Oak Ridge Today

Y-12 criticality alarms function properly in tests

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A Nuclear Materials Corporation GA-6 Radiation Detector. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

Nuclear Materials Corporation GA-6 Radiation Detector (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

 

Alarms designed to detect a nuclear criticality accident at the Y-12 National Security Complex have been tested, and the systems functioned appropriately and as required, the plant said in November.

Y-12 has had a criticality accident alarm system since 1945. A criticality accident would occur if there were an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction. It could result in the release of radiation and significant exposures to nearby workers if the area were not immediately evacuated. It’s something that the plant takes steps to avoid. The alarms are designed to alert workers if there is an accident.

A nuclear criticality alarm at the 811-acre plant, which works on nuclear weapons components and stores highly enriched uranium, has been given credit for helping to save lives in a nuclear criticality accident in 1958. In that case, which was the first process criticality accident in the United States, Y-12 employees immediately evacuated when they heard the alarm.

A report published by Consolidated Nuclear Security, a federal contractor, said the basic design and electronic configuration of the older criticality alarm system installed in Y-12’s existing facilities, with the exception of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, date back to 1957. The legacy system has received many upgrades since installation, and detector stations have been removed and relocated as enriched uranium operations have evolved, said the report, titled “Qualification of Y-12 Legacy Criticality Accident Alarm System Detectors.” [Read more…]

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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New Y-12 center provides small orders of nuclear samples

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Workers prepare a shipment in the new NBL Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The center provides special nuclear certified reference materials internationally. (Photo courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration/Y-12)

Workers prepare a shipment in the new NBL Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The center provides special nuclear certified reference materials internationally. (Photo courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration/Y-12)

 

A new center at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge will provide small orders of nuclear samples around the globe, including to organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“We envision this new facility operating sort of like an Amazon fulfillment center, but for very unique and very small orders of nuclear samples—things you definitely can’t get on Amazon,” said Morgan Smith, president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, which operates Y-12 for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The new center, the NBL Center, officially opened with a June 11 ceremony. The center’s work was previously done at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago.

The new facility is operating and made its first shipment, to the IAEA, in April. The IAEA uses the materials to support its international safeguards mission, said Steven Wyatt, spokesperson for the NNSA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. [Read more…]

Y-12: NNSA wants new Lithium Production Facility operating by 2030

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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. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The National Nuclear Security Administration wants a new Lithium Production Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex to be fully operational before 2030, officials said.

Federal officials have already approved the need for the new Lithium Production Facility, and they said it could be built on the east side of the 811-acre plant, possibly where the Biology Complex is now.

It could replace the “aging and obsolete” 9204-2 building, which is on the west side of Y-12.

A cost estimate is not yet available. [Read more…]

Lithium Production Facility could be built in area of Biology Complex at Y-12

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Federal officials have already approved the need for a new Lithium Production Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and in May 2018, they said it could be built on the east side of the 811-acre plant, possibly where the Biology Complex, the brick building at center, is now. The east side of Y-12 is pictured above from Scarboro Road on Sunday, May 20, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Federal officials have already approved the need for a new Lithium Production Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and in May 2018, they said it could be built on the east side of the 811-acre plant, possibly where the Biology Complex, the brick building at center, is now. The east side of Y-12 is pictured above from Scarboro Road on Sunday, May 20, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Federal officials have already approved the need for a new Lithium Production Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and this month, they said it could be built on the east side of the 811-acre plant, possibly where the Biology Complex is now.

Current plans call for demolishing the Biology Complex. Officials had recently been saying that removing buildings from that complex would allow the area to be used for “modern national defense missions.” But it hadn’t been clear what those missions might be.

On May 12, Steven Wyatt, public affairs manager for the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office, confirmed that the Lithium Production Facility could be built there. Y-12 is a NNSA site.

“We are in the early stages of planning for the Lithium Production Capability that is needed to replace the aging and obsolete 9204-2 building,” Wyatt said. “We are reviewing options for constructing a facility in the eastern portion of the Y-12 site, including the area of the Biology Complex.” [Read more…]

NNSA Production Office donated 43,398 pounds of food for Annual Feds Feed Families campaign

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Employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office, or NPO, donated 43,398 pounds of food as part of the annual U.S. Department of Energy’s Feds Feed Families, or FFF, campaign.

