SRSCRO June 2021 Update

“Critical” Decisions

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Order 413.3B outlines a series of staged project approvals, each of which is referred to as a “Critical Decision (CD)”. The system has many details and nuances, varies slightly depending on the scale of the project, and allows for tailoring of the entire process for any given project.

CD-1 serves as a determination that the selected alternative and approach is optimized to meet the mission need defined at CD-0. Key elements of the evaluation are the project’s conceptual design, cost and schedule range, and general acquisition approach. The cost range allows for uncertainty in the estimates and scope options such as a range of capabilities.

CD-1 allows for release of Project Engineering and Design (PED) funds, if available, for large projects and may allow for long lead procurements if specifically approved. Projects begin the next phases of design (preliminary design and perhaps final design for some elements) and development of a detailed resource loaded schedule. R&D and prototyping continue. The final CD-4 provides recognition that the project’s objectives have been met and allows for transition into operations and formal closeout of the project including all project accounts.

The approval of CD-1 milestone for the Los Alamos Plutonium Pit Production Project was announced on April 28, 2021. “CD-1 approval marks the completion of the project definition phase and the conceptual design,” a National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) press release stated. The cost estimate for the Los Alamos pit facility is $2.7-3.9 billion, with an overall project completion date range of 2027-2028. That is an increase from a preliminary estimate of $1.5-3.0 billion completed in 2015 for the 30-pit capability.

A projected CD-1 for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility was presented to DOE in January for approval and much speculation exists that a decision will occur this month. The DOE budget request includes $603 million for “Savannah River Plutonium Modernization,” (see page 125 and 165 - https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-05/doe-fy2022-budget-volume-1.pdf) Be aware, this is just the budget request not the final appropriations/funding.

Basically, $425 million of the FY 2022 budget request is for CD-1 activities which are focused on maturing preliminary design to support CD-2, as well as site and facility preparation, and long lead procurement. Preliminary design scope includes facility Balance of Plant systems, production equipment and gloveboxes, and support infrastructure. Another $128 million of this budget request supports the establishment of a program office capability at SRS to support pit production development efforts, train and hire future production staff, and support future production and operations planning.

The Biden administration’s fiscal year 2022 budget request published May 28 (see page 211 on link above) noted: The scope, cost and schedule estimates developed for the CD-1 approval package include an estimated high end of the cost range at $11.1B and a CD-4 schedule range of 1st Quarter FY 2032 to 4th Quarter FY 2035. In 2018, the NNSA had estimated that the facility would cost $1.8-4.6 billion to complete.

DOE FY22 Budget Request

President’s FY 2022 Budget Request was released at the end of May. It proposed an overall funding level of $19.7B for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and $7.6B for the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM).

The Environmental Management request for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina would stay relatively flat at $1.53 billion. It does include $130 million to cover the Savannah River Legacy Pensions. Overall, the budget submission appears adequate to meet EM’s mission needs.

However, Payment on Lieu of Taxes (PILT) is out! It, almost $6 million, was eliminated in this budget request. See page 261 - https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-06/doe-fy2022-budget-volume-5.pdf.

The Atomic Energy Act, as amended, authorizes DOE to make payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) that would have been payable to communities if these properties had remained subject to state or local taxes. The goal of PILT, as stated in the act and reflected in DOE’s order implementing the act, is to render financial assistance to these communities. Basically, PILT is to compensate communities for the revenue they would have received if the property had remained on the tax rolls.

Typically, a community applies some of the PILT payments to the local government’s general fund but also supports a wide variety of public goods and services, such as emergency response, roads, and directly to school districts.

For a deeper dive, the following documents reflect the FY 2022 Department of Energy's Budget Request to Congress applicable to local missions:

Summary Budget Documents

• Budget in Brief - A high-level narrative summary of the Department's budget request

• Summary Tables - A summary of the request by appropriation account and by organization

• Statistical Table - Shows the budget request at the level at which Congress controls our spending and is more detailed than the Control table

Detailed Budget Justification - Energy and Water Development Appropriations

• Volume 1

National Nuclear Security Administration

• Volume 5

Environmental Management

SNEAK Peek

The SRS Community Reuse Organization and Atomic Studios were on construction site locations this month filming the skilled trade segments for the 2021 STEM Career Connections® virtual event. Vice President Eric Presnell was in the spotlight for Aiken Augusta Electric and Security talking about the many options available for exceptional careers in the skilled trade industrial sector. SITEC Construction President, David McGhee from North Augusta, SC also talked about the region’s trending needs and ways to enter the construction career field in our community.

This year’s video will feature many local industry professionals sharing their knowledge and discussing current and future workforce topics.

Keep an eye out for the video in October 2021! Twenty-five schools have already signed up to participate in the premier so local students can learn about local jobs.

NNSA Welcomes Jason Armstrong

Jason Armstrong was named the National Nuclear Security Administration’s manager at the Savannah River Site, a position in which he will lead a team of federal employees and oversee national defense and nonproliferation ventures at the reservation south of Aiken.

