Page 70 Cite

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Pit Production Program Management Structures and Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and National Academy of Public Administration. 2020. Governance and Management of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25933.

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C

Pit Production Program Management Structures and Practices

This appendix provides a detailed description of the program management structure—organizational roles and responsibilities, coordinating bodies and councils, and managerial and budgetary authorities—that have been deployed for the pit production program. Plutonium pit production is a top National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) priority and, as such, the panel selected it as a case study to examine the degree to which the Augustine-Mies recommendations on program management are being applied for this program.

This appendix is referenced in Chapter 3 of this report, in the section titled “Major Program Management, as Exemplified in the Pit Production Program,” which summarizes the panel’s analysis of the management structure for the plutonium pit production program. This appendix presents underlying information.¹

NNSA’s priority focus on pit production is relatively recent, following from the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), and the level of effort is rapidly rising. NNSA and the involved management and operating (M&O) sites are clear on the high priority of and the strategic objectives for the program: 30 pits per year at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) by 2026, and 50 pits per year at Savannah River Site (SRS) by 2030. Pit production is very challenging owing to the unique metallurgical properties of plutonium and the environmental, health, and safety risks and certification requirements associated with pit production. This undertaking is further complicated by the lack of continuity in plutonium manufacturing operations over 3 decades, including a stop-work order in 2013 over criticality safety concerns at LANL.

NNSA’s governance structure for the plutonium pit production program is wide-ranging and multilayered and involves many hundreds of individuals when those at all components of the enterprise

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¹ The information in this appendix was assembled from interviews with NNSA and M&O personnel and from NNSA directives, policies, procedures, and similar documents.

Page 71 Cite

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Pit Production Program Management Structures and Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and National Academy of Public Administration. 2020. Governance and Management of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25933.

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(headquarters, field offices, and M&O facilities) are considered. At the strategic level, NNSA’s Administrator and Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs are the primary drivers of strategic decision making and internal priority setting for the plutonium pit production mission, as well as being the external liaisons for the program. At the operational level, where day-to-day managerial and technical decisions are made, including matters referred from the field, the responsibility rests with NNSA’s Plutonium Program Office. At the field level, the M&O sites work closely with their NNSA field office counterparts to execute the program.

Owing to the intensity of operations and the cross-enterprise nature of NNSA’s pit production work, a network of councils and decision-making bodies is established and extensively deployed. This network requires many meetings and written status updates to document progress, establish decision points, and communicate both horizontally and vertically throughout the enterprise.

The following tables summarize (1) officials and offices and their organizational roles and responsibilities for plutonium pit production (Table C.1); (2) the network of coordinating bodies and councils involved in plutonium pit production (Table C.2); and (3) some of the management and budgetary authorities in place that empower NNSA’s pit production program team (Table C.3). The summaries provided here are not exhaustive, but are intended to provide an overall picture of how this top-priority NNSA program is structured, layered, and operates.

TABLE C.1 Roles and Responsibilities

Strategic-Level Management
(internal strategic decision makers and priority setters; external liaison)

NNSA Administrator (NA-1)

Adopts strategies and establishes overall priorities for the program.
Approves any major changes in the pit production program, especially in terms of balancing competing NNSA priorities.
Ensures that other NNSA organizations provide support to the Office of Defense Programs (NA-10).
Arbitrates any major issues that cannot be resolved at the NA-10 level.

Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs (NA-10)

Exercises responsibility and assumes accountability for executing the overall mission of producing weapon primaries, including managing mission/program risks across all subcomponents, including plutonium pits.
Arbitrates matters that are escalated from operational management. In some cases, the Associate Administrator for Acquisition and Project Management (NA-APM) is called upon to lend acquisition and project management expertise and to present NA-APM’s perspective during the decision-making process. (As appropriate, officials from other offices may have a comparable role in NA-10 decision making.)

