The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office (NPO) has signed off on a safety plan for extending the service lives of two key facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee. Next up is completion of an Extended Life Program implementation plan for Buildings 9204-2E and 9215 by Nov. 1 of this year, according to a newly released Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board report.
Building 9204-2E, also known as Beta-2E, is more than 45 years old, while Building 9215 is about 60 years old. The life-extension program would keep the two materials processing facilities open for decades to come to house all processing operations not ultimately included in Y-12’s Uranium Processing Facility, which is to be built by 2025 at a cost of no more than $6.5 billion. That would include picking up some work now conducted at the nuclear-weapon site’s World War II-era 9212 complex, which the NNSA aims to shutter permanently as soon as possible.
The Extended Life Program is specifically aimed at “sustaining enriched uranium processes, infrastructure, and supporting utilities in Building 9204-2E (Beta-2E) and 9215” through 2050, according to a report obtained by the Knoxville News Sentinel earlier this year under a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Extended Life Program is intended to reduce material at risk in the two plants to lower the consequences of any mishaps, update or swap out aging but crucial infrastructure and process systems, and ensure that all regulatory mandates are satisfied in keeping the facilities open, Morgan Smith, president and CEO of Y-12 management and operations contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), said in Sept. 7 testimony on Capitol Hill. Infrastructure systems that support Buildings 9215 and 9204-2E, and in fact Y-12 as a whole, are largely beyond their current design lives, Smith said. He specifically cited electrical equipment that is no longer being produced, process equipment that must be updated or refurbished, cooling systems, fire water distribution systems, and humidity control gear. In addition, “facility structural conditions are also significant risks to the health of the plant.”
The NNSA Production Office, last April, requested that Consolidated Nuclear Security establish a safety strategy to enable NPO, CNS, and other participating organizations to concur on “scope, priority and actions required to execute the proposed risk reductions and resolve any gaps in meeting applicable requirements” for the life-extension program.
The contractor provided the plan in June to NPO, which gave it the OK in early September, according to the DNFSB report, dated Sept. 12 and made public last week. NPO and the NNSA Office of the Chief of Defense Nuclear Safety found that the CNS safety plan offers a reasonable path forward and a set of crucial decisions needed to sustain safe work in the two buildings.
NPO spokesman Steven Wyatt said Thursday the safety plan, along with the Extended Life Program implementation plan still in development, are controlled documents that cannot be released.
The projected cost of the life-extension work at the two plants has not been made public, but the report obtained via FOIA said the “notional” expenses could be roughly $400 million. That could be $20 million to $25 million annually for the coming two decades for “maintenance above base,” according to a chart featured in the document.
In his testimony before the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Smith highlighted the need for additional funding over a period of years to carry out the Extended Life Program. In a memo attached to the NPO letter approving the safety strategy, the NNSA Office of the Chief of Defense Nuclear Safety made the same point.
According to the DNFSB report, “CDNS observes that the safety strategy, when approved, will not be executable without a funding commitment and suggests that a roadmap be developed to identify recommended projects and schedules, with proposed funding mechanisms and relative priorities.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), an advocate for Y-12 funding who has kept a close eye on the Uranium Processing Facility project, suggested support for the Extended Life Program in a statement to NS&D Monitor.
“As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, I have worked with the Department of Energy to develop a plan to complete the Uranium Processing Facility on time and on budget,” he stated. “While UPF will replace many facilities at Y-12, there are many other facilities, including Buildings 9215 and 9204-2E, that are vital to the site’s mission. It is important to ensure facilities at Y-12 are safe for workers and that the site can continue to meet our national security needs.”
