Oak Ridge Today

DOE, NNSA deny alleged risk of ‘catastrophic collapse’ of old Y-12 buildings

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Y-12 Building 9212

A low-level aerial shot of Building 9212 at the Y-12 National Security Complex, one of the buildings mentioned in a federal lawsuit filed in July over the proposed Uranium Processing Facility.

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:30 a.m.

The plaintiffs in a civil lawsuit filed in federal court in July alleged that there is a risk of a catastrophic collapse of old buildings containing nuclear weapon components at the Y-12 National Security Complex, possibly due to a large earthquake. A catastrophic collapse “would likely” result in the release of nuclear or toxic materials and place the environment and local residents in “extreme peril,” the plaintiffs said.

But federal officials denied that allegation and others in a response filed in late September.

The 44-page civil complaint, which is related to the planned Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12, was filed July 20 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The seven plaintiffs include three public interest organizations—Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, and Natural Resources Defense Council of Washington, D.C.—and four people who live in Oak Ridge and Knoxville.

The federal lawsuit asked for an environmental review of the new design for the UPF, where design plans have changed from one building to three. The lawsuit alleged that the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration have violated a federal environmental law, the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, as they implement the major design change.

Specifically, the plaintiffs have requested a new supplemental environmental impact statement or a new site-wide environmental impact statement for the revised UPF design. They cited the decision to build several new buildings and the plan to continue using existing buildings that the plaintiffs say have significant structural defects. They want the U.S. District Court to vacate, or void, a supplement analysis and an amended record of decision prepared by the NNSA in 2016. [Read more…]

Y-12 saves more than $500,000 per year, receives energy management award

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The Jack Case Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

The Jack Case Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

 

Award-winning energy efficiency upgrades at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge have saved more than $538,000 per year in energy expenses, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Y-12 has used energy savings performance contracts to enhance its building infrastructure, DOE said. That included a major project in fiscal year 2016 to modernize 11,450 lighting fixtures in 123 facilities. The upgrades improved lighting conditions in more than 1.5 million square feet of work space, reduced electricity use by 36 billion Btu (British thermal units) per year, and saved more than $538,000 annually in energy costs, DOE said.

“Y-12’s innovative lighting design included de-lamping efforts to eliminate unneeded lighting, and used reflectors and optimized light levels to improve security, safety, and productivity,” DOE said. “The installation team also developed an innovative, streamlined lock-out/tag-out procedure—a critical safety step that normally can add significant amounts of time to a project of this size—and installed quick-connects on individual fixtures that allowed each fixture to be disconnected from power at the fixture location. These innovations enabled completion of the project two months ahead of schedule, with savings estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars due to reduced future preventive maintenance during re-lamping and ballast replacements.” [Read more…]

UCOR awards site prep contract for Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12

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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 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)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2:30 p.m.

UCOR, the federal government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, has awarded a $1.4 million contract to a Knoxville company for early site preparation activities for the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, and the work could start in November.

GEM Technologies of Knoxville will perform the work for the new Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12, UCOR said in a press release Tuesday.

UCOR is also known as URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC.

Under the contract, GEM Technologies will perform limited demolition of existing abandoned utilities and the extension of new utilities—including electrical power, water, sewer, and storm drains—to the treatment facility sites, the press release said. [Read more…]

Y-12 has emergency management exercise on Wednesday

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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)

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)

 

Emergency response personnel from the National Nuclear Security Administration and Consolidated Nuclear Security—along with federal, state, and local emergency management personnel—will conduct an emergency management exercise Wednesday, September 20, in and around the Y‑12 National Security Complex.

During this exercise, people near Y-12 may observe police and other emergency response vehicles, as well as responders simulating activities, a press release said. These activities are part of the exercise, the release said.

This event is one of several emergency management exercises conducted on a regular basis at the U.S. Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration facilities in Oak Ridge. These exercises test the ability of emergency personnel to respond quickly and effectively to emergency situations and ensure that the public, Y-12 employees, and the environment would be protected in the event of an actual emergency occurring on the Oak Ridge Reservation, the press release said.

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC operates the Pantex Plant, located in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, under a single contract for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration.

CNS names four to Fellows Program, recognizing technical expertise

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Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC has chosen four employees for its Fellows Program, one from the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and three from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. They are Vincent Lamberti, top left; Alan Moore, top right; and Glenn Pfennigwerth, bottom left, all of Y-12, and Lorelei Woods of Pantex. (Submitted photos)

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC has chosen four employees for its Fellows Program, one from the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and three from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. They are Vincent Lamberti, top left; Alan Moore, top right; and Glenn Pfennigwerth, bottom left, all of Y-12, and Lorelei Woods of Pantex. (Submitted photos)

 

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC has chosen four employees for its Fellows Program, one from the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and three from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The program recognizes technical staff members at Pantex and Y-12 who achieved status as a national or international expert in their field, a press release said. Each fellow serves a renewable two-year term acting as the technical expert in their competency area and mentor to other staff.