Operational-Level Management
(where day-to-day managerial and technical decisions are made)

Office of Production Modernization (NA-19) within Defense Programs

A recently reorganized office that centrally manages the broader portfolio of all strategic materials—plutonium, tritium, and domestic uranium enrichment—as well as high explosives and energetics and nonnuclear components.
This office is led by two Senior Executive Service members:
- Assistant Deputy Administrator for Production Modernization °
- Deputy Assistant Deputy Administrator of Production Modernization °
Plutonium Program Office (NA-191) within the Office of Production Modernization
- This is one of five offices within the Production Modernization Office. °
- Led by NNSA’s officially designated Plutonium Federal Program Manager (at the GS-15 level) who ° controls over 90 percent of the financial resources required for the plutonium sustainment program.
- Manages the modernization of plutonium production and is therefore the lead NNSA office for getting ° LANL to 30 pits per year during 2026 and SRS to 50 pits per year during 2030.
- The staff complement is roughly 10–15 employees, some of whom are full-time federal employees and ° others are contractors, graduate fellows, or rotational M&O employees from LANL and SRS.

Page 72 Cite

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Pit Production Program Management Structures and Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and National Academy of Public Administration. 2020. Governance and Management of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25933.

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Mission-Support Functions
(organizations that support strategic-, operational-, and field-level management with functional-area expertise and activities)

Office of Acquisition and Project Management (NA-APM)

NA-APM assists the Plutonium Program Office by leading the project construction effort for the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF) at SRS and the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) and Los Alamos Plutonium Pit Production Project (LAP4) at LANL.
- NA-APM funding for major projects flows through dedicated project accounts, which are coordinated ° with pit production program priorities through NNSA’s Weapons Activities Budget Summits.
- NA-APM takes the requirements from, and reports progress to, the plutonium pit production program ° through various forums (described below).
- NA-APM, in consultation with the Office of Defense Programs, assigns a Federal Project Director for ° each of these projects (SRPPF, CMRR, and LAP4), who leads the execution of these projects on behalf of the plutonium pit production program.
- The Federal Project Director also provides other support, such as executing project reviews and ° supporting integrated project teams.
- A few organizational conflicts (NA-10 versus NA-APM), which cannot be resolved at lower levels, are ° resolved by the Administrator.

Office of Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations (NA-50)

Develops and executes infrastructure investment, maintenance, safety, and operations programs and policies in support of all NNSA programs and other operations, including those involving plutonium pit production. Provides advisory expertise to the Plutonium Program Office on infrastructure recapitalization, criticality safety, waste management, and safety basis development.

Office of Defense Nuclear Security (NA-70)

Maintains security across all NNSA facilities and sites, executes several kinds of security measures, and administers security clearances in support of all NNSA programs and other operations, including those involving plutonium pit production. Provides advisory expertise to the Plutonium Program Office to help the program ensure that pit production infrastructure is secure.

Office of Management and Budget (NA-MB)

Provides support to the Plutonium Program Office in a variety of human resources, administrative, financial, and budgeting areas for pit production.

Mission Support Functions’ Participation in Coordinating Bodies to Maintaining Program Alignment

Representatives of NA-APM, NA-50, NA-70, NA-MB, and other supporting functions are members of the Pit Production Matrixed Execution Team (MET).^a The MET enables them and the pit production program to align the supporting functions’ activities with program requirements.

Page 73 Cite

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Pit Production Program Management Structures and Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and National Academy of Public Administration. 2020. Governance and Management of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25933.

×

Field-Level Management
(where plutonium pit production happens)

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

Responsible for building on its existing capacity to produce plutonium pits, ramping up pit production on a specified schedule, and managing operations to balance other program activities in LANL’s Plutonium Facility (PF-4) for pit production.
In its traditional federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) role, and as NNSA’s principal plutonium and pit production center of excellence, LANL advises NNSA’s Plutonium Program Office on technical matters related to accomplishing its pit production objectives at both LANL and SRS. LANL also drafted an early integrated master schedule for all NNSA and M&O organizations involved in plutonium pit production.
LANL maintains a strong relationship with the Plutonium Program Office, the Los Alamos Field Office, as well as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC), and SRS.

