Volume 13 No. 4 February 2, 2009 INSIDE HIGHLIGHTS

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1 Volume 13 No. 4 February 2, 2009 INSIDE HIGHLIGHTS As details of a Senate stimulus package that includes $1 billion in funding for the NNSA emerged last week, opposition began to mount from watchdog groups worried about providing significant funds for the agency s weapons program The House is set to begin debate this week on the Fiscal Year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill, which would fund the NNSA and most other federal agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year Faced with expected budget cuts and potential decisionmaking delays on its Complex Transformation plans, the NNSA is ramping up discussions about how to get by without one of the facilities it was relying on as the keystone for its future plans the nuclear portion of CMRR The GAO is investigating the NNSA s planned move to a new Kansas City Plant in a review requested by two powerful Senate appropriators Multiple deficiencies in the criticality safety documentation for Y-12 s Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility have been identified by the DNFSB, raising questions about potential problems elsewhere at the site As the nuclear relationship between the U.S. and Russia matures from assistance to partnership over the next decade, the two countries could use nuclear energy to further cooperation in more sensitive areas, according to an arms control expert The NNSA cleared the way earlier this month for more spent nuclear fuel to be sent to the Savannah River Site, allowing up to an additional metric ton of HEU fuel from foreign research reactors to be stored at the site Some DOE and NNSA sites retained hundreds of unneeded weapons worth millions of dollars that could have been used at other sites, according to the Department s Inspector General A bill that would strengthen efforts for fingerprinting nuclear material in the case of a nuclear detonation was reintroduced by Rep. Adam Schiff last week after it almost became law during the last Congress Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services is teaming up with healthcare product giant Covidien to develop technology to produce a widely used medical isotope At the Weapons Labs/DOE Sites At Los Alamos At Pantex At Oak Ridge Wrap Up Calendar Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor...A Business Service of ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. # 4455 Connecticut Ave, NW; Suite A-700 # Washington, DC # # subservices@exchangemonitor.com COPYRIGHT 2009 ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

2 OPPOSITION TO NNSA PORTION OF SENATE STIMULUS MATERIALIZES As details of a Senate stimulus package that includes $1 billion in funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration emerged last week, opposition began to mount from watchdog groups worried about providing significant funds for the agency s weapons program with the fate of the agency s Complex Transformation plans still up in the air. Part of the $887 billion stimulus package containing NNSA funds was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee by a vote of 21-9 Jan. 27, setting up a potential spending battle with the House, which did not include NNSA funding in the version of the stimulus it approved last week. Now is not the time to stimulate the nuclear weapons complex with $1 billion, said Ingrid Drake, an investigator with the Project on Government Oversight. There is great controversy on the size and makeup of the complex. At this time of transition, it does not make sense to invest funds into buildings that may not be needed or for enhancements to warheads that may become surplus with this year s Nuclear Posture Review. Due to concerns about earmarks, the Senate stimulus is intentionally vague in its direction to NNSA on how to spend the money. The report accompanying the bill includes language that $900 million be applied to address maintenance and general plant project backlogs, other construction activities, and various energy projects throughout the weapons complex. An additional $100 million was directed toward advanced computer research and development. The money must be obligated by Sept. 30, Details of Bill Gain Focus The bill is likely to be taken up by the full Senate this week. Since Senate appropriators unveiled the bill Jan. 23, more information has emerged about how the NNSA might spend the money. According to a Hill staffer, the money will go toward backlogged projects, energy initiatives and maintenance, and not controversial projects like the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex and the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Facility. The highlights include: $90 million for transformation disposition, the first stages of the NNSA s plans to demolish 600 buildings and structures around the complex; $360 million for energy projects; $400 million for dozens of minor general plant projects involving the replacement of utility poles and electrical systems, the repaving of roads and maintenance; and $50 million for sitewide security enhancements similar to what had been included in a previous version of the stimulus in the fall. A Y-12 federal spokesman, however, did not discount that some of the funds could be used for the UPF facility. The potential budgetary impact on projects at the local level is simply not known as this time, Y-12 Site Office spokesman Steven Wyatt said in a statement. NNSA is looking at how these funds would be applied across the complex, including major modernization projects such as UPF. NNSA headquarters spokesman Darwin Morgan declined to comment on the agency s potential plans for the stimulus money, saying, Until NNSA sees the final bill, we feel it is not appropriate to address what-ifs even in the general sense. Study: Military Spending Poor Stimulus Greg Mello, the executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group, said he worried that the stimulus would help free up money in the agency s annual budget for potentially controversial modernization of weapons-critical projects. He also cited a study by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst s Political Economy Research Institute that indicated that military spending was the most inefficient stimulus method when compared to health care, education, mass transit, and construction for home Martin Schneider, Editor-in-Chief Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor is a weekly (50 issues a Mike Nartker, Associate Editor year) publication covering all the activities of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, including the new initiative on the reliable replacement warhead, complex transformation and Penny Hitchin, Senior Reporter disposition of weapons grade materials. Also includes insight on programs with Russia and other nuclear states. Rebecca Cooper, Senior Reporter Edward L. Helminski... Publisher Kelli Watson Hughes... Office Manager Todd Jacobson, Reporter Meghan McNamara, Reporter ExchangeMonitor Publications Editorial Staff WC Monitor UK Monitor NNB Monitor RW Monitor NW&M Monitor GHG Tel.: ext. 105 schneider@exchangemonitor.com Tel.: ext. 106 nartker@exchangemonitor.com Tel.: (+44) hitchin.uk@exchangemonitor.com Tel.: ext. 108 cooper@exchangemonitor.com Tel.: ext. 107 jacobson@exchangemonitor.com Tel.: ext. 112 mcnamara@exchangemonitor.com Nuclear New Build Monitor # Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # Weapons Complex Monitor # UK Nuclear Facilities Monitor# RadWaste Monitor # GHG Transactions/Technologies 2 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. February 2, 2009

