energy in 2009 completed a heavy-water assessment that outlined options to ensure it has enough heavy water for its nuclear weapons life-extension programs and stockpile stewardship design and simulation requirements through fiscal 2031, the Dec. 23 report noted. In recent years, DOE obtained additional heavy water from the Defense Department; the NNSA established a reserve of heavy water for its own missions, no longer supplying it for non-weapons activities; and Y-12 moved to a direct material manufacturing process that recycles weapons parts and decreases demand for heavy water.
However, “management of the heavy water inventory may not ensure a sufficient supply for Weapons Activities” and some non-weapons work beyond fiscal 2031, the audit found. It attributed this problem to “the uncertainty of heavy water requirements beyond 2031, the long lead time to establish a production capability, and the estimated lead time to develop recycle or re-enrichment capabilities.”
Specifically, Y-12 plans to implement a new capability to produce weapons parts containing lithium deuteride that may require heavy water at amounts that are not yet forecast, in contrast with the direct material manufacturing process currently in place. Future requirements at the NIF also remain uncertain, the report said, “pending a decision on the reconfiguration of NIF’s laser using a Direct Drive technique that could significantly increase the demand for heavy water.”
