Y-12's Achievements and Contributions: Ted Robinson's 52 Years

60th Anniversary Home	About Y-12	Achievements/ Contributions	History of Y-12	Infrastructure Reduction	Modernization Initiatives	Official Proclamations	Photo Gallery

Technology Paving the Way for the Y-12 of Tomorrow

As one would suspect, creating nuclear weapons components requires quite a bit of technological know-how. The Y-12 National Security Complex has some of the world's top engineers and scientists studying and developing new manufacturing and materials-based technologies and manufacturing processes, many of which will be of benefit to non-nuclear businesses in the future.

Pam Horning and Kevin Finney

Today, Y-12 is concentrating its technology developments on itself as part of the effort to revitalize the site. As the complex makes room for and builds new facilities, innovative technologies will be implemented to further Y-12's capabilities in special material handling, precision manufacturing and, above all, worker safety. Y-12 plans to invest more than $250 million in new technology through fiscal year 2005.

"One of the primary tasks of the Technology Council is to drive realization of the roadmap," said Bob Riepe, Y-12 Campaigns senior technical advisor, said. "The council is the engine that will drive us along the pathway that the roadmap describes. Without [the council], we might abandon it along the way or park it in a ditch."

Y-12 is inserting new technology into its manufacturing capabilities through its "Campaigns," multi-year programs that address specific issues related to the complex's manufacturing areas.

Some of the campaigns are:

The Dynamic Materials Properties Campaign is focused on how Y-12 materials behave once they're put into service. Weapons laboratories use the information gathered in this program to make design decisions, and Y-12 applies the information to make manufacturing-related decisions.
The Advanced Simulation and Computing Campaign develops electronic histories of how stockpile weapons were built and makes the information accessible to engineers and weapons designers so that models and simulations can be run to analyze performance.
The Advanced Design and Production Technologies Campaign, or ADAPT, ensures new technologies are ready to be applied in manufacturing-, inspection- and information systems-related work at Y-12 and throughout the nuclear weapons complex through pilot studies and prototypes.
The Enhanced Surveillance Campaign provides technology to analyze the aging process of Y-12 materials and enables preventive maintenance of the weapons stockpile by adding the capability to predict the life of weapons materials.
Stockpile Readiness deploys equipment, processes and other technologies to all areas of Y-12. Its current focus is on providing capabilities related to machine tools, inspection equipment and materials processes.

In the coming year, Y-12 will invest more than $480,000 to implement several technologies that will be used to certify materials required for use in weapons components. A new fiber-optic computer network employing "thin client" technology has been installed in the Y-12 laboratory. The new network, a $500,000 investment, will allow for faster, more accurate and more secure data collection. Digital X-ray-nicknamed "Bigfoot" for the size of it's display-exists only at Y-12 and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. "Bigfoot" takes an X-ray image of a part and digitizes it. These digital images are highly accurate, reduce the need for X-ray film and enable images to be computer analyzed and shared with other DOE sites.

With definite plans mapped out for technology implementation, Y-12 is committing itself to continuing the world-recognized precision manufacturing skills and special materials handling processes. If you would like to know more about Y-12 and its technology plans, check the Web site at www.y12.doe.gov.

BWXT Y-12 Home	Security and Privacy Notice	Disclaimer	Comments
© 2003, BWXT Y-12, L.L.C., all rights reserved