3 weatherization and infrastructure repair for every $1 billion spent. Increased personal consumption from tax cuts was the only stimulus method studied that was inferior to military spending, the study said. Spending money on defense is in general a poor stimulus for the economy and won t generate as many jobs as spending that money outside NNSA would, Mello said. So there s not a strong stimulus impact from this and I would rather have NNSA take care of its general plant projects and D&D through the normal budget process and not try to make headroom in its budget opportunistically because we have an economic crisis. Mello also criticized the lack of oversight in the process. The lack of controls over this money is alarming, Mello said. We need more careful oversight, not less, and frankly NNSA has too much money in its weapons program now. They don t need extra money to take care of their roads. They need to trim the fat where they have the fat and take care of their roads. HOUSE SET TO BEGIN DEBATE ON FY09 OMNIBUS APPROPS. BILL The House is set to begin debate this week on the Fiscal Year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill, which would fund the National Nuclear Security Administration and most other federal agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year. The final details of the bill have not been made public, though considerable differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill exist, especially with regard to the agency s weapons program. The House FY2009 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which was reported out of committee but never brought to the floor, included $6.04 billion for the NNSA s weapons program, well under the NNSA s $6.62 billion request. The Senate version, which was also only reported out of committee, would commit approximately $6.52 billion for the weapons program. Both chambers provided significantly more money for the agency s nonproliferation programs above the $1.25 billion request. The House and Senate both zeroed out the Administration s controversial request for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, but the chambers disagreed on several other key programs, including the production of pits for the W-88 warhead, the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility to be built at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y- 12 National Security Complex. Since the start of FY09 on Oct. 1, 2008, DOE and most other federal agencies have been funded at FY08 appropriated-levels through a Continuing Resolution currently set to expire March 6. NNSA CONSIDERING CMR ALTERNATIVES IF REPLACEMENT DRASTICALLY DELAYED Faced with expected budget cuts and potential decisionmaking delays on its Complex Transformation plans, the National Nuclear Security Administration is ramping up discussions about how to get by without one of the facilities it was relying on as the keystone for its future plans the nuclear portion of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility to be built at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Officials from LANL are set to brief National Nuclear Security Administration Principal Deputy Administrator William Ostendorff as early as this week on alternatives for eventually moving work out of the aging Chemistry and Metallurgy Research facility, and alternatives include using the plutonium facility at the lab s Technical Area-55 and further exploration of an upgrade to the under-construction Radiological Laboratory, Utility and Office Building (RLUOB) to a Category 2 nuclear facility if the CMRR-Nuclear Facility is significantly delayed beyond its 2018 startup date. The CMRR-Nuclear Facility, which has been estimated to cost as much as $2 billion, has been central to the NNSA s Complex Transformation plans and would allow much of the analytical chemistry and material characterization work at the 1950s-era CMR building to be moved to a new facility. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board has pushed the NNSA to move out of the aging facility, saying it poses significant risks to workers and the public in an October 2007 letter to NNSA Administrator Thomas D Agostino, but the project has faced opposition in Congress over its need and over design concerns. The House version of the Fiscal Year 2009 Energy and Water Appropriations bill zeroed out funding for the project, while the FY2009 Defense Authorization Act withholds the authorization of $50 million over concerns about the design of the new facility. The facility is currently being designed and won t be completed until 2018 at the earliest. Safety Basis for Post-2010 CMR Nearing Completion In the meantime, the lab is nearing the completion of a Documented Safety Analysis for extending the life the facility past 2010, but it s also begun considering fallback plans if construction of the CMRR facility is delayed beyond In addition to using TA-55 and the RLUOB as an alternative to the CMRR, the lab is also considering accelerating work to process legacy residue materials February 2, 2009 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. 3

4 currently stored in the vault at TA-55, freeing up space that would ve been provided in the CMRR-Nuclear Facility. The NNSA has also considered using Lawrence Livermore s Superblock facility and the Nevada Test Site s Device Assembly Facility as a CMRR substitute. Sample preparation and activities with plutonium-238 would after 2010 move out of CMR and to TA-55 (NW&M Monitor, Vol. 12 No. 16). Lab spokesman Kevin Roark would not comment on the details of the lab s CMRR exit strategy, but he said the need for CMRR has been made clear, both by the lab and the DNFSB. We ve been very clear with what we feel is a critical need and that s the CMRR nuclear facility, Roark said. Without it, our options are limited. We re continuing to reduce our risks in there but at some point we ve got to get out of there. The NNSA declined to comment about the options being considered for the exit strategy. Construction on the RLUOB facility by construction contractor Austin Commercial is ongoing and expected to be completed this year, and it will take another two years for special process equipment to be installed, meaning it will be until 2011 before employees can move into the building. The building has been designed to hold only radiological quantities of special nuclear material, and extensive and costly upgrades would be needed for it to be elevated to a Category 2 nuclear facility. CMRR Design Hits Hurdles The design of the CMRR facility has also run into problems, with the DNFSB informing the NNSA of Findings that would prohibit it from certifying to Congress that the facility, and its active confinement system, could withstand Performance Category-3-level earthquakes, long a concern at the facility. In the FY2009 Defense Authorization Act, Congress prohibited the NNSA from spending more than $50.2 million on the CMRR $50 million less than the $100.2 million the NNSA requested until the NNSA and the DNFSB certified that concerns about the design of safety class systems (including ventilation systems) and seismic issues had been resolved. Los Alamos is located in a seismically sensitive area of New Mexico, and the existing CMR facility does not meet current earthquake standards, which have increased substantially over the last few decades at LANL. NNSA design plans to downgrade the PC-3 seismic design requirements for the active confinement ventilation system and support systems were not acceptable, the DNFSB said as part of a Jan. 16 letter to NNSA Assistant Deputy Administrator for Nuclear Safety and Operations Gerald Talbot that urged the agency to reaffirm its commitment to seismically design the active confinement ventilation system to PC-3 seismic design requirements. The confinement system would be used to prevent radioactive releases, trapping potential releases in filters and ventilation systems, but the NNSA had indicated to the DNFSB that cost was preventing the qualification of the system and some parts to the rigorous PC-3 standards. The CMRR Nuclear Safety Design Strategy states that it may not be economically feasible to seismically design and qualify some components of the active confinement ventilation system or its support system to PC-3 seismic design requirements, the DNFSB wrote in its Findings report. Structural Issues Identified In a separate Findings report detailing seismic design issues with the facility, the DNFSB was less harsh but continued to raise problems about the adequacy of the design for PC-3 seismic events. Specifically, the report indicates that extensive openings on the mezzanine floor of the facility create structural challenges, and it s not clearly understood how connections between columns and interstitial walls can be designed to withstand earthquakes. The CMRR project should not proceed into final design until there is high confidence that the CMRR structural capacity is adequate for the PC-3 seismic design ground motions and that there are no significant unresolved design issue, the report said. NNSA spokesman Darwin Morgan said the NNSA is reviewing the design of the facility and would present its final design plan to the DNFSB. We are aware of their concerns, Morgan said in a statement provided to NW&M Monitor. We are in the midst of a major internal review of our design plan and feel confident that the board s questions will be answered when they see the results of this review. We look forward to continuing to work constructively with them to ensure that the CMRR is safe. GAO LOOKING INTO NNSA S PLANNED MOVE TO NEW KANSAS CITY PLANT The Government Accountability Office is investigating the National Nuclear Security Administration s planned move to a new Kansas City Plant in a review requested by two powerful Senate appropriators, NW&M Monitor has learned. The review, which is still in its early stages, was requested by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), the chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, and former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who had 4 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. February 2, 2009

