LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
Date Established: 1952
Primary Mission:
Primary - Research, development, and maintenance of nuclear weapon designs.
Secondary - Strategic defense, energy, environment, biomedicine, and education.
Size: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)--821 acres (1.3 square miles); Site 300--7000 acres (11 square miles). LLNL has about 600 buildings; of these, 260 facilities involve hazards other than those found in typical office buildings; of the 260, eight are considered non-reactor nuclear facilities and 63 as radiological facilities.
Employees: Approximately 5,385 Department of Energy (DOE) funded University of California staff (as of September 1996). The Oakland Operations Office (OAK) has about 140 employees assigned at LLNL and provides matrix support from its Oakland Office.
Annual Budget: The fiscal year 1996 operating budget was $1.0 billion. The estimates for total site budget for fiscal year 1997 and 1998 are 1.03 billion and 1.06 billion respectively.
Cognizant Secretarial Office: Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs (DP). Principal offices include DP-13 and DP-20. Energy Research (ER-20). Environmental Management (EM-20, EM-30 and EM-44) and Nuclear Energy (NE) also have interests at LLNL.
Responsible Operations/Area Office: DOE Oakland Operations Office (OAK).
Contractor:
University of California
Major Subcontractors:
Stone and Webster
KMI
Waltrip
Jobs Plus
RRA.Inc
Allied Signal
Fissile Material: Approximately 0.4 metric tons as of February 6, 1996.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is composed of two sites: Main Site and Site 300. The Main Site,
also known as the Livermore Site is located approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of San Francisco
and 6.4 kilometers (4 miles) from downtown Livermore. It occupies approximately 2.6 square kilometers (one
square mile) of relatively flat terrain in the Livermore Valley. The site has about 600 buildings including 260
facilities with hazards greater than those found in office buildings. Eight of
the 260 facilities are characterized as non-reactor nuclear and 63 as
radiological facilities. Residential subdivisions were recently built
adjacent to the site boundary. They are separated from the site by a wide city roadway. Site 300 is
approximately 24 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of the Laboratory's Main Site. It occupies approximately
28.6 square kilometers (11 square miles) of rugged foothills that straddle Alameda and San Joaquin
Counties.
LLNL was created in 1952 to serve as a second laboratory dedicated to research, development, and maintenance of nuclear weapon designs. Over the years, the mission has been broadened to include strategic defense, energy, the environment, bio- medicine, the economy, and education.
Site 300 was established in 1953 as a high explosives test site to support LLNL nuclear weapons development. The mission at Site 300 also includes increasing explosives research, development and testing for conventional weapons as well as other non-explosives research in areas such as lasers and electromagnetic wave behavior.
Activities at LLNL are managed by the Department of Energy (DOE) Oakland Operations Office (OAK.). The University of California has been operating LLNL since the Laboratory's inception in 1952; the current contract is scheduled to expire in November 1997. LLNL's annual operating budget is approximately $875 million. The fiscal year 1996 capital budget was $152 million. The DOE funded staff (as of September 1996) numbered 5,385 of the approximately 6,614 employees on site. About 36 percent of the employees are scientists or engineers, 14 percent are managers or administrators, and nearly 50 percent are technicians or other support personnel.
On May 15, 1996, the Secretary of Energy announced plans to seek a five-year extension of the contract with the University of California to maintain and operate LLNL. As a condition of the extension, the contract (Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48) must embody the objectives of the contract reform initiative, including greater use of results-oriented performance and results-based payment.
The contract has several modifications (Supplemental Agreements to Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48). For example, objective standards of performance are described in Modification No. M 214: Section A of this modification has nine parts and ES&H performance measures and criteria are described in the second part.
The fiscal year (FY) 1996 total site budget was $1.0 billion. The estimates for total site budget for FY 1997 and 1998 are $1.03 billion and $1.06 billion respectively. Budget increases are due to the National Ignition Facility (NIF), which will begin construction during FY 1997 and 1998.
The NIF project is currently in the detailed engineering design phase, with site preparation expected to begin in FY 1997 and construction expected to begin in FY 1998. Operation of the facility is expected to start at the beginning of FY 2003. The FY 1996 budget for the NIF project is $61M, which increases significantly to $191M in FY 1997 and more than $200M in FY 1998.
KEY FACILITIES
National Ignition Facility
Work has begun on the advanced conceptual design for the National Ignition Facility. Construction of the NIF at LLNL is part of the stockpile stewardship preferred alternative in the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). The environmental analysis concerning the NIF in the final PEIS will be sufficient for approving its construction and operation. The final decision on whether to proceed with NIF, and if so where, will be made in the Record of Decision scheduled to be issued in December. The NIF project currently has about 300 persons involved in design and project-specific research and development. The billion dollar project is expected to begin site preparation in FY 1997 which would allow major construction to begin in FY 1998 and project completion at the end of FY 2002.
