Construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee remains on track, with certain design and schedule benchmarks set for this fall, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration confirmed Wednesday.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) highlighted Wednesday at a Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee hearing on the NNSA budget his ongoing concerns over potential cost overruns in the process of constructing UPF, the set of buildings at Y-12 that will house enriched uranium processing operations in support of the nuclear deterrent. This work is currently conducted in aging facilities at the site.
Asked for an update on the project, NNSA Administrator Frank Klotz confirmed the project is still set for completion by 2025 at a cost of no more than $6.5 billion. Moreover, the design of nuclear facilities that are part of the project is expected to be 90 percent completed by early fall, Klotz said.
Cost and schedule overruns are enduring concerns for the federal government, particularly for multiyear infrastructure projects and expensive weapon system acquisitions. The Uranium Processing Facility is one that encountered years of delay and ballooning cost estimates.
The project in 2012 was intended to be a single 350,000-square-foot plant that would inherit enriched uranium operations from Y-12’s Building 9212 and other facilities, but assessments found it would cost up to $19 billion. This led the NNSA to commission a “Red Team” review that in 2014 settled on the latest targets. The agency then reconfigured the project: it would no longer be a single facility, but several new buildings as well as upgrades to extend the life of some existing production facilities.
So far, the NNSA has remained on course to meet the Red Team targets.
Klotz said a set of internal approval processes will follow the 90 percent design milestone, at which point construction may officially begin. He anticipates that happening in spring 2018. Alexander’s office has said $800 million to $900 million has been spent on UPF so far.
Meanwhile, lawmakers highlighted the Trump administration’s decision to seek termination of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication facility project, in line with its predecessor’s proposal. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said during the hearing that “we have to solve the MOX problem,” identifying it as a top priority for energy appropriators.
The White House’s fiscal 2018 budget proposal provides $270 million for termination of MOX, seeking instead to pursue the alternative plutonium dilution and disposal approach, which it allotted an additional $9 million in the budget. The Obama administration had also tried to push for termination, but was met with resistance from Congress.
Alexander said “the fact that successive administrations have come to the same conclusion is very important,” suggesting the resolve of energy and water appropriators will be tested again this year as they develop their own budget proposal.
