Y-12 National Security Complex Archives

DOE awards $91 million contract for Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12

Posted at 8:51 am December 5, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $91 million contract to build the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

It’s part of an effort to reduce the amount of mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of several large Y-12 buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

The contract, which could be in place for up to four years, was awarded to APTIM-North Wind Construction JV LLC, DOE said Tuesday. [Read more…]

Y-12 facilities could be crucial in plan to replace W78 warhead

Posted at 1:41 pm December 4, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

U.S. Air Force missile maintainers working on an intercontinental ballistic missile. (Source: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Braydon Williams/GAO-19-84)

The National Nuclear Security Administration is preparing to restart a program to replace the W78 nuclear warhead, and new facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex could be important to that project, a federal agency said Friday.

The W78 is one of two types of warheads on U.S. Air Force intercontinental ballistic missiles. The W87 is the other.

Critical components inside the W78 are aging, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which published a report about the warhead replacement program on Friday. Also, the military’s requirements for, among other things, the safety and security features of the warhead have changed since it entered the stockpile in 1979, the GAO said.

Besides being used by the Air Force, the replacement W78 warhead could be used in ballistic missiles launched from Navy submarines, although further studies are required, the GAO said.

The two Y-12 facilities that could affect the warhead replacement program are the Uranium Processing Facility, which is now under construction, and the Lithium Production Facility, which could have a new building through a project that is still in the planning stages. [Read more…]

(For members) NNSA modernizing weapons as U.S. nuclear stockpile shrinks

Posted at 3:44 pm December 2, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile continues to shrink and it’s gotten older, but the National Nuclear Security Administration, which has a site in Oak Ridge, has four modernization programs under way. That’s the busiest the NNSA has been since the Cold War era, Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty said in a report to Congress in October.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, which enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime, has been involved in the work to modernize some weapons and dismantle others as the stockpile changes.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, includes more information about Y-12’s work on nuclear weapons and a series of nine questions and answers with Hans M. Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at Federation of American Scientists.

The rest of the story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today.

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UT-Battelle will provide ORNL security starting in December

Posted at 10:49 am November 30, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Photo by ORNL

Starting in December, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex will both manage their own security forces to protect their sites.

Y-12 has been managing its own protective force for about six years, ever since a former contractor, B&W Y-12, terminated a contract with WSI Oak Ridge after a security breach at the 811-acre plant. The current Y-12 contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, confirmed this month that it has been responsible for security and security police officers since it began managing and operating the plant in July 2014.

On Friday, UT-Battelle, which manages and operates ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy, said it is assuming responsibility for providing protective force services at the laboratory starting December 30. That’s when a new security contractor will take over at some federal sites in Oak Ridge.

ORNL Media Relations Manager Morgan McCorkle said about 90 employees who have been providing security services at ORNL under a contract with National Strategic Protective Services LLC will transition from NSPS to UT-Battelle. [Read more…]

CNS still responsible for security, security police officers at Y-12

Posted at 10:21 am November 21, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A new security contractor will take over at federal sites in Oak Ridge at the end of December, but the contract does not include Oak Ridge National Laboratory or Y-12 National Security Complex. So Oak Ridge Today has requested information about who will provide security at those two sites.

On Tuesday, Y-12 sent a statement that it continues to be responsible for security and the security police officers who protect the plant. That has been true since since Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC began managing and operating the plant in July 2014, Y-12 said.

ORNL said it is working on a response. Oak Ridge Today will update this story, or publish a new one, when that information becomes available. [Read more…]

NNSA deploying systems to counter drones, including at Y-12

Posted at 11:09 pm November 19, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The counter-unmanned aircraft system installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to enforce the federally designated no-drone zone. (Photo courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration)

The National Nuclear Security Administration is deploying systems that will counter drones at four sites that house special nuclear materials, including the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

Deployed by the Office of Defense Nuclear Security, the systems are designed to mitigate any malicious aerial intruders at NNSA sites. They will have the capability to detect, identify, track, and intercept unsanctioned and suspicious drones, the NNSA said Monday.

One system has already been deployed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

“We needed a system to counter threats ranging from on-site disruption by protestors to intelligence gathering, surveillance, and reconnaissance of NNSA sites, plants, and labs,” said Lewis Monroe III, director of security operations and programmatic planning. [Read more…]

Updated: DOE to investigate possible weaknesses in nuclear criticality controls at Y-12

Posted at 1:10 am November 18, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated with a statement from CNS at 11:50 a.m. Nov. 19.

