Olean Times Herald, June 26, 2024 —

When you think of the word “demolition,” the first thing that you probably think of is a giant wrecking ball swinging into a building.

As young adults, we were enthralled by watching these types of demolitions on television or in our own communities. The biggest thrill was wanting to be the individual operating the heavy equipment. Operating heavy equipment and knocking down buildings was seen as being cool and fun to do for a living.

Fast forward to the present day and reality sets in — taking down buildings and structures with radiological, chemical and industrial hazards is no easy task. Those days of thinking this work was just cool and fun have now been replaced with work that is challenging, controlled and deliberate.

When taking down contaminated buildings or structures, you must work around heavy construction equipment, in areas with radiological, industrial and hazardous materials, in changing conditions and all sorts of weather.

If you ask any employee who is working on the deconstruction of the West Valley Demonstration Project’s Main Plant Process Building if this work is cool or fun, they will probably tell you it’s not, especially on days when difficult environmental conditions exist, or radiological conditions slow the work to a crawl.

However, as a management team, we hope they feel proud of what they accomplish daily and that it is admirable because they are reducing legacy risks for generations to come. These employees must endure many difficult conditions such as wearing multiple layers of protective clothing and respirators, which makes it more difficult to work.

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Springville Journal, June 20, 2024 — CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, the prime contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy, safely removed and packaged for disposal another massive component from the Main Plant Process Building recently as part of the facility’s ongoing demolition at the West Valley Demonstration Project.

The vent washer weighed approximately 15,000 pounds and was approximately seven feet wide, 20 feet long and more than seven feet high. Its removal comes after EM crews successfully cleared the “Green Giant” from the facility. Painted green decades ago, it was a system that held samples from various vessels used in former spent fuel reprocessing operations at West Valley. It weighed 1,100 pounds, with 75,000 pounds of steel and lead shield plates on the outside of it.

“The West Valley Demonstration Project team continues to make great progress in the demolition of the Main Plant as part of our cleanup efforts,” Stephen Bousquet, EM West Valley assistant director of Project Management, said of the vent washer removal.

The vent washer filtered airborne particulates from ventilated air before it passed through HEPA filters and was exhausted through the Main Stack during spent fuel reprocessing operations. The airborne particles originated from sawing and shearing of fuel rods and the ventilation flow from other cells and reprocessing equipment, including ventilation hoods in the Main Plant.

“This all comes down to deliberate speed and comprehensive planning,” Bousquet said. “Developing a comprehensive plan that defines the work, analyzes the hazards, develops controls and utilizes feedback and lessons learned helped this evolution to be safe and successful.”

The vent washer is one of more than 120 items at the Main Plant identified by EM requiring special handling and packaging for disposal.

Crews added a cement mixture known as grout to the vent washer to fix and stabilize internal contamination before pulling it from the Main Plant.

The vent washer was safely taken out of the Ventilation Wash Room through the Main Plant’s west wall. It was then placed in a custom-built waste package, bringing the total weight to more than 135,000. Moving that load posed a challenge to workers, but they did so safely and successfully through special rigging and material handling. The heavily shielded waste box will be disposed of at an offsite facility.

Scott Chase, deputy manager for Facility Disposition for EM cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, echoed Bousquet’s sentiment.

“This is the most physically challenging work at the site when you include radiological and industrial hazards, layers of protective clothing and limited mobility,” Chase said. “This crew used lessons learned and planning to enhance safety and improve efficiency. They put their collective knowledge into practice to complete this work evolution safely.”

The Main Plant is one of the last remaining major facilities at West Valley. Its successful demolition will further reduce environmental risks and position the site for the next phase in cleanup. The demolition is expected to be completed in fiscal year 2025.

EM Update, June 18, 2024 —

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) and its cleanup contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project drew from innovation and teamwork to create a 3D model of the Main Plant Process Building currently undergoing demolition.

Created with the help of onsite engineers and a contracted company, the 3D model shows everything from walls and support beams to equipment and piping.

“The West Valley team used collaboration and inclusion to their advantage when developing this innovative tool,” EM West Valley Project Management Assistant Director Stephen Bousquet said. “This tool helps our team to be safer as they continue to deconstruct the Main Plant in a methodical and deliberate manner.”

