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Above-Ground Uranium Storage Planned for Y-12 Plant
The Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee in August will begin construction of an above-ground storage facility for weapon-grade uranium, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, June 14). The design was adopted despite cost and security concerns listed in a March U.S. Energy Department inspector general’s report, according to AP. An earlier proposal called for a partially buried complex, but U.S. Energy Department spokesman Steven Wyatt said building the $250 million facility above ground would be “more flexible and cost-effective.” The weapons plant’s uranium stockpiles would be consolidated in the storage facility, which is expected to be completed in 2007. Y-12 contractor BWXT recommended the above-ground design. The previous contractor, Lockheed Martin, had proposed a partially buried complex. Critics say an above-ground facility could harm security efforts. “Instead of guarding one side of the building, you have to guard five,” said Peter Stockton, a security analyst with the Project on Government Oversight, earlier this year. BWXT President Dennis Ruddy said that burying the vaults wouldn’t automatically enhance security. “Then you’ve got to have sensors in the building that would tell you if somebody is burrowing in under the ground,” Ruddy said. “If the facility is sitting out there and you’ve got a guard tower on every corner, you just have to look out the window to see if anybody’s monkeying around,” he added (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 27).
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