National Nuclear Security Administration Archives

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.

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.

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

Posted at 12:44 pm October 7, 2018
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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)

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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Twenty tons of uranium could be used to produce tritium for nuclear weapons

Posted at 12:08 pm September 14, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Image courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration. SRS is the Savannah River Site.

About 20 metric tons of highly enriched uranium could be “down-blended” to low-enriched uranium and transferred to the Tennessee Valley Authority for use as a fuel to produce tritium for nuclear weapons, according to a public notice published in the Federal Register this week.

The project involves the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City in Rhea County, among other sites.

The National Nuclear Security Administration and TVA announced in August that they intend to enter into an agreement to “down-blend” highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in order to help produce tritium, a key “boosting” component in nuclear weapons.

The highly enriched uranium used for the “down-blending” will be processed, packaged, and shipped from Y-12, according to the NNSA. Y-12 is an NNSA site, and it is the main storage facility for certain categories of highly enriched uranium. [Read more…]

Exclusive: Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against CNS

Posted at 11:35 am September 13, 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 federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that was filed three years ago after Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC began managing and operating the Y-12 National Security Complex and made changes to health care benefits.

The changes in benefits led to protests, mostly by retirees, near Y-12 and the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office just before they took effect January 1, 2015.

Y-12 retirees Betty Hatmaker and Charlene Edwards, who had been among the protesters, filed the lawsuit that summer. The 31-page civil complaint was filed August 12, 2015, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. Hatmaker and Edwards sought to make their lawsuit a class action complaint, meaning they could have represented other plaintiffs, possibly including several thousand former Y-12 workers who retired between 1975 and 2015.

A trial had been scheduled for June 25, but the case was dismissed by Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan on May 30.

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Nuclear safety board announces appointment of two inspectors, mostly at Y-12

Posted at 1:10 am September 2, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Aerial: While the skyline is continuing to change, Y-12’s focus remains the same—securing America’s future.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in this submitted photo.

A federal safety board has announced the appointment of two Oak Ridge resident inspectors, primarily at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and a major board reform has been announced.

The appointment of the first inspector, Matthew Duncan, was effective August 20. The appointment of the second, Brandon Weathers, is effective in December.

The two will serve as Oak Ridge resident inspectors for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, an independent federal agency responsible for safety oversight at U.S. Department of Energy defense nuclear facilities.

In Oak Ridge, the DNFSB reports often focus on activities at Y-12, but they can also include work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ORNL is a DOE Office of Science lab, and Y-12 is a National Nuclear Security Administration site. The NNSA is a DOE agency. [Read more…]

CNS settles with DOE, NNSA over improper shipment, storage of classified records

Posted at 3:28 pm August 29, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A large ridge top tract of land that features panoramic views and was once proposed as the site of a Target retail development is now for sale. The land, which is also known as The Summit, is on Pine Ridge along South Illinois Avenue between Scarboro Road/Lafayette Drive and Centrifuge Way. It's pictured above on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A large off-site building on Pine Ridge that was once used to store records for the Y-12 National Security Complex. The building is pictured above on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC has reached a settlement agreement with federal officials over the improper shipment and storage of classified archived records at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration requires CNS, which manages and operates Y-12, to implement corrective actions and pay a $73,000 monetary remedy.

The settlement agreement was entered into on July 23 between CNS, NNSA, and DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments’ Office of Enforcement.

In a July 13 letter, NNSA Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty and Kevin L. Dressman, acting director of the Office of Enforcement, said CNS made a decision in 2016 to vacate an off-site records storage facility on Pine Ridge that had met DOE requirements.

To vacate that building, CNS sent boxes of inactive archived records, dating back to 1943, to one of three U.S. National Archives and Records Administration facilities: unclassified records went to two different federal records centers based on whether the records were textual or non-textual (e.g., films), and classified records, regardless of the medium, were transferred to a federal records center that is authorized to store classified information. [Read more…]

NNSA, TVA agree to ‘down-blend’ uranium to produce tritium for weapons

Posted at 12:15 pm August 29, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, that they intend to enter into an agreement to “down-blend” highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in order to help produce tritium, a key “boosting” component in nuclear weapons. The highly enriched uranium used for the “down-blending” is processed, packaged, and shipped from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The National Nuclear Security Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority announced last week that they intend to enter into an agreement to “down-blend” highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium in order to help produce tritium, a key “boosting” component in nuclear weapons.

The highly enriched uranium used for the “down-blending” is processed, packaged, and shipped from the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, according to the NNSA. Y-12 is the main storage facility for certain categories of highly enriched uranium, which can be used in nuclear weapons and in naval reactors.

