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

• Repaired, in collaboration with the U.S. Air Force, critical sections of the Tonopah Test Range roads.
• Received certification, jointly with Environmental Management, for the 9979 Type A(F) packaging
to allow shipping of fissile material.
• Completed Primary Stripper #1 Project, which replaced corroded piping and depleted zeolite beds at
Savannah River Site (SRS).
• Led the remediation of cleanup activities at Pantex (PX) to return the plant to operations after the site
was damaged by a severe thunderstorm with heavy rains resulting in significant flooding of the
facilities.
• Signed and finalized a joint agreement between the U.S. and France to refurbish and jointly fund and
operate criticality experiment facilities to meet two broad technical needs: establish a capability for
fissionable solution experiments and horizontal split table critical experiments.
Major Outyear Priorities and Assumptions
The outyear projections for RTBF total $10,691,310,000 for FY 2013 through FY 2016. The Operations
funding during the four-year period supports the investment needed to address the continued aging of
the NNSA complex. Support for the existing infrastructure continues to be a challenge due to its
deteriorated condition and escalating requirements and costs associated with nuclear facility safety and
compliance. The Operations and Maintenance budget request will sustain minimum operations
capability at most sites in the FY 2013 through FY 2016 time frame.
Outyear funding is requested to achieve minimum operations support, particularly in light of the
increase in work scope for all Weapons Activities’ programs, especially Stockpile Stewardship and
Stockpile Management activities (e.g., increased surveillance and the planned B61 LEP and potential
LEPs on the W78 and W88). In addition to support for planned Life Extension programs, RTBF
investments will be prioritized and integrated with Science Campaign experimental plans to ensure
continuity of science capabilities at LANSCE and DARHT and PF-4 at Los Alamos, and gas guns and
subcritical experiment infrastructure at NNSS.
Increased construction resources will fund planned scope for the CMRR and UPF projects to ensure
future continuity of plutonium and uranium capabilities. Increased funding levels for CMRR and UPF
in FY 2012 – FY 2016 reflect best available information at 45 percent design maturity for both projects,
and incorporate bounding cost estimate data from independent reviews and government contingency.
The funding request for FY 2012 supports achieving 90 percent design maturity for both projects in
FY 2012, which will allow the Department to set performance baselines in FY 2013. In addition to
CMRR and UPF funding, increased construction funding in FY 2013 through FY 2016 supports priority
infrastructure capabilities at Pantex, Y-12, Los Alamos and NNSS.
Weapons Activities/
Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities Page 146
FY 2012 Congressional Budget