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

4. Project Description, Justification, and Scope
The PDC will be a first of its kind facility. The United States has never before constructed and operated
a production-scale facility for disassembling nuclear weapon pits. The PDC, which will be built at the
Savannah River Site, will disassemble surplus nuclear weapon pits and convert the resulting weapongrade
non-pit plutonium metal to an oxide form which then can be fabricated into mixed oxide (MOX)
fuel for irradiation in U.S. commercial nuclear reactors. Once irradiated and converted into spent fuel,
the plutonium can no longer be readily used for nuclear weapons. After completing its mission, the
PDC project will be deactivated, decontaminated, and decommissioned over a three to four year period.
Establishing the PDC capability within the 350,000 square feet K-Area facility will utilize
approximately 150,000 square feet and contain the following key areas: pit and non-pit material
receiving, assay, and storage; pit disassembly and metal-to-oxide conversion; and plutonium oxide
packaging, assay, storage, and shipment. This facility will be equipped with storage capacity for
incoming pit and non-pit materials and include areas for recovery, decontamination, and declassification
of non-nuclear components resulting from the disassembly of the nuclear weapon pits.
Conventional/commercial support facilities and structures will also be constructed, which will not
contain radioactive materials, totaling approximately 150,000 square feet (i.e., facilities to support
construction/maintenance craft, technical support, warehouse space, etc.).
FY 2010 Current Project Status:
Project activities were realigned consistent with the conceptual execution strategy for the combined
approach. FY 2010 activities focused on development of the PDC project conceptual design
documentation necessary to support Critical Decision 1 (CD-1) approval expected in the 2 nd Quarter of
FY 2011, as well as preliminary design activities that support either alternative prior to a CD-1 decision.
The Conceptual Design Report revised Alternative Analysis and CD-1 package for the combined project
were completed in September 2010. Continued design and construction planning activities continue to
support long-lead procurements, infrastructure, and demolition and removal. Demonstration and Testing
(D&T) of plutonium processing gloveboxes and associated equipment continued, along with essential
activities associated with the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s (LANL) and support of conceptual
design and ongoing preliminary design activities related to the PDC work scope, including the
completion of design packages associated with LANL Government Furnished Equipment (GFE).
FY 2011 and FY 2012 Description of Activities:
The FY 2011 scope includes preparing and submitting the PDC project conceptual design
documentation necessary to support CD-1 approval expected in the 2 nd Quarter of FY 2011. During the
1 st Quarter of FY 2011, both an Independent Project Review and an Independent Cost Estimate Review
were completed to support the CD-1 decision process. FY 2011 work also includes initiation of the
preliminary design for the S&P, MS, and infrastructure sub-projects, continuation of preliminary design
for the pit processing sub-project, and preparation of documentation necessary to support critical
decisions for the S&P and MS sub-projects in FY 2012. The nature of the PDC project is such that there
are elements of the overall design and support documentation at varying stages of maturity
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation/
Fissile Materials Disposition/
99-D-141-01, Pit Disassembly and
Conversion FY 2012 Congressional Budget
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