Audit Released on Uranium Processing Plant

[MORTARDUDE]

Audit Released on Uranium Processing Plant
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The restart of bomb-grade uranium processing at the
Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge is five years overdue and about $300
million over budget, according to an internal audit.

Since Y-12 is the only facility in the United States capable of recovering
and purifying highly enriched uranium for warheads, the delay may have greater
significance than the cost.

"As a result, the enriched uranium operations necessary for national security
are not available to meet future mission needs," said the Energy Department's
inspector general's office. The audit was released Thursday.

Y-12 also is the country's primary storehouse for weapons-grade uranium. The
delay in processing is causing a buildup of salvageable material that is
placing enormous pressure on its storage facilities, the inspector general added.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, the semiautonomous agency
within the Energy Department that oversees the nuclear weapons program, blamed the
delays on Y-12's previous managing contractor.

A new contractor has gotten the program back on track, said Michael Kane, the
NNSA's associate administrator for management and administration. BWXT, a
partnership of BWX Technologies and Bechtel National, assumed Y-12's management
contract in 2000.

Y-12's uranium processing operation was shuttered in 1994 after an accidental
release of hydrogen fluoride raised safety concerns. The original estimate
was to restart the program by December 1998 at a cost of $119 million.

Some processes within the program have been restored, but the inspector
general's report said full operation may be at least three years away.