The mixed waste management facility. Monthly report, January 1995

During January, technical progress continued in general accordance with the MWMF FY95 Plan. Engineering development and design continued in support of preliminary design of MWMF major subsystems. Certain activities are being delayed due to DOE guidance for reduced funding profiles that would not warrant new hiring, early procurements, etc. Peer reviews and system preliminary design reviews are now being scheduled for project elements. We continued pursuing integration of MWMF and DWTF functions maximize cost savings. We also expended considerable engineering effort to provide technical and cost tradeoff information for the FY97 Validation. Management focus during January centered upon addressing the rebaseline for MWMF for FY97 Validation in March, and upon progressing with the RD&D permit. Funding baselines for preparing for FY97 Validation in March were obtained from DOE; based on the baseline, detailed scope, schedule, and budget guidance was issued to the project staff to develop Validation information. For reasons of cost-effectiveness, Validation cost estimates will be based on revised CDR estimates, since bottom-up estimates will be completed in July as part of Preliminary Design. We have directed Significant effort toward meeting the TPC and fiscal year profile costs while still maintaining the essential elements of the project. Final review and editorial changes were completed for the RD&D permit application. Based on the meeting with DTSC in December and revised operational requirements, we held a review of the overall permitting strategy prior to routing for signature approval. A simplified strategy is under review. The revised Environmental Assessment (EA) is ready for release to DOE, but is being held up pending results of the permitting strategy review