This section describes (1) Y-12’s role in NNSA’s Nuclear Security Enterprise; (2) NNSA policy for setting program requirements; (3) best practices for program cost and schedule estimating; and (4) best practices for technology readiness. NNSA is responsible for managing national nuclear security missions: ensuring a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear deterrent; supplying nuclear fuel to the Navy; and supporting the nation’s nuclear nonproliferation efforts. NNSA directs these missions but relies on management and operating contractors to carry them out and manage the day-to-day operations at each of eight sites that comprise the agency’s nuclear security enterprise. These sites include laboratories, production plants, and a test site. Of NNSA’s eight sites, the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee is the primary site with enriched uranium processing capabilities. Y-12’s primary mission is processing and storing uranium, processing nuclear fuel for the U.S. Navy, and developing technologies associated with those activities, including technologies for producing uranium-related components for nuclear warheads and bombs. Construction of the 811- acre Y-12 site began in 1943 as part of the World War II-era Manhattan Project. Y-12’s enriched uranium processing and storage capability is primarily housed in the following buildings: Building 9212: This building was constructed in 1945, at the end of World War II, and includes a number of support and storage facilities related to uranium purification and casting. According to a 2016 report from the DOE Office of Inspector General, all of the various support and storage facilities of Building 9212 contain radioactive and chemical materials in sufficient quantities that an unmitigated release would result in significant consequences. These facilities do not meet current safety requirements for such facilities in that they cannot withstand a seismic event, high wind event, or aircraft crash. The shutdown of Building 9212 operations that have the highest nuclear safety risk at Y-12 is a key NNSA uranium program goal. Because of these risks, according to NNSA officials, NNSA has substantially reduced the risks from high-hazard materials, such as enriched uranium in organic and aqueous solutions, with a focus on materials located in Building 9212. As such, according to these officials, the remaining material at risk in Building 9212 has been reduced to a level significantly below the facility’s administrative limit, and NNSA is implementing a four-phase exit strategy to systematically phase out mission dependency on Building 9212. The exit strategy includes actions necessary to remove material hold-up, complete all process relocations, transition personnel to the UPF, and complete post- operations cleanout of the facility, among other things, according to NNSA officials. Building 9215: This building was constructed in the 1950s and consists of three main structures. Specific activities in Building 9215 include fabrication activities, such as metal forming and machining operations for highly enriched uranium, low-enriched uranium, and depleted uranium. NNSA and others, such as the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, have raised concerns about the future reliability of the building, particularly as the amount of deferred maintenance in Building 9215 has steadily increased over the past several years. According to NNSA officials, NNSA’s contractor has hosted a series of technical evaluations that identified and prioritized needed infrastructure investments over the next 15 years, including within Building 9215, that are intended to ensure facility reliability through the 2040s. NNSA is reviewing these initial proposed investments. Building 9204-2E: This building, constructed in the late 1960s, is a three-story, reinforced concrete frame structure. Operations in this building include the assembly and disassembly of enriched uranium components with other materials. Also, according to NNSA officials, radiography capabilities have been successfully relocated out of Building 9212 and installed in Building 9204-2E. The design used for this facility predates modern nuclear safety codes. Building 9720-82 (also called the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility): This building became operational in January 2010. Built to current safety standards, the facility provides long-term storage of enriched uranium materials and accepts the transfer of some legacy enriched uranium from older facilities. According to NNSA officials, as part of the uranium program NNSA transferred 12.3 metric tons of enriched uranium to this facility in fiscal year 2015, 9.8 metric tons in fiscal year 2016, and anticipates transferring 6 metric tons in fiscal year 2017. According to NNSA documents, Y-12’s enriched uranium operations have key shortcomings including (1) an inefficient workflow, (2) continually rising operations and maintenance costs due to facility age, and (3) hazardous processes that could expose workers to radiological contamination. To address these shortcomings, NNSA developed plans to replace aging infrastructure at Y-12 and relocate key processing equipment without jeopardizing uranium production operations. The first solution, proposed