The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky lost power for several hours Tuesday, which prompted plant managers to declare an “operational emergency,” according to documents posted on the Energy Department’s Daily Occurrence Reports website.
The site experienced a loss of power to different switchyards because of a problem with a Tennessee Valley Authority electric line serving the plant. An uninterruptible power supply also failed to perform as planned, according to the DOE report.
The event resulted in no injuries or radioactive releases, according to the preliminary DOE information. The outage did last for more than four hours, which complicated the operations of certain alarms at the site, which have a four-hour battery power, according to the DOE report.
Additional information on the event was not immediately available from DOE on Friday morning.
The Paducah site is currently in deactivation. Before being retired in May 2013, the plant had been engaged in uranium enrichment for more than 60 years.
In response to requests for more time, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control has extended by 45 days the public comment period on two draft documents for the planned cleanup of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) site.
Stakeholders now have until Dec. 7 to provide input on DTSC’s draft program environmental impact report (PEIR) and draft program management plan (PMP).
In addition, DTSC said public hearings are planned for Oct. 5 in Simi Valley and Oct. 7 in Chatsworth.
The draft documents concern remediation at the chemically and radioactively contaminated 2,850-acre site in Ventura County. Boeing owns most of the property, but the Energy Department and NASA are also responsible for cleanup of different areas of the facility once for research and development of rocket engines, nuclear energy systems, and other technologies. DOE’s area of responsibility totals about 472 acres.
Plans for Santa Susana’s cleanup have been marked by missed deadlines. The project is still in the planning stages, although actual cleanup was scheduled to have started this year.
The Energy Department has acknowledged it cannot meet the 2017 deadline for soil and groundwater remediation of a portion of the site. One prerequisite for that work to begin, though, is completion of state and DOE environmental assessments – neither of which are finished.
After an August visit fell through, Energy Secretary Rick Perry visited the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant cleanup site on Friday and met with several members of the Ohio congressional delegation.
Sen. Rob Portman (R), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), Rep. Bill Johnson (R) and Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R) had issued a joint statement praising Perry for making his first visit to the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and former American Centrifuge Project facility in Piketon.
Before 2 p.m. on Friday Perry had finished his tour and tweeted his praise for the ongoing cleanup at the Ohio complex.
During a Senate confirmation hearing, Portman had invited Perry to visit the DOE complex in Ohio for a personal inspection of the decontamination and decommissioning there.
Portman and other Ohio lawmakers hope the Trump administration might consider reviving Centrus Energy’s American Centrifuge site, a demonstration plant for advanced uranium enrichment technology that closed in 2016 after the Obama administration Energy Department cut off funding. Centrus is decommissioning the facility. Perry has expressed willingness to revisit DOE’s decision to end the uranium enrichment project in Ohio.
Piketon, Ohio, Mayor Billy Spencer said Wednesday he hoped for a short meeting with Perry to discuss concerns with the DOE strategy for on-site disposal of nuclear waste from demolition and cleanup of the Portsmouth Site’s facilities. The mayor was informed on Thursday, however, that a tight schedule would not allow Perry to meet with him.
