NNSA green-lights Calciner Project decommissioning work at Y-12

The National Nuclear Security Administration has granted authorization to Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) to begin the decontamination and decommissioning work with the Calciner Project (CALP) at the Y-12 National Security Complex, in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

The project involves the conversion of uranium-bearing materials from pipes and other vessels into a stable, solid form for storage. The newly approved calciner system replaces a uranium processing system that was less efficient and more potentially hazardous. The new system will initially be used to decontaminate and shut down a World War II-era production building, known as Building 9212, at the Y-12 site.

About Y-12 and CALP: Operated by CNS, the Y-12 complex was built in the 1940s to enrich uranium for the Manhattan Project. Its modern-day activities are related to ensuring the U.S. nuclear weapons deterrent, retrieving and storing nuclear materials, fueling the U.S. Navy's reactors, and performing other functions for the government and private sectors.

As explained on the Department of Energy's Y-12 website, "Installation of CALP technology will allow for the continuation of work as aging facilities are replaced with modernized processes. The CALP will also support the Y-12 Material Recycle and Reuse Program, contribute to increased worker safety, improve mission production capacity, and reduce programmatic costs."

The Y-12 website adds that CALP has been identified by the NNSA as "one of the major items of equipment needed to ensure the long-term viability, safety, and security of enriched uranium capabilities in the United States."

Uranium Processing Facility: In comments on the CALP authorization, NNSA Administrator Brandon Williams noted that "[CALP] is a key part of the long-term strategy to transition [major uranium processing] operations out of a more-than-80-year-old building and into the new Uranium Processing Facility (UPF)."

The UPF will provide new floor space with processing capabilities for enriched uranium casting, oxide production, and salvage and accountability operations. It will be a multiple-building facility that Y-12 describes as "one of the largest construction projects ever built in Tennessee."