5 been the subcommittee s ranking member before he left the Senate at the end of his term because of health reasons. The review, which is expected to be completed in late summer or early fall, will explore the NNSA s decision to build a new $500 million facility for the Kansas City Plant and could include the unique financing arrangement being used to secure funding for the agency s new non-nuclear parts production plant. The search for the facility s developer is being managed by the General Services Administration, and once a developer is found, the facility will be leased back to the NNSA for at least 20 years at a Congressionally capped cost of $58.9 million a year. GSA has struggled to find a builder for the project, scrapping an initial search after negotiations with bidders stalled, though the agency is close to finalizing a deal after the project was solicited a second time. The project would move the NNSA s Kansas City Plant from the aging Bannister Federal Complex to land at the northwest corner of Missouri 150 Highway and Botts Road, down-sizing the plant from nearly 3 million square feet to close to 1 million square feet and saving $100 million a year, according to NNSA. Is KC the Right Location? Critics of the project, however, have argued that the plant could be moved elsewhere to Sandia National Laboratories, for instance, where non-nuclear design work is performed or down-sized in place at the Bannister complex. The unique funding arrangement has also drawn the attention of Congress and specifically the Senate Armed Services Committee, which included language in the report accompanying its version of the Fiscal Year 2009 Defense Authorization Act urging NNSA to fund construction projects through traditional methods rather than through third-party financing deals, largely due to concerns about higher overall costs, security risks and the lack of Congressional oversight. The plant will cost the NNSA $912 million in lease payments through Cleanup of the former World War II era airplane manufacturing facility is estimated to cost $287 million. The GAO will also examine the NNSA s plans to ensure continuity during the transition to the new plant as well as plans to increase the outsourcing of components. CRITICALITY SAFETY DOCUMENTS LACKING AT Y-12 S HEUMF FACILITY Multiple deficiencies in the criticality safety documentation for the Y-12 National Security Complex s new Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility have been identified by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, raising questions about potential problems elsewhere at the site. The recently completed HEUMF will eventually house the nation s principal supply of weapons-grade uranium, and the failure to meet the multi-layered requirements for ensuring the safe storage of the enriched uranium could potentially compromise the requisite safety margin for fissionable material operations, the DNFSB said in a Jan. 22 letter to National Nuclear Security Administration chief Thomas D Agostino. The problem involves the evaluations and supporting documents completed by Oak Ridge contractors to demonstrate nuclear criticality safety for the $549 million storage center. Criticality safety involves the procedures and steps taken to prevent fissionable materials such as highly enriched uranium from going critical with an uncontrolled chain reaction and release of radiation. Nuclear criticality involves a number of criteria, such as the mass and geometric shape of fissionable materials, and can be affected by the presence of water and other conditions. Docs for Abnormal, Unique Events Lacking In a Jan. 16 report, the DNFSB identified two particular areas of noncompliance: Y-12 safety documents did not properly address all credible abnormal events in establishing the new facility s safety parameters for storing large amounts of weapons-grade uranium, and events deemed to be unlikely in the safety analysis for the Oak Ridge facility did not meet the definition of unlikely in the nuclear criticality program. Several contingencies classified as unlikely in the [nuclear criticality safety] evaluations for HEUMF are actually anticipated, since they have occurred in similar operations at other Y-12 facilities handling fissionable materials, the report said. One example is violation of an administrative spacing limit for two containers, which has happened several times at the site. These contingencies should have been analyzed as normal [anticipated] conditions. DNFSB chairman A.J. Eggenberger addressed the seriousness of the situation in a Jan. 22 letter to D Agostino and requested a briefing within 90 days to discuss actions planned to address the deficiencies. The board is concerned that these issues may exist in other Y-12 facilities, beyond those cited in the enclosed report, and may have broader implications, Eggenberger wrote. In his letter, Eggenberger said the Board s staff found that the nuclear criticality safety evaluations done for the Oak Ridge storage facility failed to comply with requirements of the applicable standards of the American Nuclear Society and American National Standards Institute, as well as DOE February 2, 2009 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. 5

6 directorates and the Y-12 safety procedures for the criticality safety program in the two deficient areas. NNSA: Issues Not Expected to Impact Startup Steven Wyatt, a federal spokesman at Y-12, said the NNSA has been aware of the issues described in Board s letter. He said the final safety documents have not yet been approved for the uranium facility and the issues will be addressed before operations begin. Construction of the new $549 million uranium storehouse was completed late last year, but loading of uranium isn t expected to begin until As part of an extensive authorization process, a number of internal and external reviews will occur in the next year, Wyatt said. Prior to HEUMF commencing operations, all outstanding safety documentation issues will be addressed and HEUMF will meet all applicable standards for nuclear criticality safety. Wyatt said the NNSA does not expect the issues raised by the safety board to delay the start-up of the uranium storage facility in Oak Ridge. From staff reports NUCLEAR ENERGY TOUTED AS WEDGE FOR BROADER U.S. RUSSIAN COOP. As the nuclear relationship between the United States and Russia matures from assistance to partnership over the next decade, the two countries could use common ground in the area of nuclear energy to further cooperation in more sensitive areas like nonproliferation and combating nuclear terrorism, according to former National Nuclear Security Administrator Linton Brooks. Speaking at the National Academy of Sciences last week, Brooks detailed the findings of a joint NAS-Russian Academy of Sciences study, The Future of the Nuclear Security Environment in 2015, which was released Jan. 29. He urged the countries to build on efforts to prevent the spread of sensitive fuel cycle technologies, find solutions for an international waste regime and work on nuclear safety, strengthening a rocky relationship that has recently been stressed by disputes over missile defense, Georgia and NATO. Rather than providing recommendations or a consensus perspective, the study provides a compilation of views from both U.S. and Russian nonproliferation and arms control experts, including forward-looking views from Brooks and Rosatom s Lev Ryabev and papers from more than a dozen others. This is clearly the opening wedge for expanding cooperation, Brooks said. It was somewhat difficult for the last administration to cooperate in this area because the last administration was somewhat disarrayed on its nuclear energy policy. But assuming that is overcome by the new administration, I think this is the entering wedge for cooperation. He added: It s also an area in which we genuinely do deal from positions of equality. They have a great deal of technical knowledge. A New Vision for Cooperation Proposed Along with work to secure Russian nuclear materials that is wrapping up, several landmark arms control and nonproliferation programs and agreements are set to expire over the next few years most notably the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty later this year, the Moscow Treaty in 2012 and the Megatons to Megawatts HEU purchase program and the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program in As such, the joint study proposes a shift from U.S. assistance-style programs to a partnership that gives Russia more of a say in how programs are run and, further, pushes Russia to shoulder a significant portion of the costs. While acknowledging that the study does not include a consensus of recommendations, Rose Gottemoeller, the co-chair of the study and the former director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace s Moscow Center, said it illustrates ways that the countries could cooperate even as its outlook on nuclear issues vary. The bottom line here is even if our threat assessments may differ quite significantly from time to time we can partner to tackle tough problems and especially and immediately in the area of nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear counter-terrorism, Gottemoeller said. Plutonium Differences Not a Dealbreaker In the area of nuclear energy cooperation, significant differences remain between the U.S. and Russia regarding the growing spread of nuclear energy, most notable in Russia s pursuit of a closed fuel cycle with fast reactor technology that utilizes separated plutonium. To date, the United States has pursued a once-through fuel cycle which avoids reprocessing of spent fuel and the separation of plutonium in favor of disposing of the material in a geologic repository although the Bush Administration s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership tried to steer the U.S. toward a closed fuel cycle. Research is ongoing in the U.S. on advanced reprocessing methods that do not separate plutonium, and a programmatic environmental report on GNEP, which was published in December at the tail end of the harried program, recommends closing the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. Gottemoeller said the issue should not preclude cooperation, largely because while Russia favors fast reactor technology for its own nuclear energy needs, it is not interested in exporting the technology to the bevy of 6 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. February 2, 2009

