Y-12 achieves completion of major construction milestone
Y-12 achieves completion of major construction milestone on HEUMF project
Tue, 9 September 2008
Officials at the Y-12 National Security Complex have announced the completion of the major construction milestone on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility project.
The $549 million facility — Y‑12’s ultra-secure uranium warehouse of the future — will replace multiple aging facilities within a single state-of-the-art storage facility. It is the largest construction project underway at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee facility in over 40 years. HEUMF will play a major role in helping the National Nuclear Security Administration accomplish its mission of protecting the nation’s inventory of highly enriched uranium (HEU), which is a vital national security asset.
In addition to being a modern facility for receiving, shipping and providing long-term storage of HEU, the HEUMF will be an integral part of NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino’s plan to move from a Cold War–era nuclear weapons complex to a 21st century national security enterprise. It will also be a key part of Y‑12’s long-range modernization plan.
Completion of this milestone allows B&W Y‑12 Technical Services, Y‑12’s management and operating contractor, to begin integrated systems testing of a large number of HEUMF systems. Additional construction and system installation will continue during this period followed by extensive contractor and federal readiness reviews. Operations are anticipated to begin in 2010.
“We are very happy to celebrate this remarkable achievement,” said NNSA Y‑12 Site Manager Ted Sherry. “We are dedicated to achieving national security goals as we transform the nuclear weapons complex to be smaller, more efficient and more cost effective.”
“This new storage facility will eventually replace multiple aging facilities and allow storage of HEU in one central location that represents maximized physical security with minimal vulnerabilities and operating costs,” said B&W Y-12 President and General Manager Darrel Kohlhorst. “This is truly an amazing team effort.”
The HEUMF is a large (approximately 300 ft. by 475 ft.) primarily reinforced concrete structure with adjoining equipment and administrative area. It will provide storage capacity for thousands of containers of material to be held in specially designed storage racks. Construction of the HEUMF began in 2004.
Some distinguishing features associated with construction of the HEUMF are the 92,000 cubic yards of concrete, 5,800 tons of rebar and more than 1.5 million linear feet of wiring. The HEUMF is one of two facilities whose joint mission will be to accomplish the storage and processing of all enriched uranium in one small, centralized area.
Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a separately organized agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for enhancing national security through the military application of nuclear science. NNSA maintains and enhances the safety, security, reliability and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; works to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction; provides the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the United States and abroad. Visit www.nnsa.energy.gov for more information.