GAO REVIEWS SAFETY ON UPF PROJECT

There don’t appear to be any safety-related showstoppers that would prevent the National Nuclear Security Administration from completing design of the Uranium Processing Facility in 2015, the Government Accountability Office said in its latest report on the multi-billion-dollar facility. In what largely amounted to a review of previously available information, the GAO noted that the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board previously raised concerns about 15 safety issues with the facility, but it said the NNSA had addressed or was in the process of addressing 14 of the issues, and that DNFSB and NNSA officials agreed none of the concerns should throw a wrench in the facility’s design plans. The one issue that is lingering—which deals with how the agency has calculated the way radioactive materials might be dispersed in an accident—is not likely to be resolved, but the GAO said the NNSA has done more analysis to clarify its position. The GAO also noted that the DNFSB in August raised another 12 safety issues with the facility, including issues with the fire protection system, glovebox fires and airplane crashes, and the NNSA said it will respond to the DNFSB by Nov. 22. A separate issue raised by the DNFSB involves the decision to delay the installation of some uranium processing capabilities. The DNFSB said it feared the NNSA would not have flexibility to address safety issues that may crop up once the building is completed.