Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
6/12/2015
The new Transuranic Waste Facility under construction at Los Alamos National Laboratory is on track to be completed ahead of schedule and on cost, a Department of Energy review has found. The new facility is intended to process newly generated transuranic waste at Los Alamos. A DOE Construction Project Review performed in March found the project will be completed “within the expected $99.3M Total Project Cost” and “prior to the January 2018 Critical Decision 4 (CD-4) date,” according to a copy of the review’s findings the National Nuclear Security Administration provided to NS&D Monitor.
The review found that technical and environmental considerations are being managed well and “sufficient resources” are available “to address any future issues.” Management is also on track and “key positions on both the federal and contractor staffs have been filled,” the report says. The review did note a delay in developing the required Documented Safety Analysis and Technical Safety Requirements, calling for a “formal agreement between the project and the NNSA Los Alamos Field Office” to address the issue and prevent testing delays. It identifies the TWF’s location near a transportation route and airport as a potential issue and indicates the need to address “aircraft crash probability” and a “large vehicle accident scenario.” In a statement to NS&D Monitor, LANL spokesman Kevin Roark said that the lab is currently “working closely with NNSA to develop the Documented Safety Analysis for the [TWF] and to assure the TWF is a success, with construction less than one year away from completion.”
The report also notes “the potential for an adversarial working relationship over the use of management reserve and contingency” between LANS and the NNSA in case of “cost pressure on the LANS work as the project progresses.” However, these issues are ultimately not expected to impact the January 2018 mission end date.
