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DOE plans to demolish world’s oldest operating nuclear facility

Posted at 4:12 pm March 9, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Building 3019, the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world, is pictured above at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to demolish the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world.

The cleanup and demolition of Building 3019 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could start sometime around 2030.

But the work won’t start until more than 500 canisters of uranium-233 stored in the building have been processed and removed, possibly by 2025.

More than 70 years old, Building 3019 was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs.

From 1943-1976, the building was used as a pilot plant to test radiochemical processes before they were used on a large scale at other nuclear facilities.

Now Building 3019 stores the nation’s inventory of uranium-233. Processing and removing that uranium is the top cleanup priority at ORNL because, among other things, storing the highly enriched fissile nuclear material increases security costs and creates nuclear safety issues. The cleanup work is being done by DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor Isotek.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: DOE, Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: actinium-225, atomic bomb, Building 2026, Building 3019, DOE, Jim Bolon, Manhattan Project, nuclear facility, nuclear material, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board, ORNL, TerraPower, thorium-229, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium-233, World War II

Updated: TerraPower, Isotek extracting cancer treatment materials from U-233 at ORNL

Posted at 11:50 am November 22, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

DOE EM ORNL Pumping Uranyl Nitrate Solution into Resin Columns
TerraPower, a company that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates helped launch in 2006, is working with Isotek Systems LLC, a federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, to extract rare isotopes from nuclear materials for cancer treatment and research. Pictured above is a uranyl nitrate solution being pumped into resin columns. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

Note: This story was last updated at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 25.

A company that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates helped launch in 2006 is working with a federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge to extract rare isotopes from nuclear materials for cancer treatment research.

The project will significantly increase the number of cancer treatment doses available each year, federal officials and company executives said Friday. It will help remove highly enriched fissile nuclear material from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and save taxpayers an estimated $90 million, the officials and executives said. And it will recycle an isotope that would otherwise be “irretrievably lost” as the nuclear material, uranium-233, is converted into a disposal-ready form.

The U.S. Department of Energy, Isotek Systems LLC, and TerraPower celebrated with an announcement of the project in Oak Ridge on Friday morning.

TerraPower, which is based in Bellevue, Washington, where Gates is chairman, is particularly interested in actinium-225. That isotope can be extracted from thorium-229. The thorium will be removed from the fissile material, the uranium-233 stored at ORNL, by the federal cleanup contractor, Isotek.

The unique agreement, a public-private partnership, is expected to allow TerraPower the ability to make 100 times more actinium-225-based cancer treatment doses per year than the 4,000 doses that are currently available worldwide. TerraPower could first offer actinium-225 in late 2020, company executives said.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, DOE, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Slider Tagged With: actinium-225, alpha particles, alpha-emitting isotope, Atkins, Bill Gates, Building 3019, cancer treatment, Chris Levesque, Chuck Fleischmann, DOE, Isotek Systems LLC, isotope, Jay Mullis, Jeff Latkowski, Jim Bolon, monoclonal antibodies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, ORNL, Sandy Taylor, SNC-Lavalin, TerraPower, thorium-229, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium-233

Cleanup workers start processing U-233 powder at ORNL

Posted at 5:43 pm October 22, 2019
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge U-233 Glovebox Installation Oct 2019
Workers at Oak Ridge install new gloveboxes to begin processing a portion of uranium-233 a year ahead of schedule. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

Workers have begun processing a powder form of uranium-233 a year ahead of schedule as part of a larger environmental management, or cleanup, project to process and dispose of the remaining inventory of the nuclear material stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

It’s the highest priority cleanup project at ORNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory.

Isotek is the contractor responsible for processing and disposing of the uranium-233 inventory at ORNL. The work eliminates the need to use Building 3019, which is the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world, for storage of the material, according to DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM.

In the 1970s and 1980s, nuclear facilities sent liquid uranium-233 to ORNL, and the site converted it into an oxide form, known as Oak Ridge Oxide, which is more stable for storage, OREM said in an “EM Update” newsletter published Tuesday. Some of the material was shipped to facilities for use as fuel in reactors. However, most of it was stored at ORNL until workers were able to dispose of it.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Top Stories Tagged With: Building 3019, DOE, environmental management, Isotek, Jim Bolon, nuclear material, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Oak Ridge Oxide, ORNL, Sarah Schaefer, U-233, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium-233

About half of uranium-233 waste shipped from Building 3019 at ORNL

Posted at 10:13 pm November 26, 2017
By John Huotari 1 Comment

CEUSP Canister

At left is a picture of an actual 24-inch steel canister of waste from the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Program. At right is a representation of the canister interior. (File photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Environmental Management)

About half of the uranium-233 waste stored in Building 3019 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been shipped to a disposal facility in Nevada.

