With extra funding in the budget signed Friday by President Trump, the Department of Energy has authorized construction to begin on another phase of Tennessee's biggest building project.
Work will soon begin on building the main process building, the salvage and accountability building and the process support facilities to support the $6.5 billion Uranium Processing Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The new plant, which is scheduled for completion and production by 2025, will replace an early-Cold War plant with a more efficient and safer facility for conducting highly-enriched uranium operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.
"This is a great example of our efforts to keep projects on schedule and to be good stewards of taxpayer resources," Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a statement Friday.
The main processing building is a three-story 240,000 square foot building that will house enriched uranium operations. The other two buildings will support operations in the main facility.
The UPF project is being built through a series of seven sub projects. Two were completed on time and under budget and two were underway prior to authorization of these three buildings. The project achieved 90 percent design completion in September 2017 in advance of seeking this authorization.
"I'm proud of the UPF team for keeping an acquisition project of this size and scope on budget and on schedule," said Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty, DOE Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and admininstrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Using a "build to budget" strategy, DOE has committed to Congress to deliver UPF for no more than $6.5 billion by the end of 2025, assuming stable funding through the duration of the project.
The budget signed by Trump Friday provides $663 million for the UPF project in fiscal 2018.
"Generous funding for this project shows how much Congress recognizes Oak Ridge's contributions to our country's national security and economic future," said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. "This bill also includes record funding levels for our nuclear weapons programs - President Trump has said we should modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal, and I agree."
The spending package includes $14.7 billion for the National Nuclear Security Administration, including $4 billion to continue the four ongoing life extension programs, which fix or replace components in nuclear weapons systems to make sure they're safe and reliable.
It also provides $639 million for cleanup of former Cold War sites in Oak Ridge and $17.1 million for the Outfall 200 mercury treatment facility, Alexander said.
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.