NISKAYUNA, N.Y. - EM and contractor AECOM finished removing all process equipment and tanks from Building H2 at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) nuclear facility.
The contaminated equipment is being shipped out of state. These activities represent the end of the first phase of demolition of the Cold War research facility.
"The decontamination and demolition of SPRU is nearing its final phase," EM SPRU Federal Project Director Steve Feinberg said. “Together with our AECOM counterparts, we’re safely eliminating a contamination risk, and furthering protection of the environment."
Workers have begun the second phase of demolition in the building’s pipe tunnel area. The tunnel is 130 feet long, 24 feet tall and 26 feet wide. It isolated the transfer piping that moved radioactive materials among the various processing cells and tanks within Building H2 and accompanying Building G2. Workers completed demolition of above-ground portions of Building G2 in November.
SPRU, located at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, was instrumental in developing the chemical processes used to separate plutonium for use in nuclear weapons and materials research. It closed in the mid-1950s.
EM began decontaminating and demolishing buildings at the site in 2009.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
