Oak Ridge weapons plant consolidates uranium reserves

NEWSCHANNEL5.COM, OCTOBER 2, 2006

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Some 240 containers of highly enriched uranium have been relocated and consolidated at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge over the past year.
Government officials said today this potentially will save (M) millions of dollars to guard them.
The bomb-grade material had been stored in one of nine huge production buildings, dating to the plant’s earliest days as part of the World War II Manhattan Project.
Y-12 makes components for every nuclear warhead in the U-S arsenal. The complex also serves as the country’s primary storehouse for weapons-grade uranium. The quantity is classified, but unofficial estimates put it at 400 to 500 metric tons.
It was not disclosed how much uranium was relocated.
Y-12 employs more than 47-hundred people, covers more than 800 acres and has more than 500 buildings.

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