Todd Jacobson
NS&D Monitor
10/24/2014
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla.—Savannah River Nuclear Solutions President Carol Johnson said here this week that severing tritium work from the contractor’s Savannah River management and operating contract would be “very detrimental” to the work at the site. When the NNSA consolidated management of the Y-12 and Pantex plants July 1, it retained an option to fold in Savannah River’s tritium work after a year, though it has not given any hints about its plans. The possibility of severing tritium work from SRNS’ contract has stirred up uncertainty at the site among tritium employees that are concerned their benefits could change if Y-12/Pantex contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security takes over management of the work. “I think removing tritium from the Savannah River Site’s contract regardless of the construct of the contract would be very detrimental to NNSA’s program,” Johnson said Oct. 22 at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. “I think there are substantial mission risks associated with doing that.”
She said that tritium work is closely linked to work at Savannah River National Laboratory, as well as support services and other site systems. “Breaking that apart is complex and I’m not saying it can’t be done, I’m just saying it’s very complex and would, I think, put NNSA’s program at risk,” she said. She said that SRNS has prepared to sever the tritium work as required by its contract, but there are “still a lot of interfaces and a lot of infrastructure connections that are necessary.” Johnson noted that NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz had indicated during a site visit in September that severing the tritium work was “not high on the priority list for NNSA right now.” NNSA spokesman Derrick Robinson declined to confirm Klotz’s remarks, or reveal a timetable for making a decision on the tritium work.
Earlier this year, NNSA spokesman Steven Wyatt said that no decision on the tritium option had been made and he declined to provide a timetable or details about what might factor into the decision. “Under the provisions of the CNS contract, NNSA may exercise the option of including tritium operations at the end of the first year, September 2015,” Wyatt said. “A specific timetable has not been established and no decisions have been made at this time.” CNS has said it expects to save about $3.27 billion over 10 years through the merger of the sites. About $3 billion of that is cost savings at Y-12 and Pantex, and the remainder is cost savings projected if the tritium option is exercised.