in 2004, envisioned relocating Y-12’s main uranium processing equipment into a new UPF. NNSA planned to construct this single, consolidated facility that would be less than half the size of existing facilities; reduce costs by using modern processing equipment; and incorporate features to increase worker protection and environmental health and safety. In 2007, NNSA estimated the UPF would cost from $1.4 billion to $3.5 billion to design and construct. In June 2012, the Deputy Secretary of Energy approved an updated cost estimate range for the UPF of from $4.2 billion to $6.5 billion. However, by August 2012, the UPF contractor concluded that the uranium processing and other equipment would not fit into the UPF as designed. In 2014, because of the high cost and schedule concerns of a solution focused solely on constructing new buildings, NNSA prepared a high- level strategic plan for its uranium program that is now focused on ceasing operations in building 9212 through a combination of new construction, infrastructure investments in existing facilities, upgrades to and relocation of select processing technologies, and improved inventory management. This strategy includes replacing certain 9212 capabilities, with continued operation of 9215 and 9204-2E, and removing a considerable amount of the scope of work that had been included in the original UPF plan (as the functions performed in Buildings 9215 and 9204-2E are no longer included within the UPF project). Figure 1 below depicts the planned transfer of uranium processing capabilities out of Building 9212 and into a new UPF and existing facilities by 2025 under the new approach. Under the new approach, the UPF is to provide less floor space, compared to the original UPF design, for casting, oxide production, and salvage and accountability of enriched uranium. NNSA has stated that this newly designed UPF is to be built by 2025 for no more than $6.5 billion through a series of seven subprojects. NNSA is required to manage construction of the new UPF in accordance with DOE Order 413.3B, which requires the project to go through five management reviews and approvals, called “critical decisions” (CD), as the project moves forward from planning and design to construction and operation. The CDs are as follows: CD 0: Approve mission need. CD 1: Approve alternative selection and preliminary cost estimate. CD 2: Approve the project’s formal scope of work, cost estimate, and schedule baselines. CD 3: Approve start of construction. CD 4: Approve start of operations or project completion. In March 2014, NNSA updated its Business Operating Procedure, clarifying its policy for developing and maintaining program requirements on construction programs and projects executed by the agency. According to this procedure, this program requirements policy is applicable to most projects constructed for NNSA or managed by NNSA personnel and that have an estimated total project cost of $10 million or greater, or the cost threshold determined appropriate by the Deputy Secretary of Energy. These projects include line item (capital asset) projects. According to NNSA’s Business Operating Procedure policy, program officials should establish the mission- and program-level requirements that apply to the development and execution of the program or project. The policy also states that program officials should translate the “need” in the Mission Need Statement into initial top-level requirements addressing such concerns as performance, supportability, physical and functional integration, security, test and evaluation, implementation, and quality assurance. The policy states that experience has shown that a formal process resulting in an agreed-upon definition of requirements for new systems, new capabilities, and updates or enhancements to systems is a prerequisite to proceeding to system or capability design. Furthermore, according to the policy, failure to do this results in rework and unnecessary costs and delays in schedule. NNSA policy states that Program Requirements Documents shall contain both mission and program requirements and should include the “objective” value—the desired performance, scope of work, cost, or schedule that the completed asset should achieve, as well as the “threshold” value—representing the minimum acceptable performance, scope of work, cost, or schedule that an asset must achieve. NNSA’s requirements policy also states that the development of mission requirements should include summary documentation on how the requirements were identified or derived and that the documentation should contain explanations of the processes, documentation, and direction or guidance that govern the derivation or development of the requirements. The policy also states that the basis for the requirements, where not obvious, should be traceable to decisions or source documentation and that details relating to the traceability of requirements may be included in an attachment to the program requirements document. NNSA’s uranium modernization efforts under the broader program have focused on establishing NNSA program requirements, which NNSA considers in determining its infrastructure plans. In July 2014, NNSA appointed a uranium program manager to integrate all of the uranium program’s elements.