The IG today released its audit report, "Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility." Nanos said the Laboratory disputes some key IG findings about management of the $260 million DARHT project. Nanos said controls over the budget and schedule for the project and all changes to the project scope conformed completely to procedures approved by the National Nuclear Security Administration.
"While we agree that we underestimated the complexity of the design for the experimental second axis of DARHT when we began it in 1998, and failed to set aside enough contingency at the time, the Laboratory and NNSA resolved those issues more than two years ago," Nanos said. "NNSA has tracked the status of the project in detail throughout and approved every planning change. In fact, because of DARHT's importance to the national stockpile stewardship program, this project has been monitored at the highest levels of government, including scrutiny from Congress."
DARHT is a high-explosive firing site equipped with two flash X-ray machines that produce intense X-rays that record interior details of dense metal objects. When operational in late 2004, DARHT will provide time-resolved, three-dimensional radiographs of non-nuclear mock-ups of nuclear weapon primaries during the implosion.
DARHT's first axis, the world's most advanced hydrodynamic test facility, began providing unprecedented radiographic data to NNSA's stockpile stewardship program in the fall of 2000. DARHT's second axis, set at right angles to the first X-ray machine, will capture four images, one of which can be combined with the image from the first axis to produce a three-dimensional image. These images provide valuable experimental evidence that helps to validate the computer models needed for continued certification of aging stockpile weapons.
"Changes to the baseline for the second axis, along with the plan to complete commissioning in 2004, were approved by senior Department of Energy officials two years ago and Congress was informed, so this is not new information," said Nanos.
The original 1998 underestimate of the second axis' complexity was influenced by the relative ease of completing DARHT's first axis; however, that first axis had a long technical shakedown. Los Alamos and the DOE mutually decided on the size of the second axis contingency, with recognition that it entailed some risk, Nanos said.
"We cannot agree with the IG's recommendation that we establish a new baseline for a construction project that has been completed, as the IG itself acknowledged. We also disagree that NNSA should not have approved supporting the costs of commissioning this one-of-a-kind facility from the operating budget," Nanos said. "Commissioning of this kind, to realize the full operating potential of a new machine, normally is an operating activity, not construction, and Congress explicitly funded DARHT that way."
In its audit, the Inspector General's Office claimed that NNSA and Los Alamos didn't fully use project management controls, and said that DARHT lacked a viable project baseline, which could be a concern for future projects.
"In fact, the most recent baseline revision, which was approved by the DOE deputy secretary, has been completed successfully and DOE signed off on close-out of the construction project two months ago," said DARHT project manager Rollin Whitman of Los Alamos' Dynamic Experimentation Division.
The DARHT construction project was properly managed under formal DOE management controls, Whitman continued. NNSA managed and approved all budgets and project changes for DARHT's second axis, and kept various DOE and congressional oversight panels fully informed with detailed monthly project reports and quarterly progress reports.
"DARHT's overall progress and costs have been tracked with the full rigor required under DOE orders and there is no remaining construction project activity. Commissioning is also being managed and tracked as a project, though as part of the operating program," Whitman said. "We met all our technical construction milestones as agreed by DOE, and expect to be making 3-D X-ray pictures by the end of next year."
Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory already have captured excellent data through six major hydrodynamic experiments and dozens of smaller high-explosives experiments on the first axis, Whitman said. NNSA emphasized the importance of an ambitious schedule to deliver radiographic images from the first axis to meet program needs, even though it delayed construction of the second axis, beyond the estimated six months and $5.3 million impact of the Cerro Grande Fire.
The first axis met all technical criteria; it was completed on time and for slightly less than its budget of $105 million. The Laboratory established the scope for the second axis based on the relatively smooth experience of installing and commissioning the first axis, Whitman said.
"The technical complexity of the second axis and the original decision by the Laboratory and NNSA to base completion on scientific assessment of the quality of radiographic images clearly were overly ambitious. The completion criteria were modified in 2001 to make them consistent with usual practice in similar large laser and accelerator projects that require levels of performance be met," Whitman explained.
NNSA was fully aware of the complexity of developing a new accelerator and injector technologies for a one of a kind facility and kept track of all areas of significant risk throughout the project, Whitman said.
With NNSA approval, the Laboratory transferred $29 million to DARHT's operating budget to cover the cost of commissioning the experimental second axis over a three-year period.
"Throughout the DARHT project, we have scrupulously followed the formal project management practices used by NNSA," Whitman said. "These practices themselves have improved significantly since DARHT began."
Because the new technology built into DARHT's second axis was highly experimental, the Laboratory used reviews by an external panel of top technical and project management experts to help assure its approach was sound. The four-pulse accelerator was designed, tested and built through a major collaboration among three national laboratories managed by the University of California — Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley — and the Department of Defense's MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The outside experts provided recommendations that helped the Laboratory and NNSA complete the engineering, baseline budget and multiple technical milestones needed to complete the project.
In March, construction of DARHT's second axis reached 100-percent completion within its capital budget of $155 million. The total project — both axes — was completed within the overall capital construction budget of $260 million.
Last December, DARHT's second-axis accelerator successfully transported an electron beam that met all the major technical criteria that DOE and NNSA required for closeout approval of the project and demonstrated the successful fundamental operation of the accelerator. This placed the construction project on a firm track for the approval of closeout that took place on March 26, 2003. All four major baseline milestones have now been met as follows:
- demonstration of the second-axis injector (July 2, 2002)
- demonstration the second-axis accelerator (Dec. 21, 2002)
- delivery of the second-axis camera system for imaging of x-ray data (Feb. 6, 2003)
- completion of the vessel preparation facility for clean out of single-walled steel vessels. (Feb. 10, 2003)
The IG audit also criticized the Laboratory and NNSA for several changes in design that improved efficiency and cut costs for aspects of the second axis, and other elements of the project.
In fact, assembly of spare accelerator cells and photocathode technology were never part of the project budget for the second axis. In addition, the Laboratory learned more intelligent ways to meet containment needs during planning for the project, implemented those approaches and appropriately reduced scope. The resulting savings were applied elsewhere in the project to mitigate costs and reduce schedule risks to meet baseline requirements.
Rather than showing lack of attention to project controls, the changes demonstrate good project management, including the ability to focus resources to achieve critical project goals, Whitman said.
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Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.