WEST VALLEY - Work is under way to prepare for implementation of a years-long study regarding how to close the West Valley Demonstration Project.
The site, near the Cattaraugus-Erie County border, is that of a former nuclear fuel reprocessing plant that closed in the 1970s and is being cleaned up by federal and state agencies.
"The completion of the site's environmental impact statement will put the West Valley Demonstration Project on a path to closure," said Bryan Bower, Department of Energy federal project director, previously.
The environmental study has been complete and "phased decision making" is being followed in the site's final closure plan. Sonja Allen, spokesperson, said that involves decommissioning some of the facility within the next 10 years, while closing the remaining areas continues to be studied during that time.
Work to be done in the next 10 years includes: removal of the main plant process building, the vitrification facility, the remote-handled waste facility, the lagoon areas, a number of unneeded facilities and the contaminated soils under and around these facilities, including the source of the contaminated groundwater plume.
Ms. Allen said recent accomplishments at the site include getting projects ready so the closure of the first phase identified projects can commence.
"There's an awful lot of cleanup work going on," said Ms. Allen.
She said contaminated pipes are being taken out, some by remote control, while nitrocision is being done on cell walls. Ms. Allen said that involves using nitrogen in a power-washer-type device to freeze-dry and clean cell walls. She said the technology produces nitrogen vapor so a secondary waste stream that would then have to be cleaned is not created.
Waste is also being processed at the site in preparation for closure, she said, adding that includes work on a groundwater plume, four underground tanks that are in concrete vaults.
During the work, she said a worker was contaminated Sunday when gear worn by an employee working to decontaminate the main plant became wet, and her skin was contaminated after waste soaked through the protective clothing she was wearing. Ms. Allen said the contamination was detected and skin cleaned. There was no intake of chemicals, she said.
The main plant, she said, is a 50-year-old building classified as a higher-risk area that will be demolished within the first phase or next 10 years, of the final cleanup measure.
According to a newsletter published about the cleanup, super-saks are being filled with zeolite, a naturally occurring mineral that will be used to fill a 850-foot long trench behind the main plant for planned fall installation underground.
It is being installed in order to remove radioactive contamination from groundwater.
Compared to a home water softener system, a trench will be excavated near the edge of a contaminated groundwater plume and backfilled with the zeolite sacks to hold the radioactive material in place to prevent it from migrating off the site.
The contamination in the groundwater came from a leak in a process line in the main plant process building during nuclear fuel reprocessing.