September 15, 2022 – The following is a guest article from the United State Department of Energy project director at the West Valley Demonstration Project Bryan Bower.

The U. S. Department of Energy plans to commence the controlled deconstruction of the Main Plant Process Building in September, as part of its ongoing cleanup efforts at the West Valley Demonstration Project site. This facility removal and major milestone is expected to take about three years to complete.

Our dedicated workforce has conducted significant work over the past two decades to prepare the MPPB for deconstruction in a manner that is protective of human health and the surrounding environment. These employees have safely reduced the radioactivity in the facility by over 98 percent through the removal of more than seven miles of contaminated piping and over 50 tons of contaminated equipment. This effort also included the use of liquid nitrogen at up to 60,000 psi (pounds per square inch) to provide an aggressive, yet safe, cleaning application to ensure that deconstruction is safe and protective of the surrounding community. Link to article

September 13, 2022 – EM has updated its popular “By the Numbers” feature, which illustrates cleanup progress at EM sites through quick and clear infographics.

Facts and figures on each major EM site, plus the Savannah River National Laboratory, can be found here
[https://www.energy.gov/em/articles/em‐numbers]. Each site page also features a key look forward, in gold lettering, to an anticipated achievement over the next decade, as described in more detail in the Strategic Vision 2022‐2032 [https://www.energy.gov/em/annual‐priorities‐strategic‐vision], a blueprint to the program’s anticipated accomplishments over the next decade that will protect the public and environment. Link to Update

September 9, 2022 – The West Valley Coalition on Nuclear Wastes and 24 other environmental groups have joined in opposing demolition of the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project without covering the building.

The groups are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislative leaders “to prevent the spread of radioactivity including plutonium across the state and region during the upcoming open‐air demolition of the high‐level nuclear waste reprocessing building. It is slated to be leveled starting this fall without meaningful, timely offsite monitoring.” Link to article

September 8, 2022 – Ray Vaughan is a charter member of the West Valley Citizens Task Force, which was formed in 1978 — prior to the passage of the West Valley Demonstration Project Act of 1980.
Task force members monitor efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and site contractors to clean up the site of the country’s first commercial spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.

Late last month the task force heard a presentation on erosion modeling, which may not sound exciting, but it is at the root of the question about what to do with radioactive waste beneath the surface of the nuclear cleanup site on a plateau overlooking creeks that empty into Lake Erie. Link to article

September 8, 2022 – The West Valley Coalition on Nuclear Wastes and 24 other environmental groups have joined in opposing the demolition of the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project without covering the building. Link to article