September 16, 2021 – The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority will offer its annual deer hunting program at the Western New York Nuclear Service Center in the Town of Ashford Oct. 1 through Nov. 19. Approximately 1,500 acres will be open for hunting; participants must register for archery hunting online. Scouting will be available Sept. 25 and 29; participants must register online for scouting. Crossbows will be allowed the last two weeks of archery season (Nov. 6 through 19) for crossbow‐certified hunters aged 14 or older; junior hunters (aged 12‐13) will not be allowed to use crossbows during the crossbow portion of archery (Nov. 6‐19) on NYSERDA’s property. Link to article

September 16, 2021 – With tax breaks, commitments to buy land and millions in aid for infrastructure, a $505 million cheese plant north of the village is expected to break ground in the spring.

…The project is the largest in the company’s history, as well as the largest single private project in the county’s history, Wiktor noted. The only project that cost more is the federal government‐funded nuclear waste cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project with an estimated $5 billion price tag. Link to article

September 7, 2021 – The West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) continues to prepare for the future teardown of the Main Plant Process Building. Beginning demolition of the facility this year is among EM’s ambitious 2021 priorities.

With 98% of the building’s contamination removed over the past two decades, crews with WVDP cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley will address 30% of the remaining contamination embedded in the building’s concrete in the next several months. Any contamination left will be fixed in place and carefully removed during deconstruction of the Main Plant. Link to Update

September 14, 2021 – The West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) recently conducted a graduation ceremony for three security police officers who completed a seven‐week security training course through a first‐time partnership with the local sheriff’s office.

The officers, Travis Radomski, Gregory Jacobs, and Tage Soderlund, would normally take the course at DOE’s National Training Center (NTC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. However, there was no space available for them at the center’s basic security police officer training course this year due to a large number of new recruits from across the DOE complex requiring training. Link to Update

September 1, 2021 – This workshop features Patricia K. Townsend, Ph. D. From her perspective as a social scientist, Dr. Townsend will review highlights of public participation during the six decades of the West Valley nuclear site that had varying degrees of success in making us all safer from dangerous radiation.

Individuals from many walks of life brought their different skills to bear on the challenging decisions of how to proceed in the work of remediating the highly polluted site. Some of those you have heard during this series of programs have been engaged for more than 40 years, others have a newly acquired passion for activism to help protect the Great Lakes region for our descendants. Link to article