7 countries expected to seek nuclear energy as a way to meet growing worldwide energy needs only in receiving the spent fuel back from the countries and recovering the economic value. We need to start small, we need to start with research and development, Gottemoeller said. We ve got some programs on fast reactor development and I would rather see them go forward in cooperation with the Russians with all their experience on fast reactor development rather than both of us operating at this point in isolation. Department of Energy officials have said that Russia has certain laboratory capabilities that would be vital toward the R&D of advanced fuel cycle technologies. 123 Agreement Needed To cooperate on such technology, however, Congress would have to ratify the so-called 123 agreement on civil nuclear cooperation that the Bush Administration withdrew from consideration in the fall. It s unclear whether the Obama Administration plans to re-submit the agreement, but Brooks said the cooperation under the agreement could serve as a model for the countries bilateral cooperation on other disciplines. The Russians do not enjoy relationships in which the Americans appear as the tutor and they appear as the pupil and so one should look for areas in which both the perception and the fact is we bring equal value to the table, Brooks said. Certainly in the future of nuclear energy, that s an obvious area. Tensions Create Hurdles By using nuclear energy as a wedge for cooperation, Brooks said, the U.S. and Russia could ideally work together to strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, dismantle North Korea s nuclear weapons program, stop Iran from developing its own nuclear weapons program, and push the Additional Protocol to the International Atomic Energy Agency s nuclear safeguards agreement. On nuclear terrorism, the countries could cooperate on ending the use of highly enriched uranium around the world, on strengthening the international nuclear forensics regime and on sustaining nuclear security, both in the U.S. and Russia but also in other countries. A broad cooperation as I have outlined is feasible, is important, and we hope that this effort will help move toward it, said Brooks, who acknowledged the rosy vision he laid out is just this side of, Oh, you ve got to be kidding. A partnership, one in which Russia foots the bill for a portion of the work rather than the contribution style of U.S. assistance that has dominated the relationship over the last 15 years, would serve both parties best. A one-to-one partnership would help sustain the cooperation even as work in Russia wraps up, said Eric Novotny, the senior vice president of the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation. It s one way to better have contributions from each side which proves our commitments and also raises the stakes of cooperation, Novotny said. Still, Brooks, Gottemoeller and the other contributors to the study acknowledged significant hurdles to cooperation, including disputes over missile defense, NATO and Georgia. We re going to have to get through all of those things or the cooperation we seek will not happen, but it would, we argue, be a serious error of both analysis and policy to think that the existence of these tensions precludes cooperation, Brooks said. NNSA MAKES PLANS TO SHIP MORE SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL TO SRS The National Nuclear Security Administration cleared the way earlier this month for more spent nuclear fuel to be sent to the Savannah River Site, allowing up to an additional metric ton of highly enriched uranium fuel from foreign research reactors to be stored at the site as part of the agency s efforts to secure nuclear materials around the globe. The spent fuel was described in a Jan. 23 Federal Register notice as gap material that was not identified or studied in a 1996 Record of Decision outlining nonproliferation plans to retrieve spent nuclear fuel from foreign research reactors, paving the way for spent nuclear fuel to be stored at Savannah River s L-Basin. According to NNSA, the additional spent fuel is currently slated to come from research reactors in 13 countries as part of work on the NNSA s Global Threat Reduction Initiative program, with the bulk of the shipments to come from Canada and South Africa. The material consists mostly of U.S.- and non-u.s.-origin spent nuclear fuel containing highly enriched uranium. A small amount of non-u.s.-origin fresh HEU will be transported to the Y-12 National Security Complex, the notice said. DOE s decision furthers the nonproliferation objectives of the United States, the NNSA said in the Federal Register. The decision provides for the management and disposition of certain material not previously addressed that poses a threat to national security, is susceptible to use in an improvised nuclear device, presents a high risk of terrorist threat, and has no other reasonable pathway to assure security from theft or diversion. Decision Doesn t Increase Capacity The decision does not increase the site s allowable storage capacity beyond the 19.2 metric tons outlined in the 1996 decision, and a Jan. 13 Supplement Analysis signed by February 2, 2009 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. 7

