Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
4/24/2015
A new pilot project to decommission the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) in Arkansas would be launched in Fiscal Year 2016 under the House Appropriations Committee’s version of the FY 2016 Energy and Water spending bill, according to report language released this week. The bill would provide $9.5 million to the Department of Energy to address the aging and inactive experimental reactor near Fayetteville, Ark., currently managed by the University of Arkansas. The House report would direct DOE to “utilize innovative contracting strategies to demolish, dismantle, and dispose of contaminated above-grade structures for the purposes of minimizing annual site maintenance requirements until such time as the regulatory end state for the site is fully resolved by the responsible local stakeholders.”
DOE earlier this year provided Congressional appropriators a report requested by lawmakers on a phased approach for decommissioning the reactor, with the cost estimate ranging between $26.2 million and $80.4 million over 18 months. The large range is “due to lack of detail or design during early project formulation stages,” according to the DOE report. The point cost for the project would total about $32.8 million, in line with an estimate completed in 2010 after EnergySolutions undertook characterization work. DOE delivered the plan after lawmakers in early 2014 directed the Department to use up to $1 million to complete a report and cost estimate on the facility.
Disagreement With Regulator Over End State Creates Cost Uncertainty
However, the DOE report also notes that there remains disagreement between the University of Arkansas and the Arkansas Department of Health over the end state of the project, with the regulator pushing against a plan to leave the facility’s foundation and substructure in place. “The lack of consensus between the project owner and regulators presents a significant risk to the project’s estimated cost, and is an example of many risks that are present that contribute to the significant cost presented in this report,” the DOE report says
That risk was noted by House appropriators. “The report further indicated that there is considerable uncertainty regarding the desired end state for the site and the Department is not a party to the resolution of such matters. Nevertheless, the costs and hazards associated with maintaining this vintage reactor site will continue to grow,” the House report states.
Reactor Inactive Since 1972
SEFOR was used as an experimental fast breeder reactor in the late 1960s to test the suggested inherent safety features of the oxide fuel/sodium cooling configuration, in particular the effect on the core of thermal expansion including in an accident situation. The reactor has been inactive since 1972 and ownership was transferred to the University of Arkansas in 1975. DOE was made responsible for the reactor’s cleanup through the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which put the project under the purview of the DOE Office of Environmental Management and authorized $16 million to be spent on the work. But there was no funding for the project until Fiscal Year 2009, when Congress provided about $2 million to begin site characterization work.
In late 2009, EnergySolutions undertook the characterization work as part of a unique agreement, in which DOE provided funding and the university managed the contract under the primary regulatory authority of the Arkansas Department of Health and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. That effort resulted in a $26 million cost estimate in 2010 for D&D work to return the site to greenfield. However, due to a lack of funds little cleanup has been done since the characterization work wrapped up in 2010.