Those chosen are Pantex Component Analysis/Surveillance Fellow Lorelei Woods, Uranium Fellow Glenn Pfennigwerth, Metallurgy Fellow Alan Moore, and Y-12 Component Analysis/Surveillance Fellow Vincent Lamberti. [Read more…]

GAO: DOE has more than 80 percent of U.S. government’s environmental liabilities

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Workers clean 5,700 feet of piping on Alpha-4’s west side at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy)

Workers clean 5,700 feet of piping on Alpha 4’s west side at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. Alpha 4 was built in 1944. It was used first for enriching uranium as part of the Manhattan Project and later for thermonuclear weapons production. It was shut down in 1987 and will be demolished. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 3:20 p.m. September 4.

The U.S. Department of Energy is responsible for more than 80 percent of the U.S. government’s estimated $450 billion in environmental liabilities, a federal agency said in a report published this year.

The agency, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, added the government’s environmental liabilities to a high-risk list of federal programs and operations in a report published in February.

Total environmental liabilities for the federal government are estimated at $447 billion. DOE is responsible for about $372 billion of them, or 83 percent, according to a fiscal year 2016 estimate, the GAO said.

Most of DOE’s environmental liability is related to nuclear waste cleanup, the GAO said. Fifty percent of it is at two cleanup sites: the Hanford Site in Washington state and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

The GAO—an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress—said DOE’s total reported environmental liability has generally increased since 2000. It’s roughly doubled from a low of $176 billion in fiscal year 1997 to the higher estimate of $372 billion in fiscal year 2016.

“In the last six years alone, EM (environmental management) has spent $35 billion, primarily to treat and dispose of nuclear and hazardous waste and construct capital projects to treat the waste, while EM’s portion of the environmental liability has grown over this same time period by over $90 billion, from $163 billion to $257 billion,” the GAO said.

In the past few fiscal years, DOE environmental management has spent about $6 billion per year. The budget request submitted to Congress by President Donald Trump in May asked for $6.5 billion for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, the largest request in a decade.

Oak Ridge has a DOE environmental management program. It received more than $400 million in funding per fiscal year between 2013 and 2016. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has major cleanup projects at the East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex. Cleanup work depends upon funding, but it could continue into the mid-2040s. Although they might be in various stages, projects that are under way now include finishing demolition work at ETTP by 2020, disposing of uranium-233 at ORNL, addressing high-risk excess facilities at ORNL and Y-12, building a Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12, and shipping transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. [Read more…]

Federal board recommends five cleanup priorities for Oak Ridge Reservation

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The fiscal year 2017 Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is pictured above. (Photo by SSAB)

The fiscal year 2017 Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is pictured above. (Photo by SSAB)

 

A federal board has recommended five cleanup priorities for the Oak Ridge Reservation: offsite groundwater monitoring, future waste disposal capacity, the disposal of excess facilities, mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek, and remaining debris at the East Tennessee Technology Park.

The recommendations were made by the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board. That’s a federally appointed citizens’ panel that provides independent advice and recommendations to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

The recommendations are for the fiscal year 2019 environmental management budget, which begins October 1, 2018.

“ORSSAB has identified five priorities for Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup, and recommends that the FY 2019 Oak Ridge EM program budget request reflect adequate funding to keep these projects going,” the board said. “Also, when additional funds from suitable plus-ups and savings become available, it recommends that these funds be targeted for these projects.”

Here is more information from the SSAB recommendation: [Read more…]

Mission need approved for lithium production facility at Y-12, but cost, schedule not determined

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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)

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

 

The mission need has been approved for a new lithium production facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex and various alternatives have been reviewed, but the cost and schedule have not yet been determined, a federal official said this month.

“Y-12 is working to ensure that its lithium production capability is maintained for current and future defense program missions,” said Steven Wyatt, public affairs manager for the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office. “This is a challenge as this work is performed in 9204-2, a building that was constructed during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. Ultimately, our goal is to replace 9204-2 with a modern facility, but until that has been achieved, we will continue to make improvements as needed.”

Building 9204-2 produces non-nuclear materials associated with stockpile stewardship missions, Wyatt said.