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Springville Journal, June 13, 2024 — CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley celebrated more than 10 years of safe and compliant cleanup activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project. Since August 2011, CHBWV, the Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor, has continued to accelerate cleanup, eliminate potential environmental hazards and reduce the footprint and life-cycle costs at the site.
Jason Casper, CHBWV President and General Manager stated, “The work performed since 2011 has changed the landscape of the site forever; and is an important accomplishment in the progress to decommission the site. This effort shows that robust engineering controls coupled with state-of-the-science monitoring can accomplish the safe removal of
nuclear facilities.”

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Olean Times Herald, June 12, 2024 —

WEST VALLEY — CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) is celebrating more than 10 years of safe and compliant cleanup activities at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP).

Since August 2011, the Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor has continued to accelerate cleanup, eliminate potential environmental hazards and reduce the footprint and life-cycle costs at the site.

“The work performed since 2011 has changed the landscape of the site forever and is an important accomplishment in the progress to decommission the site,” said Jason Casper, CHBWV President and General Manager.

“This effort shows that robust engineering controls coupled with state-of-the-science monitoring can accomplish the safe removal of nuclear facilities.”

Under their contract, CHBWV has completed a number of major accomplishments, including packaging and shipping the vitrification melter (160 tons) and two large vitrification components (180 tons and 150 tons) off-site for safe disposal.

Cres relocated 278 high-level waste canisters to an onsite storage pad — the first time in U.S. history — and vitrified high-level waste (HLW), a liquid waste converted into a glass substance, was placed into interim storage, outdoor passive storage.

CHBWV completed the disposition of more than 180,000 cubic feet of low-level legacy waste produced from past cleanup activities and demolished the 01-14 Cement Solidification Facility, the Vitrification Facility — the first Vitrification

Facility in the country to be successfully constructed, operated and demolished — and seven ancillary support structures surrounding the Main Plant Process Building, including the Manipulator Repair Shop, Contact Size-Reduction Facility, Laundry Facility, Utility Room Building, Utility Room Extension building, Load-In/Load-Out Building and Main Plant Office Building.

Crews deactivated the Main Plant Process Building, including the removal of seven miles of piping and over 50 tons of equipment, and removed 110 feet of the Main Plant Process Building’s ventilation stack, weighing more than 20,000 pounds.

CHBWV deployed a liquid nitrogen decontamination system (Nitrocision®) to effectively scabble highly contaminated concrete from the Product Purification Cell walls.

Crews demolished and restored the area of 46 balance of site facilities that were no longer needed for current or future cleanup activities, including the Administrative Office Building, Liquid Pretreatment System building and Chemical Process Cell-Waste Storage Area building.

CHBWV safely shipped 2,976 cubic feet of hazardous/universal waste; 281,224 cubic feet of industrial waste; 24,173 cubic feet of mixed low-level waste; and 2,971,846 cubic feet of low-level waste.

Crews completed infrastructure improvement to support future clean-up with the installation of a new potable water system, a new electric substation, a new natural gas line, a new guardhouse and restoration of the rail line servicing the site.

As CHBWV continues the deconstruction of the Main Plant Process Building, which started in September 2022; crews have passed the 50% completion mark while maintaining safety and compliance.

Beyond their work at the West Valley site, CHBWV employees and officials supported the community with annual outreach initiatives, including $90,000 in community service donations, $12,000 in other community donations, collecting 100,000 pounds of food for nine local pantries in the Thanksgiving food drive; $12,000 during the United Way campaign and 350 toys collected for Toys For Tots.

“These accomplishments demonstrate the importance of putting safety first, solid communication, teamwork and best practices,” said Kelly Wooley, CHBWV Deputy General Manager. “The CHBWV Team was deliberate in the planning and execution of this work, which resulted in the safe and compliant completion of challenging and high-risk cleanup activities. This is a proud moment for our team and the work they continue to do at the WVDP.”

Throughout all of this work, employee safety and the protection of the environment remain the top priority, officials said. Workers continue to use extensive measures to prevent the spread of radioactive contamination and safety professionals provide continuous monitoring and sampling during cleanup activities.

This work at the site has been accomplished while working among heavy construction equipment, in areas with radiological, industrial and hazardous materials and in changing weather conditions, CHBWV officials said.

CHBWV manages and operates the WVDP under contract to DOE. The CHBWV team is comprised of Jacobs, BWX Technologies (BWXT) and the Environmental Chemical Corporation (ECC).