UPF Federal Project Director John Eschenberg, right, poses with Howard Hall, director of UT’s Institute for Nuclear Security, before Eschenberg’s talk Thursday night at the Baker Center. (KNS/Frank Munger)
Thursday’s INS Distinguished Lecture on the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) project drew about 90 registered attendees, including a picket line organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance.
John Eschenberg, federal director of the UPF project, spoke for about an hour and fielded questions from the audience. It was also covered by the local press in an extensive article by Knoxville News-Sentinel’s Frank Munger.
The UPF is a major NNSA modernization and construction project at the Y-12 National Security Complex that will replace the decaying (and expensive) Manhattan Project era uranium building 9212 at Y-12, and is a linchpin in Y-12’s plans to reduce the facility’s high-security footprint. As Eschenberg noted in his lecture, these large, nuclear-grade, one-of-a-kind facilities bring many challenges and frequently attract criticism.