Chemistry Facility Building 132 N
Building 132N is a new chemistry facility that is being constructed to replace Building 222. It will provide the Chemistry and Material Sciences Department with operating wet chemistry laboratories to support a variety of research projects and chemical analysis activities. This building will be classified as non-nuclear will be ready for occupancy in January 1997.
Building 166
This non-nuclear facility provides general research capabilities. The building has a highbay with small amounts of heavy elements associated with the U-AVLIS project. The rest of the building houses a laser laboratory and a semiconductor development laboratory.
Superblock, Buildings 331, 332, and 334
The Superblock area is a special-access area provided constant protection.
Building 331 (tritium facility) is currently in a transition state until a new mission for this building is identified. The facility is currently proposing that it be designated a Defense Programs "user" facility. The maximum inventory of tritium remaining in the facility is less than 1.5 grams (15 kCi), principally in contaminated equipment.
Building 332 (plutonium facility) began operations in 1961. The facility's original mission was to support the nation's nuclear weapons program by conducting research to understand the physical, metallurgical, and chemical properties of plutonium. In 1977, the mission expanded to include fabrication, testing, and assembly of plutonium device parts in support of the LLNL nuclear testing program. Building 332 develops plutonium processing technologies, reduces excess plutonium and fissile uranium inventories, and functions as the central repository for plutonium and fissionable uranium.
Building 334 (hardened engineering test building) conducts intrinsic radiation measurements and physical tests on non-explosive nuclear weapon components. The facility is authorized to handle up to 12 kg of encapsulated material.
321 Complex
Most of the 321 Complex was built in the late 1950s and supports general site machining requirements. The areas that support the nuclear weapons program (i.e., 321C numerical controls and assembly areas) are not as busy as they once were due to cutbacks. To maintain adequate work, LLNL is bringing in Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). There are no current plans to shut down the 321 Complex. Over the years, additional capabilities such as radiography, laser welding, and plating have been added.
Building 321 is the primary building in the 321 Complex, and is split into three wings:
- Wing 321A provides general large scale machining.
- Wing 321B provides machine tool services, including inspecting, fixing, modifying, and upgrading large machine tools.
- Wing 321C machines parts in support of the nuclear weapons program, supports weapons testing (mostly shut down), and operates lasers for optical alignment. Building 322, a plating shop, has 42 chemical vats and 39 rinse water tanks supporting routine plating, etching, and polishing for optical, electronic, and mechanical components.
Trailer 3203 contains small amounts of chemicals in cabinets to support plating and etching.
Building 327 provides a nondestructive testing capability. Radiography processes are also performed here using accelerators, sealed sources, x-ray equipment, and lasers.
Building 329 houses laser welding in support of the weapons program.
Superblock Support Facilities (Buildings 231, 233, 239)
Building 233 vaults stores plutonium sources (among other things). Building 239, a non-nuclear facility, is used to conduct radiography in support of plutonium operations.
Building 231 conducts vault operations limited to shipping, receiving, inspecting, weighing, packaging, and storing of controlled materials and sealed sources, and onsite transportation functions. Many of the sealed sources are excess and must be stored and managed in order to retain control of them. Building 231 also has a large industrial area that has a variety of research laboratories, a machine shop, and an assembly bay in support of the nuclear weapons program. Some of the research activities include chemical vapor deposition, advanced plastics work, and composites development.
The Building 233 vault contains sealed sources, precious metals, and classified materials. This vault is also used to store some beryllium in sealed drums. The fenced-in Canopy Area is a temporary storage area for high curie transuranic waste in 55-gallon drums that exceed the levels allowable for Building 625.
There are two primary support buildings:
- Building 232 is a fenced, covered support building that stores hazardous materials (non-classified storage).
- Building 343 houses pressure testing of containers to certify them for shipping special nuclear materials.
Chemistry and Material Science Facilities (Buildings 222, 151, 235, 241)
The LLNL chemistry and materials science facilities are engaged in a wide range of research and development projects. Many activities, buildings, and laboratories are being consolidated due to shrinking budgets.
Building 151 is involved with isotopic sciences studies.
Building 222 primarily operates laboratories involved in a variety of research projects and chemical analysis activities. There are 75 laboratories and 97 offices in this facility. It is anticipated that Building 222 will be vacated in early 1997: however, final disposition of this facility has not been determined.
Building 235 contains electron beam laboratories, wet chemistry laboratories, hoods for metallography, and administrative offices. There is a 4 MeV accelerator in this facility for ion implantation and a number of small lasers.
Building 241 houses a wide variety of activities associated with materials science research. Activities include ceramics development, x-ray tomography, x-ray diffraction, and electro-chemistry studies (corrosion).
