Y-12 National Security Complex - Current Status

Current Status

Today, Y-12's primary missions are to support defense needs through stockpile stewardship, assist on issues of nuclear non-proliferation, support the Naval Reactors program, and provide expertise to other federal agencies. Y-12 is also responsible for the maintenance and production of all uranium parts for every nuclear weapon in the US arsenal. Y-12 is responsible for the production and maintenance of the "secondary" aspect of thermonuclear devices.

Y-12 has a history of providing secure storage of nuclear material for both the United States and other governments. Early efforts focused on securing material from the former Soviet Union; recent activities have included recovery of highly enriched uranium from Chile.

Environmental cleanup has been an ongoing issue for the Department of Energy in Oak Ridge. The Y-12 plant was listed as an EPA Superfund site in the 1990s for groundwater and soil contamination. Today, the Y-12 plant is listed on the DOE's Cleanup Criteria/Decision Document Database (or C2D2 database).

An influx of funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has benefited cleanup efforts by funding demolition and decontamination of aging facilities. These efforts work to further the long term reduction in the size of the Y-12 facility.

B&W Y-12 currently employs approximately 4,700 people. About 1,500 additional personnel work onsite as employees of organizations that include UT-Battelle, Science Applications International Corporation, Bechtel Jacobs, and WSI Oak Ridge (an American-controlled unit of the Wackenhut Corporation), which holds the security contract for the site.