He has held the NNSA’s Savannah River Field Office (SRFO) position since April 2021. As the SRFO Manager, he leads a team of approximately 50 federal employees in managing and operating contracts with an annual budget of $1.3 billion, and a contract workforce of nearly 4,000 people. He is responsible for the implementation of national security and nonproliferation missions by providing oversight of program management, nuclear operations, security, quality assurance, environment, safety and health, and the overall execution of key mission deliverables. He is a member of the Senior Executive Service.

Before coming to SRFO, Mr. Armstrong served as Assistant Manager for Nuclear Safety and Engineering at the NNSA Production Office. His duties also included ensuring nuclear and hazardous facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) and the Pantex Plant (Amarillo, Texas) operate safely and securely.

In This Issue

"Critical" Decisions

DOE FY22 Budget Request

SNEAK Peek

NNSA Welcomes Jason Armstrong

Cool

Fun Facts

1. The first common items that people used to keep cool were hand fans. Electric fans became the more popular and effective choice in the United States during the early 1900s.

2. Arguably, the world’s first commercial cooling systems were created in 180 AD by Ting Huan, a famed inventor from the Han dynasty. The fan featured seven ten-foot diameter wheels, cranked by a single person. It could cool a large hall full of people.

3. Before air conditioning was invented, people used a variety of architectural styles to keep their homes semi-cool. One style, popular in the South, was the dogtrot house. This design featured a small cooking cabin separate from the main house but connected with an open-air corridor.

4. In the 1840s, Dr. John Gorrie used ice from northern lakes to cool his hospital rooms in Florida. He believed that cooling was critical for reducing diseases such as malaria, and eventually, he invented a machine that created ice using water, wind, horses, and steam. That set the stage for modern cooling.

5. Willis Carrier invented the modern air conditioner in 1902, for the sole purpose of protecting paper and ink in a publishing company. And it wasn’t until 1906 when the term air conditioning was coined by textile mill engineer Stuart Cramer.

6. The first residential air conditioning system was installed in 1914. It was 7 ft. high, 6 ft. wide, and 20 ft. long.

7. Because of the size and cost, only wealthy people with large homes could afford air conditioners. Systems cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000, which today would be like paying $120,000 to $600,000.

8. The first single-room air conditioner was invented in 1931 by H.H. Schultz and J.Q. Sherman. It sat on the ledge of a window but was very expensive. At that time, the average hourly wage was $0.64, yet a typical air conditioner cost $416. This meant that someone would have to have worked 650 hours to afford it.

9. Most people experienced artificially cooled air for the first time in movie theaters. In fact, “Refrigerated Air” was often a highlight in theater advertisements in hopes of enticing ticket payers who were seeking solace from the heat.

10. Summer vacations as we know them were originally implemented because of hot summer months. School buildings were so uncomfortable, the break helped students and teachers avoid the seasonal peak of high temperatures.

11. Schools weren’t the only institutions that shut down during the summer – government offices did too. Some historians credit air-conditioning for the growth of federal bureaucracy, as longer sessions for lawmakers were made possible.

12. Air conditioning meant a population growth in some parts of the United States. The nation’s booming economies were primarily located in the Northeast until air conditioning made places like Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Texas more appealing.

13. Although it varies significantly by area and home size, the average American family spends about $2,200 on energy costs every year, and approximately 48% of those costs are for heating and cooling. Heating accounts for 42% of the total, while cooling takes up just 6% of the average family’s energy budget.

14. The world’s largest HVAC system is in the Holy Mosque in Makkah (Mecca), Saudi Arabia. To cool a space that sees up to 1 million visitors a month in a climate where temperatures frequently top 100 degrees, the system has 135,000 tons of refrigeration capacity.

15. Since 2000, over 95% of new homes in the United States come with air conditioning. Prior to 1940, the rate was less than a third.

16. Air conditioning saves lives. An analysis of suicides in Toronto, Ontario and Jackson, Mississippi indicates that suicide rates increase with heat waves. Additionally, when people don’t have access to cooling, they become more likely to die. Tragically, 739 people who didn’t have AC died during a Chicago heat wave in 1995.

17. Excessive heat also reduces productivity. Based on research from NASA, telegraph operators make an extra five mistakes per hour when the temperature is 80 degrees and a stunning 60 mistakes per hour when the temperature is 95 degrees. Over time, the rate of errors increases, and at 95 degrees, operators start to make 138 mistakes per hour by the third hour in the heat.

The 2021 SRSCRO meeting schedule is available here.

Closing Thoughts

"There's always somebody who is paid too much and taxed too little - and it's always somebody else."

-- Cullen Hightower

"When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it." -- Bernard Bailey

"In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these." -- Paul Harvey

"The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think." -- Horace Walpole

"Health consists of having the same diseases as one's neighbors." -- Quentin Crisp

"Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success." -- Christopher Lasch

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone." -- Henry David Thoreau

Contact Information

SRSCRO, PO Box 696, Aiken, SC 29802

Staff:

Rick McLeod | President/CEO | 803.508.7402

Mindy Mets | Director of Regional Workforce Programs |803.508.7403

Amy Merry | Administrative & Business Manger | 803.508.7401

Kim Saxon | Assistant Coordinator | 803.508.7656

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