Enriched Uranium Operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex
July 14, 2016
minute read time
July 14, 2016
Enriched Uranium Operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex
The Y 12 National Security Complex (Y 12) performs critical elements of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) mission to ensure the safety, reliability, and performance of the Nation’s nuclear weapons deterrent. Y 12’s enriched uranium processing capability is housed in multiple facilities: the 9212 complex and the 9215 complex. The structures were built decades ago and do not meet modern nuclear facility design requirements. Production equipment is also aged and has experienced maintenance and reliability issues.
Due to the condition of the buildings and equipment, serious concerns about the future reliability of the facilities have been raised by NNSA and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. As a result, NNSA originally planned to construct the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) to house all enriched uranium operations (EUO) at Y 12. The UPF was planned to be operational in 2018; however, Y 12 reported that full operations are now not likely to occur until 2025. Given the concerns regarding Y 12’s current enriched uranium capability, we performed this audit to determine whether current EUO facilities at Y 12 will meet NNSA mission needs until new facilities are available. In particular, we focused our audit on the 9212 and 9215 facilities.
We found that Y 12 may not be able to continue to meet NNSA mission needs in its existing, aging facilities. For example, because the 9212 complex has reached the end of its life, Y 12 plans to move some 9212 complex operations into the 9215 complex, which is also old and in need of upgrades. However, both the 9212 and 9215 complexes have significant and steadily increasing deferred maintenance. The deferred amounts continued to increase due to competing budget priorities and because Y 12 did not request funding for all identified maintenance work.
Y 12 completed the Nuclear Facility Risk Reduction Project in January 2015, which included several upgrades to the 9212 complex. Also, NNSA told us that it would discontinue operating the facilities if it was determined that they were unsafe. We recognize that actions have been taken, and we acknowledge management’s assertion. However, given that circumstances have changed since NNSA developed its initial plans and UPF’s history of schedule slippages, in our opinion, it would be prudent to perform further analyses to determine whether additional actions are warranted to address the timeframe until EUO are transitioned out of the current facilities. As such, we made several recommendations designed to strengthen Y 12’s planning for future EUO.
Topic: Management & Administration