Department of Energy FY 2012 Congressional ... - The FIRE Place

(dollars in thousands)
FY 2010
Actual
Approp
FY 2011
Request
FY 2012
Request
Tritium Readiness 68,245 50,187 77,491
The Tritium Readiness subprogram operates the Departmental capability for producing tritium to
maintain the national inventory needed for the nuclear weapons stockpile. Irradiation of TPBARs in
TVA’s Watts Bar nuclear reactor began in October 2003. Plans are being initiated to make additional
production capacity available by gaining NRC approval for increasing the effluent release limit at
Watts Bar Unit 1, with a contingency option to use TVA’s Sequoyah Unit 1 and 2 reactors to meet
tritium production requirements specified in the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile Plan signed annually by
the President.
In FY 2012, the Tritium Readiness subprogram will continue to pay irradiation fees for 544 TPBARs
in Watts Bar Unit 1 to complete Cycle 11; provide an annual settlement for TVA procurements of
heavy equipment for the Watts Bar reactor where the lowest cost foreign vendors will not sell
equipment for tritium production; procure nuclear reactor fuel to support the core design for Cycle 12;
begin procurement of an approximately 500,000 gallon holdup tank to assist with management of
reactor coolant system water releases to the Tennessee River; and continue steps to ensure that
Sequoyah Units 1 and 2 are in the appropriate condition to serve as a contingency option for tritium
production, should increased production in Watts Bar Unit 1 not be realized.
The subprogram will provide technical production support to the TVA operation by having the Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory acting as the design authority to ensure of sufficient technical
oversight. In addition, the subprogram will continue efforts at the Advanced Test Reactor to evaluate
options for design improvements to the lithium aluminate pellets to reduce in-reactor tritium
permeation of the TPBAR design. The subprogram will maintain the TEF in Responsive Operations
mode and conduct one TPBAR extraction activity as well as support capital projects for direct
stacking of gases, abatement of a harmful isotope detected in gas output (Zinc-65); repair to the
damaged rail on the large shield door; and begin replacement of obsolete automated process control
software. The subprogram will continue to conduct a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
to support TVA licensing for increasing TPBAR irradiation quantities that must be approved by the
NRC before irradiation in FY 2016 and will provide technical and management support.
FY 2012 funds will be expended at commercial vendors to support fabrication and assembly of
TPBARs, the fuel and irradiation costs at the tritium production reactors, and for transportation of the
irradiated TPBARs, currently in reactor, to the Savannah River Site for ultimate extraction. In
addition, funds already on contract will be expended to receive component parts for future assembly of
TPBARs. Total fabrication and assembly time for TPBARs is approximately a two to three year
process. Funding, as part of a comprehensive Tritium execution strategy, is placed on a long-lead
contracts so as to build a reasonable inventory of parts and TPBARs, manage risk throughout the
commercial tritium supply chain, enable TPBARs to be available at their required insertion time point
and control the costs of the Tritium subprogram.
Weapons Activities/
Readiness Campaign Page 138
FY 2012 Congressional Budget