The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) this month formally determined that the site of the now-decommissioned Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor (SEFOR) can be released for unrestricted use.
Contractor EnergySolutions completed decommissioning the facility in April. While the University of Arkansas owns the reactor site, the work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Department of Health staff reviewed the final status survey report for SEFOR and conducted on-site surveys, according to a June 3 letter from Jared Thompson, manager of the state agency’s Radioactive Materials Program, to Michael Johnson, associate vice chancellor for university facilities management. An independent laboratory also analyzed soil samples for remaining radioactive contamination.
“It was determined that the site does not have residual radioactive material in excess of the ADH’s unrestricted release guidelines,” Thompson wrote.
The state has specifically found that residual radioactivity that can be differentiated from background radiation would generate an annual total dose effective equivalent of no more than 25 millirem, according to Thompson. Cleanup at the property has dropped radioactive contamination levels to the lowest reasonable levels, he added.
The 600-acre site in Washington County is thus made available for other use and removed from its state license for possession and use of radioactive materials, the Health Department official said. The university has not determined how it will use the property, a spokesman said.
The 1960s-era reactor was initially used by a set of utilities to collect data regarding the design and operation of commercial-scale sodium-cooled nuclear reactors. The university acquired the plant in 1975, but only operated it for a year for calibration and testing of nuclear gear. The reactor was placed into safe-storage mode, with the Energy Department assuming responsibility for decommissioning under the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
Starting in 2010, the $25 million decommissioning occurred in phases as federal funding was made available.
