Waste disposal sites in up to three states could be the final destination for the Energy Department’s depleted uranium oxide from retired gaseous diffusion plants in Piketon, Ohio, and Paducah, Ky.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management said Friday it has published the record of decision (ROD) for disposal of material generated from conversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) at the Portsmouth and Paducah sites.
The Energy Department prefers to send the material, if declared waste, to one or more of these frequently used facilities: EnergySolutions at Clive, Utah; Waste Control Specialists (WCS) near Andrews, Texas; and the government-owned Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in Nye County, Nev. All are authorized for disposal of low-level radioactive waste. The first two are commercial waste disposal operations.
Within the next year, DOE plans a pilot project to ship several railcars containing cylinders of depleted uranium oxide to a commercial facility. If that goes well, more extensive shipments would apparently follow.
The Energy Department will only ship to the selected commercial sites if the facility is authorized to receive depleted uranium oxide, according to documents released Friday.
Depleted uranium oxide meets requirements under federal regulations for disposition as low-level radioactive waste. The DOE cleanup office issued a draft supplemental environmental impact statement in late December 2018 in which it invited comment on shipping the depleted uranium oxide to either Nevada, Texas, and/or Utah. The plan announced Friday is the same one as laid out in the supplemental EIS.
Mid-America Conversion Services, a venture comprised of Atkins, Westinghouse, and Fluor, has a five-year, $319 million contract through January 2022 to convert the inventory of DUF6 into a more stable uranium oxide form for storage and eventual disposal. There is roughly 700,000 metric tons (759,000 tons) of DUF6 at the two sites, left by former uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons.
Cylinders of DUF6 generated from past uranium enrichment at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee are now located at Portsmouth.
