Department of Energy contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) has removed virtually all the waste generated from demolition of the vitrification plant at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state.
About 460 containers of debris have been sent from the site at the town of Ashford to off-site facilities, the Energy Department said Tuesday. Waste from components inside the plant were sent to a former Alaron site in Pennsylvania operated by Veolia.
West Valley occupies about 200 acres within the 3,300-acre Western New York Nuclear Service Center. Between 1996 and 2002, the vitrification plant converted roughly 600,000 gallons of liquid high-level waste and sludge left by reprocessing into a glass-like substance inside 275 stainless steel canisters. The containers are now held on an interim storage pad at the site.
CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley started work on its $543 million contract for Phase 1 decommissioning in in August 2011. The work includes tearing down structures and removing the resulting waste. The deal expires in March 2020; last October, DOE issued a request for information as part of market research for a future Phase 1B environmental remediation solicitation.
