Assessment of Radioactive Waste Management at the Y-12 National Security Complex Interim Report – April 2020

April 2020

Assessment of Radioactive Waste Management at the Y-12 National Security Complex Interim Report

This assessment is in response to the Deputy Secretary of Energy’s July 9, 2019, memorandum directing the Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) to undertake a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-wide assessment of the procedures and practices for packaging and shipping radioactive waste. The assessment activities focused on the waste management performance of the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) management and operating contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC (CNS). Although CNS also manages the Pantex Plant, radioactive waste is managed at the site level, and therefore this report only applies to Y-12. Oversight provided by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Production Office (NPO) was also evaluated in this assessment as it related to Y-12. In addition, EA assessed the event response and corrective action plan for the non-compliant weapons-related material (WRM) shipment discovered in July 2019. Waste management activities include characterizing, packaging, and shipping low-level waste (LLW) and mixed low-level waste (MLLW) for disposal; CNS does not generate transuranic waste. In addition, CNS has a waste stream for disposition of WRM as classified LLW.