8 NNSA Administrator Thomas D Agostino indicated that only 6.9 metric tons of spent fuel had been stored at the Savannah River Site. In all, the Supplement Analysis indicated that 77 casks totaling 350 kilograms, or 770 pounds, of gap material could be shipped to the Savannah River Site, though the Record of Decision allows for up to one metric ton of gap material storage at SRS because additional countries and nuclear facilities may be identified in the future. The material, according to the Supplement Analysis, is expected to consist of aluminum based fuel configured as plates, concentric tubs, pins, rods, annular designs, or other forms. In addition to Canada and South Africa, Chile, Denmark, Ghana, Iran, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, United Kingdom, Venezuela were identified in the Supplement Analysis as having gap material that could be shipped to the U.S. Most of the material would be brought in casks via ship to the Charleston (S.C.) Naval Weapons Station and transported by truck or train to the Savannah River Site. The material from Canada would be transported exclusively by road or rail. Does L-Basin Have Enough Storage? According to the Supplement Analysis, L-Basin and its capacity to store 15,500 fuel elements is enough to absorb the additional gap material, but the analysis noted the potential for future problems if a disposition path for the spent nuclear fuel currently stored there is not determined. The Department of Energy had planned to use H-Canyon to get rid of 21 metric tons of surplus HEU from Idaho National Laboratory, Savannah River and elsewhere, but the Department is currently reevaluating those plans. Additional storage capacity would be needed if, before reaching its current storage limit, L-Basin were to receive Gap Material SNF and aluminum-based fuel currently stored at INL, and there was no processing of aluminumbased SNF through H-Canyon to recover HEU for downblending and reuse, the Supplement Analysis said. The analysis also notes that the GTRI program is expected to seek to bring an additional 220 pounds of separated plutonium to the United States, and the Savannah River Site is its likely destination. A separate analysis is being completed for that material. DOE IG FAULTS SITES FOR RETAINING HUNDREDS OF EXCESS WEAPONS Some Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration sites retained hundreds of unneeded weapons worth millions of dollars that could have been used at other sites, the Department of Energy s Inspector General said last week in an audit report of management controls over excess weapons. The Jan. 26 report found that a total of 2,635 unneeded weapons at six locations worth more than $2.8 million were never officially declared excess, preventing their use by other sites. The surplus was created by the changing security requirements for protective forces in the years that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that often forced sites to buy newer and more technologically advanced weaponry. By not making unneeded weapons available to other department sites or federal law enforcement agencies in a timely manner, these weapons may become outdated and are not being utilized, the IG said in its report. The problem was best illustrated in the purchase of $890,000 worth of new weapons by NNSA s Office of Secure Transportation in September While acknowledging that some of the weapons deemed unneeded at various sites had little to no use, the IG said that some of the costs to OST could have been avoided had weapons being stored at the Hanford Reservation been available for the Office of Secure Transportation. Security at Hanford was downgraded in 2006, leaving large quantities of unnecessary weapons that had been purchased the year before during a security upgrade. While we recognize that any strategy is subject to change, retaining valuable unneeded property in anticipation of a future event that may or may not occur is an inefficient use of resources, the IG said in its report. In all, the IG examined 19 sites, finding excess weapons at six locations: The Department s National Training Center in Albuquerque, which stored 860 excess weapons worth approximately $519,000 for up to eight years; The Hanford Reservation, which stored 730 weapons worth approximately $866,000 for up to two-and-ahalf years; The Nevada Test Site, which stored 320 weapons worth approximately $172,000 for up to two years; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which stored 286 weapons worth approximately $196,000 for between two and eight years; The Office of Secure Transportation, which stored 255 weapons worth approximately $779,000 for more than a year; The New Mexico campus of Sandia National Laboratories, which stored 184 weapons worth approximately $337,000 for up to 15 years; and Two unidentified sites, which stored 539 weapons of an undetermined value between five and 15 years. 8 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. February 2, 2009

9 Sites Reluctant to Give Up Weapons The weapons should have been entered into the Department s Energy Asset Disposal System, but the IG said some sites were reluctant to part with their weapons for fear that they might be needed to address future changes to threat levels. Officials at the Nevada Test Site retained a large number of rifles just in case they had a future need for the weapons but could not get funding to purchase them, the IG said, and Hanford officials said the difficulty in procuring weapons made them store their excess. They indicated that some weapons can be hard to get and can take up to a year to receive, and therefore, there was a concern that they would not be able to acquire these weapons again, if needed, the IG said. The IG also said that sites also were not always identifying, tracking and properly disposing of high-risk and sensitive equipment like weapons sights and scopes. In a response to the report, the Department of Energy said it would require unneeded weapons to be put int the Energy Asset Disposal System as soon as possible but no later than 60 days from the date they were determined to be unneeded. CALIFORNIA DEM REINTRODUCES NUCLEAR FORENSICS BILL A bill that would strengthen efforts for fingerprinting nuclear material in the case of a nuclear detonation was reintroduced by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) last week after it almost became law during the last Congress. The Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act (H.R. 730), which aims to better help scientists track down the source of nuclear material smuggled into a country or detonated as part of an improvised nuclear weapon by beefing up nuclear forensics capabilities at the Department of Homeland Security, passed the House and the Senate last year in slightly different versions, but never became law. The key difference between the two bills was the removal of a $30 million annual authorization for federal forensics research from Fiscal Year by the Senate. The Senate also removed language encouraging the participation of undergraduate students, graduate students, and university faculty from historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal colleges and universities in fellowship programs authorized by the bill. After the Senate amended the bill, the House never took it up again. National Forensics Center Sought The new bill again would again authorize the creation of a National Technical Nuclear Forensics Center at DHS to coordinate nuclear forensics efforts and encourage more interest in the field, as well as task the President to establish international guidelines for determining the nuclear roots of certain material and increase cooperation efforts to make it easier to identify the source of a nuclear detonation. Though there could be little material left in the case of a detonated nuclear device, the fingerprints unique to nuclear material could be matched to samples from reactors, weapons facilities and enrichment facilities, and there s been a significant push by the NNSA and DHS to increase nuclear forensics capabilities. The NNSA s Fiscal Year 2009 budget request included $13 million for nuclear forensics work a 40 percent increase from FY A report released earlier this year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society also raised concerns about the dwindling number of scientists and researchers trained to recognize the distinct fingerprints in nuclear material that can help determine its origin, and the groups called for more international sharing of nuclear data. If we can determine the source of the nuclear material, we can better attack smuggling networks and plug the security holes that allow deadly material to be obtained in the first place, Schiff said in a statement. Nuclear states like North Korea may be deterred from transferring nuclear material if they know it can be traced back to them. B&W JUMPING INTO MEDICAL ISOTOPE PRODUCTION MARKET Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services is teaming up with healthcare product giant Covidien to develop technology to produce a widely used medical isotope, B&W said last week. The companies will collaborate on the development of molybdenum-99, the parent isotope of technetium-99, which is the most widely used medical isotope in the world. The isotope is not produced in the United States, however, forcing the U.S. to import 100 percent of the molydenum-99 needed for approximately 16 million patients that need nuclear medicine procedures each year. This is a significant advancement in technology that B&W is proud to lead, B&W Technical Services President Robert Cochran said in a statement. Working in concert with Covidien, we believe this achievement will have a great impact on the medical and nuclear industries. February 2, 2009 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. 9