NNSA’s Los Alamos Field Office (NA-LA)

Provides daily federal oversight of LANL, issues Contracting Officer direction, and acts as the Safety Basis Approval Authority.
Acts as a partner to the site, helping LANL navigate through the complex set of requirements placed on the laboratory.
Maintains a “Program Liaison” that works closely with LANL and the Plutonium Program Office on a daily basis. In this role, NA-LA serves as an important intermediary between LANL and the Plutonium Program Office and is responsible for communicating program-specific issues as they arise.

Savannah River Site (SRS)

Only 2 years into the pit production effort, its predominant immediate focus now is on the conceptual design of a conversion of the Mixed-Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility (MOX) to the SRPPF.
NNSA implemented a new NA-APM Project Delivery Model for the conversion of MOX to SRPPF, appointing and involving a Federal Project Director earlier than in previous projects.
SRS is working closely with LANL and LLNL to ensure that SRPPF is functionally capable of pit manufacturing, including the process flow and certification issues.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)

The responsible design agency for the first type of pit planned for production at LANL and SRS.
Provides technical peer review and leads the certification efforts of plutonium pits.

Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC)

Responsible for the construction and delivery of certain nonnuclear components for pit production.

NNSA’s Savannah River Field Office (SRFO), Lawrence Livermore Field Office (NA-LL), and Kansas City Field Office (NA-KC)

These field offices play roles analogous to those described for the Los Alamos Field Office for their respective sites.

^a The MET is discussed in Table C.2, in the subsection on “Coordinating Bodies and Councils, Operational-Level Management.”

Page 74 Cite

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Pit Production Program Management Structures and Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and National Academy of Public Administration. 2020. Governance and Management of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25933.

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TABLE C.2 Coordinating Bodies and Councils

Strategic-Level Management
(internal strategic decision makers and priority setters; external liaison)

NNSA Administrator Meets Monthly with the Production Modernization Office (NA-19)/Plutonium Program Office (NA-191)

Monthly pit production reviews occur with the Administrator personally. The Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs (NA-10) participates in the meetings as well. Mission-support functions and the field offices attend as needed.

NNSA Administrator’s Weekly Calls with Laboratory Directors

The Administrator hosts weekly calls with all Laboratory Directors, which provide a forum at which LANL and LLNL can raise concerns and opportunities regarding the pit production mission.

Quarterly Program Reviews

Led by the Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs (NA-10), this quarterly forum reviews the status of both the pit production program itself and a number of projects contained within the plutonium pit production program. The reviews are an opportunity for program and project staff to update senior leaders on the status and trends. These reviews include all relevant mission-support offices as well as M&O leaders and staff from the field.

Operational-Level Management
(where day-to-day managerial and technical decisions are made)

Pit Production Matrixed Execution Team (MET)

This coordinating body is chaired by the Senior Executive Service lead of the Production Modernization Office (NA-19), and the GS-15 Plutonium Program Manager (NA-191) serves as an action officer. MET members include mission-support (NA-APM, NA-50, and NA-70) and the field organizations (LANL, NA-LA, LLNL, SRS, SRFO, KCNSC). (The representatives of the M&Os are designated as “associate members” of the MET.) The principal members meet monthly; action officers meet two times a month. The members of the MET are individuals selected by their home offices to serve the MET in advisory roles. The MET members do not report to the chair of the MET as a supervisor, nor does the chair of the MET participate in their employee performance evaluations.

Product Realization Team

Working on an integrated/consolidated production schedule to get to the First Production Unit (FPU). The schedule will be used as a tool, including by the MET, to use around prioritizing competing demands on limited resources. Because LANL is the principal plutonium and pit production center of excellence, its experts drafted the early integrated/production schedule.

Federal Integrated Project Team

Organized and chartered for the specific purpose of delivering a capital asset project of substantial size. In the case of the plutonium pit production program, a Federal Integrated Project Team is in place for any project with an appointed Federal Project Director—SRPPF, CMRR, and LAP4. Members include NNSA, M&O personnel, project owner representatives, design agent representatives, construction agent representatives, contractors, and other related personnel. The Federal Integrated Project Team ensures that necessary relationships among organizations with a stake in the project are identified, defined, and managed effectively through the completion of the project.

