March 2, 2021 – EM and cleanup contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) recently installed a long‐reach arm on an excavator for ease of access in the demolition of the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP).

The new arm extends the excavator’s reach from 50 feet to 86 feet, allowing the operator to get to the plant’s highest point of 79 feet. Crews also added a new tilt cab to the excavator to improve the operator’s view when performing highreach work. Link to article

March 3, 2021 – Tucked away in the hills of Cattaraugus County, a the former Nuclear Fuel Services reprocessing facility is generally out of‐sight and out‐of‐mind for most Western New Yorkers. It’s a different story for those who worked there. Opened in 1966, the facility handled over 630 tons of radioactive fuel during its short life. Phil Gambini of Investigative Post has taken a closer look at how workers have been impacted and how they could be helped. Link to article

March 2, 2021 – David Pyles says he lives on painkillers and moves with the help of a cane and walker. He worked for five years at the West Valley Demonstration Project, a failed experiment to process spent nuclear fuel.

“What we were doing was insane. We were dealing with so much radiation,” he told Investigative Post from his home in New Hampshire.

“I’ve got absolutely no joints left in my knees — my knees are gone, my ankles are gone and my hips are gone,” he said. “I wonder if it’s from working in that bathtub full of radiation.” Link to article

March 1, 2021 (UPDATED March2) – You Tube video, “Cancer plagues West Valley nuke workers”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO_caWspN7E&t=25s

David Pyles says he lives on painkillers and moves with the help of a cane and walker. He worked for five years at the West Valley Demonstration Project, a failed experiment to process spent nuclear fuel.

“What we were doing was insane. We were dealing with so much radiation,” he told Investigative Post from his home in New Hampshire. Link to article

March 1, 2021 – David Pyles says he lives on painkillers and moves with the help of a cane and walker. He worked for five years at the West Valley Demonstration Project, a failed experiment to process spent nuclear fuel.

“What we were doing was insane. We were dealing with so much radiation,” he told Investigative Post from his home in New Hampshire.

“I’ve got absolutely no joints left in my knees — my knees are gone, my ankles are gone and my hips are gone,” he said.

“I wonder if it’s from working in that bathtub full of radiation.”

Pyles was one of about 200 full‐time employees who operated the former Nuclear Fuel Services reprocessing facility five decades ago in the hamlet of West Valley, where the company partnered with the federal government to recycle used radioactive fuel. Other workers were hired to contain and dispose of the dangerous waste the operation left behind. Link to article