Low-enriched uranium, or LEU fuel, is used in a commercial power reactor run by TVA at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1 near Spring City in Rhea County, southwest of Oak Ridge. Tritium is produced there by irradiating lithium-aluminate pellets with neutrons in rods known as tritium-producing burnable absorber rods, or TPBARs.

The irradiated rods are then shipped to the Savannah River Site, an NNSA production facility near Aiken, South Carolina. The Savannah River Site extracts the tritium from the irradiated rods, purifies it, and adds it to the existing inventory, according to the NNSA’s Fiscal Year 2018 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that has two neutrons and one proton. It has been described as an essential component in every nuclear weapon in the U.S. stockpile. It occurs naturally in small quantities but must be manufactured to obtain useful quantities. It enables weapons to produce a larger yield while reducing the overall size and weight of the warhead in a process known as “boosting,” the U.S. Department of Energy said in an environmental impact statement about 20 years ago.

But unlike other nuclear materials used in nuclear weapons, tritium decays at a rate of 5.5 percent per year—its half-life is about 12 years—and it must be replenished periodically.

The NNSA, a separately organized agency within DOE, said the agreement with TVA that was announced last week is for management of the down-blending campaign and the resulting material. It’s separate from an existing interagency agreement for irradiation services that started in 2000 and is in effect until November 30, 2035.

“Without this down-blending campaign, we would need to accelerate the development and execution of a strategy to provide LEU fuel for tritium production by nearly a decade,” said Phil Calbos, NNSA’s acting deputy administrator for defense programs.

The new agreement follows a determination by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on August 21 that allows the NNSA to continue transfers of enriched uranium from DOE’s inventories in support of national security, the NNSA said in a press release.

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New Y-12 center provides small orders of nuclear samples

Posted at 4:49 pm July 11, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Mason named president of Triad, which will operate Los Alamos National Lab

Posted at 3:42 pm July 10, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Former Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason is pictured above on Monday, May 23, 2016. (File photo by ORNL)

Thom Mason, former director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named president of Triad National Security LLC, which has been awarded a $25 billion contract to manage and operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Mason, who is senior vice president for global laboratory operations at Battelle, will also serve as director designate of the lab during the transition period, according to a press release issued by Battelle in Columbus, Ohio.

Battelle and its partners on the Triad team announced Monday that they can officially begin the transition to operating Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the nation’s premier scientific and nuclear research facilities.

In the press release, which is posted on its website, Battelle said Mason will work closely with the laboratory’s current director, Terry Wallace, to ensure a smooth changeover between operating teams. [Read more…]

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

Posted at 5:21 pm June 15, 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. (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…]

Y-12 part of extending life of nation’s oldest nuclear weapons

Posted at 11:54 pm June 4, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is part of a program to extend the life of B61 bombs, the oldest nuclear weapons in the nation’s active stockpile, federal officials said.

The life extension program, or LEP, for the B61 bombs is the most complex and expensive since the U.S. Department of Energy began stockpile life extension activities in January 1996, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

Critical components of the bombs are reaching the end of their operational lives, and the life extension program will result in a bomb known as B61-12. It will consolidate four versions of the bomb into one. The bombs could be carried on B-2A bomber aircraft and F-15E, F-16, F-35, and PA-200 fighters.

A GAO report described the role of six National Nuclear Security Administration sites and laboratories in the LEP. Besides Y-12, the NNSA sites are Kansas City National Security Campus in Missouri; Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico; Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas; Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina.

Y-12 is designated as the production site for the secondary. All weapons in the U.S. nuclear stockpile are two-stage nuclear weapons, or thermonuclear weapons. The first stage, known as the primary, is a fission device that is the initial source of nuclear energy, the GAO said. The secondary, which is the second stage, is a nuclear stage physically separate from the primary. Together, the primary and secondary are referred to as the weapon’s nuclear explosive package, the GAO said. [Read more…]

Y-12 approved for B61-12 weapons work

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

Twenty tons of uranium could be used to produce tritium for nuclear weapons

Exclusive: Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against CNS

Nuclear safety board announces appointment of two inspectors, mostly at Y-12

CNS settles with DOE, NNSA over improper shipment, storage of classified records

NNSA, TVA agree to ‘down-blend’ uranium to produce tritium for weapons

New Y-12 center provides small orders of nuclear samples

Mason named president of Triad, which will operate Los Alamos National Lab

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

Sponsored: Securing America from a valley in Tennessee

Y-12 part of extending life of nation’s oldest nuclear weapons

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