While here in May, Secretary Perry made his first visit to UPF

 

Note: This story was originally published by the National Nuclear Security Administration on May 24.

While he visited Oak Ridge in May, new Energy Secretary Rick Perry made his first visit to the planned Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, a project that has been described as the single largest government investment in Tennessee since World War II.

Perry visited the UPF project with U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and Representative Chuck Fleischmann, both Tennessee Republicans, and UPF Federal Project Director Dale Christenson and UPF Project Director Brian Reilly.

Christenson and Reilly provided an update on the project’s progress and discussed key upcoming milestones, including achieving 90 percent design by September 2017, the National Nuclear Security Administration said in a post published May 24. Y-12 is an NNSA site.

The NNSA said the 90 percent design completion is required before it can establish the cost and schedule baseline for nuclear projects.

The NNSA said it will authorize construction on the final three subprojects for UPF in fiscal year 2018.

“I was honored to meet Secretary Perry and brief him about UPF,” Christenson said. “Secretary Perry, Senator Alexander, and Congressman Fleischmann saw first-hand the great progress our team is making.”

The NNSA said it is committed to delivering UPF for no more than $6.5 billion by 2025 as long as its annual funding profiles remain stable and supported by Congress.

UPF received the Secretary’s Achievement Award in 2015 for delivering the site readiness subproject on time and $20 million under budget.