Olean Times Herald, May 9, 2024 —
With about $160 million spent so far in building demolition, the West Valley Demonstration Project has come a long way in cleaning up the former nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in northern Cattaraugus County — and that progress continues this summer.
That’s the message shared with county legislators Wednesday by Jason Casper, the new president and general manager of CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley, the Department of Energy’s clean-up contractor for the site.
Casper showed county officials photos of the site’s progress on the Main Plant deconstruction, which began in September 2022. He said one of the more complicated aspects of the demolition was the removal of nine liquid waste cell tanks that held contaminated materials — the biggest portion of contamination content still left in the facility.
“All of those tanks have been removed, the biggest one being the 7D-2,” he said. Removing the 20-ton tank was “a significant lift. A big evolution for our workforce to be able to pick it as well as protection from a radiological standpoint.”
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