WEST VALLEY, N.Y. - EM’s West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) declared the Vitrification Facility demolition-ready on March 16, after years of decontamination and deactivation to remove a variety of hazards.
WVDP and contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley scheduled the demolition - DOE’s first teardown of a vitrification facility - for later this year. Workers will begin demolishing the radiologically “cleanest" areas first, such as the perimeter aisles, then move to the facility’s other areas, such as the Vitrification Cell, which housed all of the major radioactive process equipment. This strategy minimizes the potential for cross-contamination of facility areas and reduces the cost of decontaminating equipment and materials transferred from one area to another.
Workers will control the potential spread of contamination through water misting, encapsulation fixatives, regular housekeeping activities, enclosures, adherence to established work practices, and fulltime monitoring by radiological control technicians. WVDP placed 16 air monitoring stations outside the site boundary and others around the demolition area to monitor for potential migration of contamination.
Once used to solidify about 600,000 gallons of high-level waste (HLW) liquid and sludge, the 11,000-square-foot, 50-foot-tall concrete structure - one of the site’s major remaining facilities - is reinforced with structural steel and sided with sheet steel. Its walls and roof are between 2 and 4 feet thick. Demolition will generate an estimated 6,500 tons of waste for shipment to an offsite licensed disposal facility.
The team performed characterization and decontamination work to support conventional, uncontained “open-air" demolition techniques. When possible, workers used mechanical or remote equipment to minimize worker exposure to radiological, mechanical and chemical hazards.
Late last year, the team achieved another critical milestone by shipping and disposing three large vitrification components at Waste Control Specialist in Andrews, Texas.
The Vitrification Facility included operating aisles, working areas to support operations, and auxiliary facilities for vitrification support functions. It operated from 1996 to 2002, producing 275 stainless steel canisters of HLW. WVDP repurposed the facility in 2007 for remote waste processing prior to deactivation. Last year, WVDP finished moving the canisters to dry storage onsite to prepare the facility for demolition.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