Page 75 Cite

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Pit Production Program Management Structures and Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and National Academy of Public Administration. 2020. Governance and Management of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25933.

×

Field-Level Management
(where plutonium pit production happens)

Daily interactions Between Los Alamos Field Office’s Pit Production Program Liaison and NNSA HQ and Other M&O Sites

NNSA established the permanent position of pit production program liaison at the Los Alamos Field Office. This position reports directly to the Field Office Manager (FOM) and is empowered to act on the FOM’s behalf. The field office program liaison maintains connections, awareness, and oversight at all levels of LANL and works across NNSA programs, mission-support functions, and with other field-level sites.

Product Realization Teams at LANL and SRS

Groups of scientists, engineers, and subject-matter experts that perform ground-level work on plutonium pit production and are responsible for identifying risks. LANL reports that there are hundreds of LANL experts working behind the scenes.

TABLE C.3 Management and Budgetary Authorities

Strategic-Level Management
(internal strategic decision makers and priority setters; external liaison)

Weapons Activities Budget Summits

The Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs (NA-10) is the Account Integrator for the Weapons Activities Account.^a This involves coordinating and prioritizing the activities and projects necessary to complete program goals, including those of plutonium pit production, during the building of NNSA’s budget request. The Deputy Administrator leads integration meetings—with program and functional leadership—“to identify and resolve disconnects between program elements within major appropriations” and to “establish priorities within their appropriation.”^b

Operational-Level Management
(where day-to-day managerial and technical decisions are made)

Plutonium Program Budget

The Plutonium Program Office controls more than 90 percent of the financial resources for the plutonium pit production program. This does not include funding for environmental, safety, and health (NA-50) and Security (NA-70). Also outside of NA-10’s direct control is the funding for major capital projects (particularly, initial design activities for LAP4 and SRPPF), which flows directly to the plutonium capital projects as budget line items. These funds are not within the program manager’s budget but, instead, are in NA-APM’s budget. In addition, NA-50 gets some funding that supports pit production, but that funding is rolled up into operations at a specific site or facility level and not explicitly tied to pit production activities.

Implementation Plans and Work Authorizations

The Plutonium Program Office issues implementation plans and work authorizations, thereby controlling the work that the M&Os are authorized and required to do. NNSA’s programs, including the plutonium pit production program, are responsible for producing and approving Program Implementation Plans that are the basis for producing work authorizations. Programs work jointly with mission-support organizations and field organizations to develop the scope of work, schedule, and cost for each work authorization. Each topic included in the implementation plan includes a person responsible for its achievement, as well as the frequency with which updates must be reported on the topic.

Integrated Pit Production Master Schedule

LANL developed an initial draft. When completed by the pit production program, the integrated master schedule will serve as an integrated production schedule to get to the FPU. The schedule will be used as a tool, including by the MET, to help prioritize competing demands.

Interface Control Agreements

Interface Control Agreements define expectations among NA-191 and other organizations in anticipation of the transfer of pit production responsibility from NA-191 to another organization in Defense Programs when full-scale production is reached.

Page 76 Cite

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Pit Production Program Management Structures and Practices." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and National Academy of Public Administration. 2020. Governance and Management of the Nuclear Security Enterprise. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25933.

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Field-Level Management
(where plutonium pit production happens)

FOMs Have Direct Line Authority over M&O Sites

As NNSA’s risk-accepting official overseeing each M&O site, the FOM is given direct line authority over his or her M&O site and therefore makes decisions on environmental, health, and safety, and is the Safety Basis Approval Authority. Program direction is also routed through the field office to ensure that the FOM and staff are always aware of the status and implementation of programs and projects. Official direction is given by an Administrative Contracting Officer who reports to the FOM.

^a The Weapons Activities Account includes the three main defense programs accounts: (1) Directed Stockpile Work; (2) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Programs; and (3) Infrastructure and Operations.

^b NNSA Policy 130.1A, Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Evaluation (PPBE) Process, approved 12/9/2019, https://directives.nnsa.doe.gov/nnsa-policy-documents/nap-0130-0001a/@@images/file.