10 Companies Seek to Produce 50% of U.S. Supply To produce the medical isotope, B&W and Covidien subsidiary Mallinckrodt Inc., would develop solutionbased reactor technology, combining Covidien s expertise in radiopharmaceutical technology with B&W s decadeold liquid phase nuclear technology. The reactor technology uses low-enriched uranium rather than highly enriched uranium and yields 1 percent of the waste compared to spent fuel and processing wastes generated by current Mo- 99 reactor production. Eventually, the companies anticipate producing 50 percent of the U.S. supply of the medical isotope, which is used to diagnose heart disease or detect and treat cancer and other medical conditions. B&W At the Weapons Labs/DOE Sites AT LOS ALAMOS... spokesman Jud Simmons said the companies plan to build a new facility for the program, but they have not decided where it will be built. Canada s Chalk River facility produces half of the world s medical isotopes, but recent shutdowns at other reactors around the world have raised concerns about the future availability of the isotope. Also last week, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said last week that it would begin operating its nuclear reactor near Hanaro for emergency production of the medical isotopes to combat potential shortages. LAB DISCOVERS BERYLLIUM CONTAMINATION Los Alamos National Laboratory last week began notifying 1,890 lab workers, former workers and visitors that they might have been exposed to beryllium that went previously undetected. The beryllium was found last fall in a building at the lab s Technical Area-41, in an area that was not used for beryllium work and not routinely tested, according to lab spokesman Kevin Roark. A suspect object in the building caused the lab to conduct tests for beryllium, Roark said. While the object in question turned out not to have been contaminated with beryllium, tests showed beryllium traces in the building. The source of it is not at this time known, Roark said. Beryllium is used for a lot of things at Los Alamos and it s also ubiquitous in nature. Roark would not describe in detail what was done in the building in question, saying It s not an office and it s not a laboratory. It is in general terms, a place where we store a wide variety of materials and items. But I can t be more specific than that. Beryllium a Complex-Wide Issue Beryllium has been one of the major workplace contamination concerns in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, and scientists have found that some people are particularly genetically susceptible to chronic beryllium disease (CBD), a disease known to affect significant numbers of workers from the former Rocky Flats Plant, where beryllium work for the U.S. nuclear stockpile was done. A decade-long study of former Rocky Flats workers found 81 with CBD and another 154 at risk of contracting the disease. Since Rocky Flats closure, Los Alamos has served as the National Nuclear Security Administration s beryllium center. Beryllium is used in the primary of nuclear weapons as a pit liner and in weapons-related research, and a small percentage of people who work with the toxic metal develop beryllium sensitivity. Of that group, a fraction could come down with beryllium disease, an incurable but controllable lung disease that if left untreated can be fatal. The lab is in the process of notifying all of the people potentially exposed. They will be offered a beryllium sensitivity test to determine their risk of contracting CBD as a result of their exposure. Roark said the beryllium was first discovered in November and December. The delay in notification came as a result of the time required to identify and locate the people on the potentially exposed list. Cleanup of the building is now underway and should be completed in February, Roark said. AT LOS ALAMOS...LAB BLACKBERRY STOLEN ABROAD Los Alamos and National Nuclear Security Administration officials are investigating the theft of a lab-owned Blackberry phone-pda in an unnamed sensitive country, according to an internal lab communication made public last week by the Project on Government Oversight. The theft is garnering a great deal of attention with senior management and NNSA representatives, according to the internal lab , sent from Stephen Blair, a senior manager in the lab s Threat Reduction organization, to a number of lab employees. 10 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. February 2, 2009

11 A lab spokesman said the loss did not pose a threat. It was reported missing immediately by its owner and its connectivity to the laboratory was immediately severed, lab spokesman Kevin Roark said. Further, we have determined that the Blackberry has not been used to attempt to connect to the laboratory. The Blackberry also did not contain any sensitive information that could be considered a breach of security. POGO was not so sanguine about the problem. Here we go again, POGO Senior Investigator Peter Stockton said. It appears that LANL still has not created a system strong enough to prevent the potential release of classified material. Stockton also noted the recent theft of three lab-owned computers from the Santa Fe home of a Los Alamos scientist, which said created additional concerns. Roark disagreed, noting that a review had concluded that the information on the machines posed no threat. All indications are that none of the systems contained sensitive or classified information, he said. Line managers and computer security representatives validate that machines listed as missing or stolen do not contain sensitive information. AT PANTEX... MORE DETAILS RELEASED ABOUT OUTSTANDING RATING B&W Pantex, the managing contractor of the National Nuclear Security Administration s Pantex Plant, substantially exceeded the agency s expectations for weapons stockpile deliverables to the Defense Department and surpassed its own goals by 105 percent, helping to earn the contractor an outstanding performance rating and $33.9 million for running the plant during Fiscal Year The NNSA released the contractor s fee in December, but only recently made the contractor s Performance Evaluation Review available, describing in detail B&W Pantex s 94 rating its highest since it began managing the plant. We are pleased with the performance of B&W Pantex over the past year. Our top priorities are to conduct operations at Pantex under the highest possible levels of safety and security, Pantex Site office Manager Steve Erhart said. The overall rating speaks well of the B&W employees who support our national security mission by demonstrating a strong commitment to meeting and exceeding production goals in a cost-effective and safe manner. As part of its $33.9 million fee, B&W Pantex reaped more than $6 million in performance-based incentive fees negotiated with NNSA, receiving high marks for nuclear weapons dismantlements after it exceeded the number of Fiscal Year 2007 weapons dismantlements by 20 percent, the NNSA s review said. During the last fiscal year, the plant also delivered its first production unit for the W76 life extension program and completed two W88 deliverables using components provided by Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Savannah River Site. The plant also received commendations for improving electrical safety and avoiding plant layoffs during a recent budget shortfall. We have worked hard to meet our customers expectations, and once again, Pantex helped the NNSA meet its Defense Program commitments, B&W Pantex President and General Manager Greg Meyer said. It is important to note, that while we worked to achieve production success, our employees also achieved the best safety performance within the NNSA Complex. AT PANTEX...PIT STORAGE CAPACITY COULD BE REACHED BY 2014 The Pantex Plant could reach its storage capacity for plutonium weapons cores and retired nuclear warheads awaiting dismantlement by as early as 2014, two recent government reports show. The Pantex Site Office has asked contractor B&W Pantex to develop a backup storage plan in case funding isn t available before 2013 to build a massive new underground warehouse for special nuclear materials, according to a Jan. 2 report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Recent calculations had shown that capacity would be reached in the 2014 timeframe. A re-analysis indicates that a few relatively inexpensive actions could increase the storage capacity, the report said. The plan includes increasing storage capacity in some facilities, reclaiming other buildings now used for training and better coordinating weapons shipping schedules. Overall, the contingency plan could add four or more years to the ability of Pantex to meet [special nuclear material storage] needs, the report said. Pantex, which now stores more than 14,000 plutonium weapons cores, plans to build a new nuclear material storage complex and close its existing storage area. Thousands of plutonium pits are now stored in Zone 4, a heavily guarded storage complex on the plant s north side. Two Pu Storage Scenarios on Tap Cost figures for the proposed facilities have not been released to the public, but the National Nuclear Security Administration has estimated it will save $25 million by demolishing Zone 4. Site officials, though, still haven t made a choice on two possible plutonium storage scenarios. Under one plan, a facility capable of storing 60 metric February 2, 2009 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. 11

