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

99-D-141-01, Pit Disassembly and Conversion (PDC) Project
Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina
Project Data Sheet (PDS) is for Construction
1. Significant Changes
The most recent Department of Energy (DOE) approved Critical Decision (CD) for the Pit Disassembly
and Conversion Facility (PDCF) Line Item is CD-0/1, Approve Mission Need and Alternative Selection
and Cost Range, was approved on October 31, 1997. At that time, the project completion date was
estimated to be 4Q FY 2004. The preliminary cost range to design, construct, and start-up the facility is
$3,200,000 - $4,500,000. These estimates would be adjusted upon establishment of a project baseline.
The PDCF design is approximately 65 percent complete. In 2009, however, the Department of Energy
(DOE) began consideration of combining the PDCF with another approved project – the Plutonium
Preparation Project (PuP) – and expects CD-1 for the combined project, renamed the Pit Disassembly
and Conversion (PDC) Project, in the second quarter of FY 2011. There will be a new preliminary cost
range for this project.
A Federal Project Director, certified at the appropriate level has been assigned to this project.
This Project Data Sheet (PDS) is an update of the FY 2011 PDS. Significant changes include:
Previously, the Department of Energy (DOE) approved two major capital construction projects – the Pit
Disassembly and Conversion Facility project (PDCF) and the Plutonium Preparation Project (PuP) – at
Savannah River Site (SRS) involving separate plutonium processing capabilities in support of efforts to
dispose of surplus, weapon-usable plutonium. The PDCF, which NNSA previously decided to construct
at SRS, would disassemble nuclear weapon pits, convert the plutonium metal into an oxide form, and
temporarily store the material for subsequent fabrication into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel at the MOX Fuel
Fabrication Facility (currently under construction at SRS). Similarly, the PuP, a planned EM capability
(in the conceptual design phase) to be constructed in the K-Area at SRS, would include storage,
oxidization, stabilization, and packaging of surplus non-pit plutonium metal and oxides. Those
materials were previously included in NNSA’s mission, prior to cancellation of the NNSA program to
immobilize certain weapon-usable fissile materials. Following processing in the PuP, the non-pit metal
and oxides suitable for fabrication into MOX fuel would be processed at the MOX Fuel Fabrication
Facility.
A 2008 feasibility study of alternatives for siting the pit disassembly and conversion mission at SRS
identified an opportunity to reduce overall departmental life cycle costs and/or schedule by combining
the PuP and PDCF capabilities into one project within the K-Area. Combining the two projects offers
the following departmental benefits: 1) avoids the expenditure of resources associated with design,
construction, operation, and decontamination and demolition of an additional Hazard Category 2, Secure
Category 1 facility; 2) allows for greater program and funding flexibility by executing a single project in
a phased approach; 3) provides additional opportunities for early plutonium consolidation and storage;
and 4) levels out the demand for NNSA’s secure transport operations. A subsequent Independent
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation/
Fissile Materials Disposition/
99-D-141-01, Pit Disassembly and
Conversion FY 2012 Congressional Budget
Page 411