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UPF lawsuit moved from DC to Knoxville

Posted at 8:13 am April 5, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A rendering of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Image from May 2017 courtesy of NNSA)

A rendering of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Image from May 2017 courtesy of NNSA)

 

The federal lawsuit that asks for an environmental review of the new multi-building design for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been transferred from Washington, D.C., to Knoxville.

The transfer of the civil complaint had been requested in September by the defendants, U.S. Energy Secretary James Richard “Rick” Perry and Frank G. Klotz, former administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. The NNSA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy that manages nuclear weapons programs and facilities, including Y-12, among other activities.

United States District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, who was assigned the case in December, granted the motion to transfer the lawsuit from the District of Columbia to U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, which includes the Knoxville division, on March 23.

The 44-page federal lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on July 20, argues that a new environmental impact statement should be prepared for the new design for the UPF, the largest federal construction project in Tennessee since World War II. The plaintiffs allege that the NNSA’s decision to use several new buildings for the UPF, rather than just one, and continue to use some old buildings at Y-12 for some nuclear weapons work is risky because the old buildings could collapse during a major earthquake, possibly leading to a nuclear accident that could release radiological materials.

Federal officials denied that allegation and others in a 29-page response filed September 29. They’ve called some allegations vague, ambiguous, or speculative, and they have said that safety and technical analyses are under way at Y-12. Some buildings may require seismic upgrades, depending upon evaluation results, and an Extended Life Program is meant to ensure that two buildings—Building 9215 and Building 9204-2E—will safely support future operations, federal officials said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Courts, Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, United States, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Administrative Procedure Act, Amended Record of Decision, Dabney L. Friedrich, District of Columbia, Eastern District of Tennessee, Ed Sullivan, environmental impact statement, federal lawsuit, Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement, Frank G. Klotz, highly enriched uranium, Jack Carl Hoefer, James Richard “Rick” Perry, Linda Ewald, National Environmental Policy Act, National Nuclear Security Administration, Natural Resources Defense Council, NEPA, NNSA, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons work, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, Ralph Hutchison, record of decision, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. District Court, UPF, uranium processing facility, Y-12 National Security Complex

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