The U.S. Department of Energy has notified Consolidated Nuclear Security that it intends to investigate possible weaknesses in nuclear criticality controls at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments’ Office of Enforcement notified CNS, which manages and operates Y-12, of its intent to investigate on Tuesday. The Office of Enforcement intends to investigate potential noncompliances with DOE nuclear safety program requirements, according to a summary of the notice published online.

The potential nuclear criticality control weaknesses were identified at Y-12 between May 2017 and May 2018, the notice said.

Nuclear criticality occurs when nuclear fuel is capable of sustaining a fission chain reaction. [Read more…]

Y-12 employees support East Tennessee through grants program

Posted at 12:24 pm November 17, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC presented grants totaling $125,000 to 22 nonprofits in eight East Tennessee counties on Thursday evening, Nov. 15, 2018, at New Hope Center. The focus areas for the grants this year were historical and cultural preservation and mental health and substance abuse. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

Submitted

Grants totaling $125,000 focus on mental health and substance abuse, and on historic and cultural preservation

There is no better time to lend a helping hand than now as the holidays approach.

Local residents needing help with mental health and substance abuse and organizations focused on historic and cultural preservation will soon get more assistance thanks to the employees of Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC.

CNS manages and operates the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Y-12 has three missions: maintaining the U.S nuclear deterrent, reducing global nuclear threats, and fueling the nuclear U.S. Navy. [Read more…]

SSAB to hear about DOE work to ensure sufficient waste disposal capacity

Posted at 12:40 am November 14, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on Wednesday will hear about work by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management to ensure there is sufficient waste disposal capacity to complete future cleanup work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.

DOE is considering a new landfill known as the Environmental Management Disposal Facility. It could be built in central Bear Creek Valley west of Y-12. There was a public meeting to discuss the project at the New Hope Center at Y-12 on Wednesday, November 7.

The existing landfill, the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility west of Y-12, is about three-quarters full, and it is expected to fill up in the early 2020s after cleanup work is complete at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site. [Read more…]

Tonight: Public meeting on DOE landfill

Posted at 11:52 am November 7, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

There is a public meeting about the Environmental Management Disposal Facility in Oak Ridge tonight (Wednesday, November 7).

The meeting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. in the New Hope Center auditorium at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Scarboro Road. Presentations are expected to begin around 6:30 p.m., and a question and comment period could start around 7:15 p.m. [Read more…]

Power of Synergy Space Symposium at New Hope Center this week

Posted at 1:22 pm October 22, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

John Rather and Dean Hartley examine same-scale globes of the Earth, Moon, and Mars. (Submitted photo)

A Power of Synergy Space Symposium will be at New Hope Center in Oak Ridge this week.

The symposium will include leaders from NASA, U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA-E), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, industry, and academia, a press release said.

The Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop will be hosting the unique symposium in order to promote safe, fast, and affordable human development of the solar system, the press release said. The speakers will discuss and advocate breakthrough technologies to enable routine transportation to permanent colonies on the moon and the first human trips to Mars within a decade.

More information about the symposium can be found on the website at https://tviw.us/tviw-symposium-on-the-power-of-synergy/. Registration is also available on the website; the fee includes breaks, lunches, and receptions, the press release said.

Here is more information from the press release: [Read more…]

Y-12 approved for B61-12 weapons work

Posted at 11:14 am October 21, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Image from U.S. Government Accountability Office report in May 2018 on B61-12 Nuclear Bomb.

Image from U.S. Government Accountability Office report in May 2018 on the B61-12 nuclear bomb.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge has been approved to produce a major component of a nuclear bomb known as the B61-12.

The approval was the final step to authorize the manufacturing and delivery of the first production unit of a component called the canned subassembly. It’s scheduled for March 2019, according to Y-12. A canned subassembly is the second stage of a modern thermonuclear weapon, and it is part of the nuclear explosives package.

The Y-12 work is part of the B61-12 Life Extension Program, which will consolidate four versions of the bomb into one. The bombs could be carried on B-2A bomber aircraft and F-15Es, several types of F-16s, and PA-200 fighters, and in the future, F-35s and B-21s.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today.