12 tons of plutonium would be built in Zone 12, a central area of the plant where workers now dismantle warheads and modernize older ones. The second scenario calls for constructing a smaller facility capable of storing 30 metric tons of plutonium in Zone 12. A document contained in a 10-year Pantex site plan recently made public said more storage space could be needed by Fiscal Year 2015 to house plutonium and warheads. The NNSA recently released its 10-year plan and similar planning documents for other U.S. weapons facilities under a Freedom of Information lawsuit settlement reached with Nuclear Watch New Mexico, a Santa Fe, N.M.-based environmental group. Cuts to Stockpile Could Jeopardize Storage Pantex is authorized to store up to 20,000 pits, a threshold established under an Environmental Impact Statement former Energy Secretary Hazel O Leary signed in Pantex quietly began stockpiling plutonium after safety and environmental concerns halted plutonium production at the former Rocky Flats plant in Colorado. The federal government soon began secretly shipping thousands of pits to Pantex. At this time there are no plans that assume that the Pantex storage threshold will be exceeded. It should be noted that since the EIS approved by Secretary O Leary in 1997, there have been announced substantial planned reductions in the nation s active nuclear stockpile, NNSA spokesman Darwin Morgan said. Should there be a decision to explore the option to increase the storage of pits at Pantex, all appropriate environmental and planning processes will be complied with. At this time there are no plans to store or process any additional forms of special nuclear material at Pantex. Morgan said the NNSA might have to evaluate Pantex s storage if the Obama administration approves cuts in the nation s nuclear stockpile. AT PANTEX...MOVEMENT SEEN ON STALLED FIRE LOOP PROJECT Pantex Plant contractor B&W Pantex has begun to look for contractors capable of installing underground high density polythylene pipe for the plant s fire suppression system, signaling movement on its stalled Zone 12 South High Pressure Fire Loop project. Pantex officials had hoped to award a contract for the project last year but funding shortages prevented the solicitation of the contract and the start of construction, though the forthcoming Fiscal Year 2009 omnibus appropriations act or FY2010 budget request could provide the necessary remaining funds for the project, which has increased in cost approximately $7 million over the last year to $43 million. For the installation of pipe, B&W is expected to set aside the contract for small businesses, according to a sources sought notice published Jan. 26. The plant s High Pressure Fire Loop provides water to sprinkler systems around the plant and consists predominantly of ductile and cast iron pipe that has aged and is prone to corrosion-induced failures, according to the notice. The system has failed more than a dozen times since Construction could begin in July. A separate project to replace the pipes connected to buildings that is expected to cost $85 million over 10 years is planned for the facility, but the plant is still awaiting initial approval for the project. Companies interested in competing for the award should respond via by Feb. 25 to Pantex Small Business Program Manager Vanessa Everhart at veverhar@pantex.com. AT OAK RIDGE... MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO TRYING TO SELL K-25 MATERIAL Roy Lynn Oakley, a former laborer for site cleanup contractor Bechtel Jacobs at the K-25 D&D project, pleaded guilty Jan. 26 in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, Tenn. to taking some barrier tube sections and other hardware related to the classified uranium-enrichment technology. If that plea agreement with federal prosecutors is ultimately approved, Oakley, a 67-year-old resident of Harriman, Tenn., would receive six years in the federal prison system. The plea agreement was announced on the day his trial was scheduled to start in Knoxville. Man Tried to Sell Items to France As has been reported previously, Oakley removed the items from the Oak Ridge facilities and later contacted the French Embassy in Washington, where he proposed a deal to sell the classified equipment. The French contacted the FBI, and Oakley was later arrested in early 2007 in a sting operation in which he was trying to get $200,000 for the stolen items. Officials said the indictment against Oakley came as a result of an investigation by the FBI, DOE s Office of Counterintelligence field office, and DOE headquarters Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. In recorded calls and during a 12 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. February 2, 2009

13 face-to-face meeting with the FBI undercover agent, Oakley stated that he had taken certain parts of uranium-enrichment fuel rods or tubes and other associated hardware items from the ETTP work site and that he wanted to sell these materials for $200,000 to the foreign government. Once Oakley handed over the pieces of tubes and associated items to the undercover FBI agent and received $200,000 in cash, he was confronted by agents of the FBI and admitted to his efforts to sell these materials to a foreign government, the Justice Department said in a release. DOE Satisfied With Security While the guilty plea was touted by federal prosecutors and others as evidence of a security system that works, no one has yet explained publicly how Oakley removed the materials from the high-security cleanup site where he also acted as a cleared escort for uncleared workers. This is a serious matter, Gerald Boyd, manager of the DOE Oak Ridge office, said in a statement. We are pleased that the justice system prevailed and Mr. Oakley has been held accountable for his crime. John Shewairy, a DOE spokesman, reiterated earlier statements that the agency had conducted a thorough security audit after the events were first made public in 2007, saying that federal officials were satisfied that the security system was adequate and working. He referred questions on the details of the investigation to the FBI. According to the agreement, Oakley had a security clearance that permitted him to have access to the classified and protected materials at K-25, now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park, and that included instruments, appliances and information relating to the gaseous diffusion process for enriching uranium. Prosecution Sends Warning, Official Says Matthew Olseon, acting assistant attorney general, said in a statement, Today s guilty plea should serve as a strong warning to anyone who would consider selling restricted U.S. nuclear materials to foreign governments. The facts of this case demonstrate the importance of safeguarding America s atomic energy data and pursuing aggressive prosecutions against those who attempt to breach those safeguards. AT OAK RIDGE... KRAKEN SUPERCOMPUTER UP AND RUNNING Another world-class supercomputer is up and running at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, broadening the capabilities at what s already considered the top spot for scientific computing. ORNL s Cray XT5 system, dubbed Kraken after the mythical sea monster, is capable of 615 trillion mathematical calculations per second, or 615 teraflops. Unofficially, that is the third fastest computer in the world and the fastest that s set up exclusively for academic use. Kraken was funded by the National Science Foundation as part of a $65 million grant won by the University of Tennessee and its partners, including ORNL. The supercomputer will be upgraded with faster processors about a year from now, when it s expected to surpass the petaflop/s barrier a quadrillion (or 1,000 trillion) calculations per second. The new machine was installed adjacent to another Cray XT5 named Jaguar, which recently was ranked the second-fastest computer in the world at 1.6 petaflops and the world s fastest machine for open scientific uses. Los Alamos National Laboratory s Roadrunner supercomputer is the world s fastest. Thomas Zacharia, the scientific computing chief at ORNL, said Kraken in recent days underwent a rigorous series of acceptance tests and passed them with flying colors. But the supercomputer won t be formally accepted from Cray until a team from NSF reviews the results, he said. That ll probably happen in the next few weeks, Zacharia said. Machine Almost Ready for Researchers As soon as the acceptance process is complete, Kraken will be open for research projects, Zacharia said. NSF will allocate time on the machine, he said. The supercomputer is dedicated to academic uses, but not necessarily confined to U.S. universities, Zacharia said. Science is a collaborative sport, Zacharia said. In fact, one thing that we have learned, as we should certainly learn from the global economy, is that we should not be shy in getting access to good ideas wherever we can to the advantage of our economy and our nation. He added: Over the last decade, we have delivered these machines as promised, and we re delivering great science. I don t believe there is another place on this planet where you have this kind of infrastructure, but most importantly, the people and now the co-mingling of the academic culture with the national laboratory research. Kraken and Jaguar are virtually identical Cray XT5 systems, which is why they may someday be hooked up to run as one. Because of its similarity to Jaguar, the testing of Kraken reportedly went much quicker than usual for acceptance testing. Cray has done a remarkable job, Zacharia said, and, frankly, in this case, UT-Oak Ridge people who worked on this with Cray have done a remarkable job. It always happens that these things happen during Christmas break and during holidays, and our staff and the February 2, 2009 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. 13