High Explosives Applications Facility (Building 191)
The High Explosives Applications Facility (HEAF) is a non-nuclear facility for the research, development, and testing of ener- getic materials. HEAF was built to en- hance the capability of DOE to develop high explo- sives with greater performance, less sensitivity, and engineering characteristics that can be tuned to each application. It was designed to house under one roof everything needed to develop and test explosives, their initiation systems, and their applications. HEAF has a variety of explosive laboratories and work areas; an explosives shipping, receiving, and storage; and its own machine and electronic shops. High explosives ranging in size from gram quantities to 10 kg can be detonated in specially designed firing tanks for containment. HEAF also has a 4-inch gun used in conjunction with a firing tank for high velocity impact experiments on energetic materials. Detonation and impact experiments are supported by state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment. HEAF has a variety of laboratories for synthesis, formulation, and small-scale sensitivity and safety testing of experimental energetic materials.
Uranium-Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (U-AVLIS) Facility (Building 493)
Building 490, built in the mid-1980s, is the primary Uranium-Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (U-AVLIS) facility. The program conducts research in techniques for laser isotope enrichment of uranium and other elements. The U-AVLIS program is currently being funded by the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC), under a memorandum of agreement with DOE. As part of the agreement, DOE will provide ES&H oversight of the facility. USEC is currently a government owned corporation, but legislation is before Congress to privatize the corporation.
Waste Management Facilities (514 Area, 612 Complex, and Building 693)
The 514 Area serves as the liquid treatment facility for LLNL. Aqueous liquid and radiological waste are treated in this area by chemical precipitation and subsequent filtration. The liquid treatment facility treats approximately 50,000 gallons of liquid waste each year. The two buildings located in this area are used to perform the following functions:
- Building 513 is used to store and repackage depleted uranium in drums.
- Building 514 houses the equipment for the silver recovery and waste water filtration.
The 612 Complex is used for packaging, storing, treating, and offsite shipping of radioactive, hazardous, and mixed waste.
Area 612-1B Tent is used for storage of solid mixed waste only (boxes). Liquids, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and asbestos are not allowed in this area. It is also used for storage of low level and transuranic radioactive waste.
Area 612-1 between the tents is used to store drums (radioactive waste only).
Area 612-2 (Container Storage Unit) is used for storage of solid and liquid hazardous and mixed waste. There is also ignitable radioactive waste in storage, and frozen biological waste. No PCBs covered under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA PCBs) (PCB > 50 ppm) are allowed in this area.
Area 612-3 (Drum/Container Storage Unit) is being used for storage of empty but possibly radioactively contaminated containers.
Area 612-4 (Receiving, Segregation, and Container Storage Unit) is used for storage of liquid, solid, or gaseous hazardous, low level radioactive, and mixed waste. No TSCA PCBs (PCB > 50 ppm) or asbestos is allowed in this area.
Area 612-5 (Container Storage Unit) is used to store low level radioactive, classified, and solid mixed waste boxes. Liquids, PCBs, and asbestos are not allowed in this area.
Area 612-5 (Outside) is used to store packed 7A boxes with solid radioactive material only. Liquids, PCBs, and asbestos are not allowed in this area.
Area 612-PT (Portable Tank Storage Unit) has two bermed areas used to separately store 330 gallon tuff tanks and 660 gallon tanks and smaller.
Building 612-100 is used for storage and consolidation of hazardous waste. It has a high bay for storage of solid, liquid, and gaseous mixed waste and radioactive waste only. No TSCA PCBs (PCB > 50 ppm) or asbestos is allowed in this area. Waste carriers from the generators are unloaded, labeled, and sorted in the high bay.
Building 614 East Cells (Container Storage Unit) is used for storage of solid, liquid, and gaseous hazardous waste. Ignitable, reactive, toxic, and corrosive wastes are grouped by compatibility and appropriately segregated in one of four cells. No TSCA PCBs (PCB > 50 ppm) or asbestos is allowed in this area.
Building 614 West Cells (Container Storage Unit) is used for storage of solid, liquid, and gaseous mixed, hazardous, and radioactive waste only. No TSCA PCBs (PCB > 50 ppm) or asbestos is allowed in this area.
Building 625 (Container Storage Unit) has an east and west section. Building 625 East is used as a storage facility for transuranic wastes in 55-gallon steel drums (up to 6 curie per drum). Building 625 West is used for storage of TSCA regulated waste, such as PCBs and asbestos.
Building 693 has four cells for chemical waste segregation of radioactive and mixed waste, and mixed TSCA controlled waste. It is enclosed, and also used as a chemical exchange warehouse.
It is expected that the 514 Area, 612 Complex, and Building 693 will continue to support LLNL waste management activities until 1999 completion of the new Decontamination and Waste Treatment Facility.
Site 300 Environmental Testing Facilities
These facilities support HE safety performance testing and characterization. There are a number of diverse safety test facilities that support HE shock, thermal, and impact testing.
Building 834 is a thermal test facility for long- term thermal exposure experiments.
Building 836 is a dynamic test facility used to conduct vibration and shock testing.
The Building 854 complex houses dynamic test equipment to conduct vibration and shock testing. This facility is currently inactive.
Building 858 provides impact shock testing using a 100 foot drop tower.
This building is rarely used.
