Dismantlement Planning at Y-12 National Security Complex

The Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) has been aggressively working to support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) commitment to reduce the overall size of the United States nuclear weapon stockpile and meet international nonproliferation objectives. The Y-12 Dismantlement and Disposition Program manages and incorporates a wide range of recycle, reuse, and/or disposition processes for nuclear and non-nuclear materials. From the receipt of the shipment, an effort to reuse or recycle begins with refurbishing the containers used to ship units from other facilities. Those containers are shipped back or sent to other locations for use in future shipments. As the operations continue, units are disassembled and components are extracted where some material types can be sent to interim storage until they can be recycled by the Material Recycle and Recovery (MRR) Program. Other materials may be reused for refurbishing the nation’s nuclear weapon stockpile, fueling the nation’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, or down-blending to a less concentrated form suitable for use in domestic or foreign commercial nuclear reactors. Materials that are not suitable for reuse or recycle are generally segregated for disposition through the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), sent to the Nevada National Security Site, or sent to the Y-12 Burial Ground. Y-12 plays a major role in safely dismantling nuclear weapons and preventing the possible mishandling of nuclear materials while continuing to search and develop new methods for safely reusing and recycling dismantled materials.