14 Cray staff have really made this a priority. It s important stuff the nation s business in terms of scientific and technology missions. And what better time than having these machines come online so that the scientific community can go on tackling the important problems. Zacharia said the supercomputer could be put to work on many of the scientific challenges facing the nation and the world, including climate change, sustainable energy and other issues. We re really excited about not only trying to deliver the machine on scope, schedule and budget, but also they re going to be put to use for driving fundamental change and innovation, Zacharia said. So it s a great time. AT OAK RIDGE... HEATERS FAILING TO KEEP PIPES WARM AT 9212 COMPLEX The National Nuclear Security Administration and Y-12 contractor B&W Y-12 have long bemoaned the deteriorating condition of the plant s 9212 production complex, which is eventually slated to be replaced by the multibillion dollar Uranium Processing Facility. Lately, workers have had to activate space heaters during winter days and nights to keep the antiquated building s pipes from freezing and causing damage to the facility where highly enriched uranium is processed and fabricated into warhead components, and that strategy apparently isn t working too well. According to a Jan. 2 memo from Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board site representatives, six heaters stationed Wrap Up IN THE WHITE HOUSE Arms control expert Gary Samore has been tapped to serve as the Obama Administration s WMD nonproliferation czar, he confirmed to several news outlets last week. Samore served under President Clinton in the White House and the State Department, helping negotiations with North Korea, and most recently was the vice president of the Council on Foreign Relations. The Bush Administration refused to appoint a WMD nonproliferation czar as required by the /11 bill. Calendar February 4 Speech: Lifting the Nuclear Shadow: Creating the Conditions for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Arundel House, London, 1 p.m Conference: Nuclear Training and Education (CONTE 09) and Vendor Technology Expo; Hyatt Regency Riverfront, Jacksonville, Fla.; Sponsor: American Nuclear Society; Information: at various points of the building to prevent freezing when the outside air temperature falls below 40 degrees Fahrenheit have not worked to keep sections of safety-class piping in the B-1 wing of the building warm. According to the Board, the pipes were found to be 27 degrees, raising questions about whether Y-12 personnel are actually carrying out procedures to turn on the heaters when called for. Y-12 spokeswoman Ellen Boatner said the heaters range in power from ones that run on 110 volts, like a regular wall socket, to ones that run on 220 volts. The heaters are not typical household heaters but more of an industrial-grade heater that could possibly be purchased at Lowes or Home Depot, Boatner said.# IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT Rose Gottemoeller is expected to soon be named Assistant Secretary for Arms Control and Verification in the State Department, a new position giving her input into negotiations with Russia on an extension to the expiring Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, NW&M Monitor has learned. Gottemoeller served as the head of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace s Moscow Center until December, and remains with Carnegie. She served as the director of the Department of Energy s Office of Nonproliferation and National Security from 1997 to 2000.# 12 Discussion: Project on Nuclear Issues Debates the Issues: Reliable Replacement Warhead, Center for Strategic and International Studies, B1 Conference Center, 1800 K Street, NW, Washington, D.C., 5:30-7 p.m. Information: 16 EM PUBS CLOSED FOR PRESIDENT S DAY 16 Discussion: The Science of Arms Control, American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, Hyatt Regency Chicago, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Registration is online. Info: 14 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. February 2, 2009

15 March 2-6 International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting, Vienna, Austria Workshop: The Third Annual Workshop on Reducing the Risk from Nuclear and Radioactive Materials; DoubleTree Hotel, Albuquerque, NM; Information 11 Meeting: Nevada Test Site Community Advisory Board; 755 E. Flamingo Rd., Las Vegas, Nev Meeting: 2009 DOE Project Management Workshop; Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, 5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria, Va., 22311; Info: May 4-7 THE EIGHTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON CARBON CAPTURE & SEQUESTRATION Determining the Technology Bases for Viable Commercial Systems Sheraton Station Square Hotel Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania REGISTER ONLINE AT: INFORMATION: or June Meeting: ANS Annual Meeting; Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, Ga.; Information: July 3 EM PUBS CLOSED FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY 8 Meeting: Nevada Test Site Community Advisory Board Meeting: INMM 50th Annual Meeting; JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort; Tucson, Ariz.; Information: 29 Meeting: Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board. August Conference: 10 th Annual DOE Small Business Conference; Long Beach, Calif.; Info: Conference: Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo; Amelia Island Plantation, Amelia Island, Fla.; Sponsor: American Nuclear Society; Information: September 7 EM PUBS CLOSED FOR LABOR DAY Meeting: Radioactive Materials Transport Conference; BNES & InuCE; The Lowery Hotel, Manchester, UK; Information: 13 Meeting: Nevada Test Site Community Advisory Board Meeting: Northern New Mexico Citizens Advisory Board. 25 EM PUBS CLOSED FOR MEMORIAL DAY 8-11 THE THIRD ANNUAL RADWASTE SUMMIT JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa Las Vegas, Nevada See for Details INFORMATION: or forums@exchangemonitor.com (Changes from previous Calendar in Bold) Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor is a weekly (50 issues a year) publication covering all the activities of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, including the new initiative on the reliable replacement warhead, complex transformation and disposition of weapons grade materials. Also includes insight on programs with Russia and other nuclear states. YES! Please enter my subscription to the NW&M Monitor* for one full year at $1,295 (hard copy). Bill me annually until cancellation. I would like information on Electronic ( )/Site Subscriptions** Check Enclosed Bill Me Charge My: Card Type: VISA MASTERCARD AMEX Card No.: Cardholders Name: Billing Address: Exp. Name: Title: Affiliation: Address: City: State: Zip: Tel.: Fax to: or Mail to: ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc.; Attn.: Subscription Services; P.O. Box 39289; Washington, DC 20016; For more information subservices@exchangemonitor.com or call ext Fax: * All subscriptions within the District of Columbia MUST add 5.75% sales tax in the amount. **Electronic & Site Subscription have special provisions and rates. February 2, 2009 Nuclear Weapons & Materials Monitor # ExchangeMonitor Publications, Inc. 15

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