“We are not at liberty to provide any further details on this work,” he said. [Read more…]

Consolidated Nuclear Security gives, receives recognitions at inaugural award ceremony

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Jorge and Deana Sanabria, owners of Expoquip Inc., accept the CNS Small Business of the Year award from Y-12 Socioeconomic Program Manager Lisa Copeland, left. (Photo courtesy CNS)

Jorge and Deana Sanabria, owners of Expoquip Inc., accept the CNS Small Business of the Year award from Y-12 Socioeconomic Program Manager Lisa Copeland, left. (Photo courtesy CNS)

 

As part of the first combined ceremony honoring outstanding small business and local business leaders, Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC honored its Small Business of the Year, and CNS President and Chief Executive Officer Morgan Smith was recognized with the Kerry Trammell Volunteer of the Year award.

This is the first year CNS, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce have combined their award ceremonies, a press release said.

Expoquip Inc. was recognized as the CNS Small Business of the Year. The company, owned by Jorge and Deana Sanabria, specializes in worldwide distribution of high-quality, heavy machinery parts, and components, the press release said.

“Expoquip has the characteristics I look for in a vendor: passion, commitment, drive,” said Lisa Copeland, Y-12 socioeconomic program manager. “From the time I met them at a local supplier event in 2013, I knew they would achieve their dream of expanding their business by moving into government subcontracting. You just don’t encounter many business owners with the enthusiasm and determination that the Sanabrias show.” [Read more…]

Peace activists will remember Hiroshima, Nagasaki bombings, call for ban on nuclear weapons

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OREPA-Ralph-Hutchison-Aug-6-2016-2

Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, is pictured above during a rally at Alvin K. Bissell Park on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Peace activists will have events in Oak Ridge and Knoxville starting Saturday and ending Wednesday that will recall the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II, and the activists will call for a ban on nuclear weapons.

The events have been organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. OREPA has events each August remembering the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime. Code-named “Little Boy,” the bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of the war.

OREPA has scheduled a Saturday event called “And We Are Saying Peace.” It will start at 12:30 p.m. with a concert and theater presentation at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge. Those who attend will call on the United States to join the countries that passed a legal treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons at the United Nations on July 7, a press release said.

The Saturday event will also mark the conclusion of a peace pilgrimage from Asheville, North Carolina, to Oak Ridge, led by the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji, the press release said. The walk left Asheville last Sunday and is expected to arrive at Bissell Park on Saturday. The final leg will leave Solway at 9 a.m. Saturday. [Read more…]

House, Senate committees recommend funding to reduce Y-12’s Protected Area

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Y-12 Aerial Photo June 2012

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2012. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

 

Appropriations committees in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have recommended funding for a project that could reduce the Protected Area at the Y-12 National Security Complex by about 50 percent.

The House Appropriations Committee approved an energy and water appropriations bill on Wednesday, July 12, that recommended $23.4 million for the project, the West End Protected Area Reduction project, in fiscal year 2018, which starts October 1. That would be up from $2.5 million in fiscal year 2017. (See page 135 here.) If approved, the House bill would direct the National Nuclear Security Administration to give quarterly project updates to the appropriations committees in both houses of Congress “until such time as the NNSA can demonstrate a commitment to move the project forward.” (See page 105 here.)

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved an energy and water appropriations bill on Thursday, July 20, that recommended $5 million in fiscal year 2018. (See page 119 here.) That money is recommended to continue the design work for the project, according to a report on the Senate bill. (See page 98 here.)

The Trump administration did not request any funding for the project, and it’s not clear what level of funding might eventually be approved. [Read more…]

Federal funding of $28 million recommended for Y-12 fire station

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A fire engine is parked in front of the existing fire station at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo courtesy Y-12)

A fire engine is parked in front of the existing fire station at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo courtesy Y-12)

 

The Trump administration and congressional appropriations committees have agreed that $28 million in federal funding should be provided for a new fire station at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The current fire station at Y-12 was built in the 1940s, and it is located within the most highly protected area of the nuclear weapons plant and close to the most hazardous operations, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration. Y-12 is an NNSA site.

“Seismic, tornado, hazardous material release, and security events could render the fire station inaccessible,” the NNSA said in a budget request submitted to Congress for fiscal year 2018, which starts October 1. (See page 271 here.)

Emergency planning assessments show that many hazardous materials releases would “have a very short travel time” before affecting the fire station, the NNSA said. Also, it’s critical to allow off-duty personnel to access the fire station since they augment the on-duty staff, the NNSA said.

The new fire station would be a single-story building of about 35,000 square feet. It would be located on the east end of Y-12, said Steven Wyatt, spokesperson for the NNSA Production Office in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]