The Y-12 National Security Complex must ramp up maintenance at its existing uranium operations facilities to meet mission needs until new plants, including the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF), are available, the Department of Energy Inspector General’s Office (IG) found in a report released Tuesday.
Y-12’s enriched uranium processing operations are housed in the aging 9212 and 9215 complexes, as well as the newer 9204-2E building. The UPF, initially due to begin operations in 2018, is now expected to be completely online in 2025 and will not replace all the operations in the 9212 and 9215 complexes.
This led the IG to investigate whether the existing facilities, which house uranium processing operations that support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) defense programs, including nuclear weapons life extension, can meet Y-12 needs for longer than their intended life.
Y-12 recently made upgrades to the 70-year-old 9212 complex, which consists of 15 support and storage facilities that contain radioactive and chemical materials and do not currently meet safety requirements designed for cases of earthquakes, high winds, or aircraft crash, the report said. The 9212 facility is at the end of its intended service life.
While the upgrades are intended to reduce risks to operations at the facility through 2021, critical operations are projected to continue through 2025, according to the report. A Y-12 official told the IG “that no additional upgrades were planned to ensure continued operations” after the date of the upgrades.
The IG noted therefore that “if the gap between Y-12’s mitigating actions and transition of operations from the 9212 complex to [the Uranium Processing Facility] is not addressed, there is a potential risk that a maintenance event could significantly affect production or that a safety event could endanger personnel and the public.”
Y-12 also plans to move some operations currently in 9212 to the 9215 complex, which consists of four buildings that support nuclear weapons life-extension programs. However, although enriched uranium operations in 9215 were planned to continue through 2030, “current [enriched uranium operations] are required until at least the late 2030s,” the report found.
Another challenge, the IG said, is the more than $39.4 million in deferred maintenance between the 9212 and 9215 complexes. Deferred maintenance for 9212 includes “fire suppression system repairs, identification, and remediation for potential asbestos, electrical safety switch replacement, water and steam leaks, and numerous repairs to walls, doors, and floors,” the report said, while for 9215 it includes “electrical, mechanical, and structural repairs.”
Moreover, the $39.4 million does not represent the entire maintenance number because Y-12 uses more than one information system to track maintenance data. “[T]hus, we could not determine, and Y-12 could not tell us, the full extent of maintenance required to sustain continued [enriched uranium operations],” the IG said.
The IG issued several recommendations to the NNSA administrator, including that Y-12 plan for operations at 9212 through 2025; that Y-12 plan for continued operations at 9215 indefinitely; that the complex report to the NNSA “complete and accurate maintenance data”; and that the NNSA include deferred maintenance in its budget priorities.
Agency management agreed with the recommendations, but “noted that because the audit activities largely concluded 1 year ago, they did not think the information presented in the draft report adequately reflected the depth and breadth of steps NNSA had taken in the last 2 years,” according to the report.
The NNSA said it has taken action to address all four recommendations. For example, the agency said it would provide an additional $27 million for recapitalization and $11 million for maintenance for building 9215 during fiscal years 2018-2020.
Management also noted it has been reducing uranium inventories in the 9212 and 9215 facilities, and that since the conclusion of the IG audit a year ago it has “improved the lines of responsibility and the peer review process” for acquisitions like the UPF, strengthened UPF program requirements, and more.
It also said metal purification, radiography, and chip processing capabilities would be moved out of 9212 and into existing facilities by 2021, and that operations for casting, special oxides, and salvage and accountability would be moved from 9212 to the UPF by 2025.
In March, Y-12 announced it was developing an extended life program for 9215 and 9204-2E, with an approach to aging management that would involve reducing the amount of material-at-risk in those facilities, replacing or refurbishing key facility infrastructure and equipment, and updating regulatory requirements pertaining to facility life extension. According to NNSA management’s response in the IG report, investments made for this effort are meant to ensure the 9215 and 9204-2E facilities remain reliable through 2050.
