U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has ordered an independent assessment of plans for a new plutonium research facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and a new uranium processing plant in Tennessee, the Albuquerque Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 27).
Chu has directed the formation of a panel of specialists with "no stake in the outcome" to analyze the necessity for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement complex at Los Alamos and the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, a department release said (see GSN, July 27).
The Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement complex is planned to take the place of a World War II-era plutonium laboratory. Officials have maintained that the plutonium site's work is critical to fulfilling Los Alamos's nuclear weapons mission. The project is now estimated to cost no less than $4 billion -- a figure significantly greater than earlier estimates. Design activities have yet to conclude and the project has missed its original schedule by years.
Likewise, cost estimates for the Y-12 highly enriched uranium processing center have seriously overshot earlier informal estimates of between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion. News reports indicate the site could cost up to $5 billion to build.
Developing the two facilities is key to the Obama administration's pursuit of Senate ratification of a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control pact, the Journal reported. A number of Republican senators have said their potential support for the treaty would depend upon sufficient funding for modernizing the nation's nuclear-weapon complex (see related GSN story, today).
The National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous arms of the Energy Department, has oversight over the two projects. The Energy and Defense departments have already initiated separate analyses of the facilities' funding requirements (John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal, Oct. 28).
http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101029_3756.php
Chu has directed the formation of a panel of specialists with "no stake in the outcome" to analyze the necessity for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement complex at Los Alamos and the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, a department release said (see GSN, July 27).
The Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement complex is planned to take the place of a World War II-era plutonium laboratory. Officials have maintained that the plutonium site's work is critical to fulfilling Los Alamos's nuclear weapons mission. The project is now estimated to cost no less than $4 billion -- a figure significantly greater than earlier estimates. Design activities have yet to conclude and the project has missed its original schedule by years.
Likewise, cost estimates for the Y-12 highly enriched uranium processing center have seriously overshot earlier informal estimates of between $1.4 billion and $3.5 billion. News reports indicate the site could cost up to $5 billion to build.
Developing the two facilities is key to the Obama administration's pursuit of Senate ratification of a new U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control pact, the Journal reported. A number of Republican senators have said their potential support for the treaty would depend upon sufficient funding for modernizing the nation's nuclear-weapon complex (see related GSN story, today).
The National Nuclear Security Administration, a semiautonomous arms of the Energy Department, has oversight over the two projects. The Energy and Defense departments have already initiated separate analyses of the facilities' funding requirements (John Fleck, Albuquerque Journal, Oct. 28).
http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20101029_3756.php
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