Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
7/10/2015
The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $5.89 million contract to Emerald-A&H Joint Venture for site infrastructure and services at the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), according to last month’s award announcement. The “field readiness activities” to be performed by the contractor include the development of a site layout and traffic control plan, the demolition and removal of existing infrastructure, the excavation of a hillside close to Building 9107, and the installation of storm water and sanitary sewer structures, the announcement says. An interagency agreement with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) placed the Corps in charge of managing the project.
Meanwhile, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) is seeking clarification on the “confinement of radioactive materials following a design basis earthquake” at the UPF, according to a June 25 letter it sent to the NNSA. The letter says that a DNFSB safety review found that "if the confinement ventilation system is necessary to provide defense-in-depth," it would fall short of Department of Energy (DOE) standards requiring that radioactive materials be confined “in a post-seismic condition.” The DNFSB asks that the NNSA clarify whether “the project will utilize an active confinement ventilation system or an alternative approach” in these conditions. It has given the NNSA 90 days to respond with a report on “the design methodology and technical basis” of the UPF’s confinement ventilation system.
The DNFSB also recently released a site representative report from June 5 that detailed progress in Material-at-Risk (MAR) reductions, which are part of a Uranium Infrastructure Strategy meant to aid in transitioning out of Y-12’s aging uranium processing facility Building 9212. The report says that Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), the contractor that manages Y-12, has incorporated MAR reductions into the Safety Analysis Report and Technical Safety Requirements for Building 9212. The building’s capabilities are set to eventually be replaced by the UPF.
NNSA’s Production Office (NPO) previously instructed CNS to reduce enriched uranium MAR in the building, the report says. Last November, the contractor reduced MAR limits by 40 percent and has now “institutionalized those changes” by including the limits in the building’s safety reporting and requirements documentation, it says. An evaluation of the new MAR limits led to modifications in radiological consequence estimates, particularly a “reduction in off-site dose from the postulated events,” according to the report. The report also notes that CNS is in the process of conducting MAR reductions in two other buildings. The contractor issued a standing order in February to reduce MAR by 88 percent in Building 9215, and the latest site rep report says that Building 9204-2E will undergo a similar reduction by the end of Fiscal Year 2016.
