Oak Ridge Today

DNFSB: Moving fissile materials, operations from Y-12 building improves nuclear safety, reduces risk

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Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

 

Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

 

Nuclear materials and operations have been removed from an old building at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and that improves safety and reduces the risk to workers and the public, a federal safety board said.

The building, 9204-2, or Beta 2, is on the west side of Y-12. It’s one of nine buildings at the 811-acre site that once used machines known as calutrons to enrich uranium for atomic bombs as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. It’s now used to produce lithium for nuclear weapons.

In an early September report, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said Consolidated Nuclear Security and the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office had officially downgraded Building 9204-2. It had been a category two hazard, but it is now less than category three. It’s considered non-nuclear.

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Updated: New Y-12 contract has 2.5 percent wage increases for guards

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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)

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:20 p.m. July 8.

A new contract at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge includes 2.5 percent wage increases for security police officers.

The new contract, a five-year labor agreement, applies to more than 360 security police officers at Y-12.

The International Guards Union of America Local 3 and Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, the contractor that operates Y-12, reached the agreement on Tuesday, July 3. Negotiations had started in mid-May.

The agreement includes 2.5 percent wage increases each year, said Shannon Gray, president of IGUA Local 3, which is in Oak Ridge. There are also some other incentive payments for rotating shift workers, who will receive a significant bump in pay, Gray said. [Read more…]

With $3 billion in savings expected, not clear how much saved at Y-12, Pantex so far

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Y-12 National Security Complex

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above. (File photo/B&W Y-12)

 

More than $3 billion in savings are expected during a decade, but it’s not clear yet how much money has been saved after three years under a consolidated contract at two nuclear weapons plants in Tennessee and Texas.

The savings of $3.27 billion are expected under a contract that could last 10 years at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

On Monday, officials said Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, the contractor at the two sites, has generated significant savings in three fiscal years, although it’s not clear exactly how much they’ve saved. CNS has managed and operated Y-12 and Pantex Plant since July 1, 2014.

Federal officials announced the expected savings of $3.27 billion during a decade when the five-year contract was announced in January 2013. Officials said the consolidated contract, the result of years of work, could save money in part by eliminating redundancies in such areas as human resources, purchasing, finance, and information technology. [Read more…]

Y-12, Pantex workforce reductions could total about 170 jobs

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Y-12 National Security Complex Scarboro Road Entrance

The Scarboro Road entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above.

Workforce reductions at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, are expected to total about 170 jobs, officials said this week.

That’s about 2 percent of the roughly 7,900 workers at the two nuclear weapons plants.

The workforce reductions are expected to come through a voluntary separation program, or VSP.

The majority of the reductions, or 140 positions, would be at Y-12. The other 30 would be at Pantex.

The VSPs are being considered as a new federal contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, prepares to take over at Y-12 and Pantex on July 1. CNS, which was first announced as the new consolidated contractor in January 2013, has promised to save the federal government more than $3 billion during the next decade. [Read more…]

Y-12 repairs roll-up door that failed to close during fire alarm at HEUMF

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Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility

Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (Photo courtesy of NNSA/B&W Y-12)

Workers have repaired a roll-up door that failed to close when a fire alarm system was activated at a high-security uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in May.

“The fire alarms were activated due to smoke from a belt of a fan with a failed bearing, but there was no fire,” the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a May 24 report. “The signal to the door closure device should cause a cable to release, allowing the door to close, but this did not occur because permanent deformation (kinks) in the cable caused it to knot when tension was released.” [Read more…]

Responding to traffic delays, Y-12 asks for volunteers to start work later beginning July 8

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Y-12 National Security Complex Traffic

Responding to morning traffic delays, particularly at its east entrance on Bear Creek Road, the Y-12 National Security Complex has asked some employees to volunteer to start their work day later after July 8.

Responding to morning traffic delays at its entrances, the Y-12 National Security Complex has asked some employees to volunteer to come into work later in the day starting July 8.

Significant traffic delays have been an issue since a lost driver who did not have a badge or permission to be at Y-12 said she was waved into the nuclear weapons plant on June 6.

Since then, Y-12 officials have said the plant has changed its approach to checking badges at the east and west gates. The more rigorous security checks are “here to stay,” B&W Y-12 General Manager Chuck Spencer said in a June 27 message to employees.

But the new procedures have led to traffic delays, particularly at the east entrance between 5:15 and 6:15 a.m., when vehicles can back up as far as the former Dean Stallings Ford on South Illinois Avenue. [Read more…]

Microwaves could melt uranium at UPF, help remove carbon impurities

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Y-12 Microwave Crucible

A microwave operator handles the crucible that holds the material as it is melted. Microwave technology is the preferred method for melting materials because of the ease of removing carbon impurities from the metal. (Photos courtesy B&W Y-12)

New microwaves that can melt metal and help remove carbon impurities from uranium could be used in the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Y-12 doesn’t plan to use any of its traditional ovens, known as vacuum induction melters, or VIMs, in the UPF, officials said. Those ovens use electric currents and a magnetic field to melt metal.

But it’s easier to “float out” carbon impurities in microwaves because they don’t stir molten metals the way the traditional ovens do, Y-12 officials said. Carbon contaminants in uranium castings could be reduced by 30 percent.

Y-12 melts and casts uranium to combine it into hollow cylinders for storage, make parts for the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, and supply nuclear fuel for the U.S. Navy. Microwaves could eventually be used for all three tasks. [Read more…]

Despite nuclear shutdown, Y-12 meets warhead refurbishment schedule

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Despite a two-week shutdown in August, the Y-12 National Security Complex completed its work on a nuclear warhead refurbishment program by the end of September, the end of the federal fiscal year.

Questions were raised about the production schedule after a July 28 security breach by three anti-nuclear weapons activists, and a two-week shutdown in nuclear operations that quickly followed.

But Steven Wyatt, National Nuclear Security Administration public affairs manager at Y-12, said then that the plant still expected to meet its production milestones for the year.

Ellen Boatner, spokeswoman for managing and operating contractor B&W Y-12, confirmed on Wednesday that the work had been completed on time.

[Read more…]