NNSA and Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Certifications Free Up $47 Million in Previously Allocated Funding

Los Alamos, New Mexico, Oct. 2, 2009 — The Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement project at Los Alamos National Laboratory has received certification of design issue closure from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board and the National Nuclear Security Administration, freeing up $47 million in previously allocated funding.

“This is a confirmation that the Laboratory is effectively integrating safety with design at CMRR,” said project manager Rick Holmes. “While there is still a significant amount of work to do, it further validates our compliance with Department of Energy design standards that require analysis of hazards and accidents, safety structures, safety systems and components, administrative controls, and safety management program characteristics.”

The DNFSB and NNSA, under the 2009 Defense Authorization Act, required the CMRR project to address specific design issues related to safety prior to releasing allocated funding for continuation of the project.

The $47 million will be used to continue the CMRR project: continuation of the Nuclear Facility design and the purchase of authorized equipment for the Laboratory portion of the Radiological Laboratory Utility Office Building, or RLUOB.

Of the total of five issues, two of the DNFSB findings considered prerequisites for certification were directly related to seismic issues in the CMRR design and the other three related to engineering and  design and safety controls. The five issues were scrutinized vigorously. The ultimate resolution of the issues to the mutual satisfaction of the DNFSB and the NNSA demonstrated that both agencies applied great technical rigor in resolving the issues.

The DNSFB’s CMRR certification report is available on the DNFSB web site at http://www.dnfsb.gov/pub_docs/reports_to_congress/all/rc_20090904.pdf.

About Los Alamos National Laboratory (www.lanl.gov)
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and the Washington Division of URS for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.