The NPO FFF donations are supporting the efforts of the High Plains Food Bank, Amarillo, Texas, and the Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee, a press release said.

“I’m extremely proud and moved by the generosity of NPO employees. These donations will have an important impact for those in need in East Tennessee and the Texas Panhandle,” said Geoff Beausoleil, NPO manager. [Read more…]

Congressmen praise consolidated contract at Y-12, Pantex

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U.S. Representative Mac Thornberry, left, a Texas Republican, and Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican, are pictured above after an East Tennessee Economic Council meeting on Friday, Oct. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

U.S. Representative Mac Thornberry, left, a Texas Republican, and Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican, are pictured above after an East Tennessee Economic Council meeting on Friday, Oct. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Two congressmen, one from East Tennessee and other the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, praised the consolidated contract that has been used to manage and operate the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge for more than three years.

The two sites are managed by Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC. Y-12 and Pantex are involved in nuclear weapons work and nuclear nonproliferation, and providing enriched uranium for naval, research, and isotope production reactors.

The transition to the consolidated contract, one of the most complex in the history of the U.S. Department of Energy, was completed on July 1, 2014. At that time, officials said the contract included a total annual operating budget of $1.5 billion and employment of about 8,000 in Tennessee and Texas. [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…]

Readers ask about layoffs at ORNL, UPF

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by ORNL

 

Oak Ridge Today readers have recently asked about layoffs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

In mid-June, ORNL said there had been about 10 employees who were laid off recently. They were from ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate.

“The layoffs were part of the normal course of business at the lab,” ORNL communications media manager Morgan McCorkle said in a statement. “We are constantly adjusting the size of the workforce to ensure efficient operations.”

On Thursday, McCorkle said there haven’t been any additional ORNL staff layoffs since then. ORNL has a staff of 4,750, including scientists and engineers in more than 100 disciplines.

Oak Ridge Today has also received a question from a reader about layoffs reported on the Uranium Processing Facility project, or UPF, at Y-12. [Read more…]

‘Handful’ of ORNL scientists from countries included in travel ban, but no effect so far

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by Oak Ridge National Laboratory

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:30 a.m. Feb. 12.

A “handful of scientists” working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are citizens of the seven countries that were barred from entering the United States for up to 90 days under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last month, but so far, the travel ban hasn’t had an effect at the lab, officials said Friday.

ORNL is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. It’s DOE’s largest science and energy laboratory, and it has foreign nationals working there as well as visiting scientists.

The seven countries included in the president’s travel ban, which was issued January 27, were Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

“Only a handful of scientists working at ORNL are citizens of those seven countries,” the lab said in response to questions. “We’re not aware of any effects of the order here to date.” [Read more…]

Y-12’s Edlund named DOE Facility Representative of the Year

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Jeff Edlund

Jeff Edlund

Jeff Edlund, who conducts day-to-day federal oversight of enriched uranium facility operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex, has been named the U.S. Department of Energy Facility Representative of the Year.

“Mr. Edlund represents the NNSA with a passion for the mission and a selflessness that puts the needs of the organization above his own,” said Geoff Beausoleil, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office said. “He sets strong examples for both federal and contractor employees in the areas of safety, security, quality, mission delivery, and cost effectiveness. His leadership in the areas of conduct of operations oversight, NPO integration, and performance culture clearly exceed the normal expectations of Facility Representative Personnel.”

Edlund joined NPO in 2010 as part of the NNSA Future Leaders program. He worked as a safety basis and safety system oversight engineer before becoming a facility representative in February 2014. He received a Bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. [Read more…]

DOE offers expanded public bus tours of federal sites in Oak Ridge

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DOE Public Bus Tour

Public bus tours of the U.S. Department of Energy’s facilities in Oak Ridge are now offered nine months of the year. (File photo courtesy DOE/Lynn Freeny)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s public bus tour of federal sites in Oak Ridge is now offered to visitors nine months out of the year, versus only summer months as in the past.

This popular tour of the 33,000-acre DOE Oak Ridge Reservation offers visitors a first-hand look at all of the DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities and provides historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 70-plus years.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular attraction for tourists visiting the area.  Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted approximately 35,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour DOE tour allows visitors to see the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation and learn about its rich history and how Oak Ridge became a secret city of 75,000 people with a mission to end World War II. [Read more…]