WEST VALLEY, N.Y. - EM and cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) completed the first phase of demolition to the Vitrification Facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP).
“The CHBWV team is making great progress with the safe completion of the first phase of this facility’s demolition," EM WVDP Project Director Bryan Bower said. “This accomplishment allows our team to continue its work in the completion of Vitrification Facility demolition activities."
The phase began in September and involved tearing down portions of the facility with the least radiological contamination.
Using a variety of heavy equipment and specialized tools, workers knocked down three sides of the facility, including operating aisles, a control room, rest rooms, truck bays, stairways, and tool and equipment storage rooms.
Before demolition began, workers finished deactivating the facility’s utility systems, which include instrument air, potable water, utility water, demineralized water, waste water, fuel oil, steam, steam condensate, fire protection, electrical power, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.
The facility was used to solidify 600,000 gallons of high-level liquid radioactive waste generated from 1996 to 2002 during the reprocessing of spent fuel by Nuclear Fuel Services, the former site operator.
In the next phase, workers will demolish the heavily reinforced concrete process cell, shield doors, and the structure’s south wall. The cell, which was built to protect workers from radiation exposure during vitrification operations, contains higher levels of radiological contamination than the areas demolished in the first phase.
EM awarded CHBWV the prime contract for WVDP Phase 1 Decommissioning Facilities Disposition in 2011. Demolition of the Vitrification Facility and the Main Plant Process Building is one of four major milestones under the contract.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