The shipments were completed in August, said Jay Mullis, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

But federal officials were only recently able to announce the end of the shipments of the waste from the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Program, or CEUSP. The waste contained radioisotopes of uranium from a 1960s research and development test of thorium and uranium reactor fuel at the Consolidated Edison Indian Point-1 reactor in New York. The test was sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The shipments were completed 10 months ahead of schedule, Mullis told the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on Wednesday, November 8. The CEUSP waste had been treated and turned into a ceramic matrix. It was shipped from Building 3019 at ORNL, where it had been stored, to the Nevada National Security Site, a former nuclear weapons proving ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. DOE started shipping the waste materials to the Nevada National Security Site in May 2015. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Atomic Energy Commission, Ben Williams, Building 2026, Building 3019, CEUSP, CEUSP waste, Consolidated Edison Indian Point-1, Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Program, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Isotek Systems LLC, Jay Mullis, low-level waste, Nevada National Security Site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board, ORNL, U-233, U-233 waste, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, uranium-233

DOE disposing of uranium-233 waste stored at ORNL

Posted at 7:55 pm August 27, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

ORNL CEUSP Waste Shipping

During training, workers removed a type of shipping cask that was expected to be used to transport 403 canisters of uranium-tainted waste from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas. (File photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Environmental Management)

 

This story was updated at 5 p.m. Aug. 30.

They haven’t agreed on a final budget number, but the Trump administration and the U.S. House and Senate have proposed spending between about $33 million and $52 million in the next fiscal year to continue disposing of uranium-233 waste materials that are stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a building that is the oldest continuously operating nuclear facility in the U.S. Department of Energy complex.

The uranium-233, or U-233, waste is now stored in secure vaults in Building 3019, which was built in the 1940s at ORNL. Removing the waste could allow ORNL to relax its overall security posture, which will reduce costs, eliminate nuclear safety issues, and make the campus more conducive to collaborative science, according to a U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee report published in July.

Some of the waste is from a 1960s research and development test in New York, and it is being shipped to the Nevada National Security Site, a former nuclear weapons proving ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. In interviews this summer, DOE officials in Oak Ridge declined to discuss the amount of that waste that has been shipped to Nevada or to say how long the shipments might continue. But they are making progress, said Jay Mullis, acting manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

Once all of those materials are shipped, the remaining U-233 at ORNL will be treated in “hot cell” facilities across the street from Building 3019, at Building 2026. The DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management owns both buildings.

Mullis said there is other U-233 waste stored in Building 3019, including from glovebox research at ORNL, from reactor plates, and from conglomerate materials. [Read more…]

Filed Under: DOE, Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Area 5, Ben Williams, Brian Sandoval, Building 2026, Building 3019, CEUSP, CEUSP low-level waste, CEUSP waste, Consolidated Edison Indian Point-1, Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Program, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, DNFSB, DOE, EMWMF, Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, Ernest Moniz, House appropriations bill, Isotek Systems LLC, Jay Mullis, low-level waste, Mark Whitney, Nevada National Security Site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Oak Ridge Reservation, Office of Environmental Management, Office of Science, Office of Secure Transportation, ORNL, Senate, Senate appropriations bill, Trump administration, U-233, U-233 disposition, U-233 processing, U-235, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. House, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, uranium, uranium-233, uranium-233 waste, uranium-233 waste materials, uranyl nitrate, UT-Battelle

DOE: Pavement collapse at ORNL a significant distance from U-233 storage area

Posted at 12:23 pm August 8, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A pavement collapse at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in early June was a significant distance from an area where uranium-233 is stored at Building 3019, the U.S. Department of Energy said Monday.

The collapse of about 36 square feet of pavement was near Building 3019B, which is an inactive facility, the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management said.

The hot cells in the facility were not affected, and they do not contain radioactive material, DOE said.

“There were no immediate safety hazards to personnel, but as a precaution, the area was barricaded until crews made repairs,” DOE said.

Uranium-233, or U-233, is a fissionable material, and Building 3019 area is a secure and controlled area. The pavement collapse was reported by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on June 19. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Ben Williams, Building 3019, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, DNFSB, DOE, hot cell, Isotek Systems LLC, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Office of Science, ORNL, pavement collapse, U-233, U-233 storage, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium-233, UT-Battelle

Nevada, feds agree to discuss landfill concerns, including ORNL radioactive waste

Posted at 1:54 pm December 29, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

ORNL CEUSP Waste Shipping

Workers train to remove a type of shipping cask that would be used to transport 403 canisters of uranium-tainted waste from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas. (Photos courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Environmental Management)

 

A new group of state and federal workers that was announced Tuesday could discuss contentious waste-related issues that include concerns over shipping low-level radioactive waste from a World War II-era building in Oak Ridge to a federal landfill in Nevada.

The new group, which will include senior-level state and federal employees, was announced in a six-page agreement, a memorandum of understanding signed last week by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.

The talks started more than a year ago, after Sandoval sent a letter to Moniz expressing concerns over the proposed disposal of the radioactive waste at the Nevada National Security Site, a former nuclear weapons proving ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

CEUSP Canister

At left is an actual 24-inch steel canister. At right is a representation of the canister interior.

The waste contains radioisotopes of uranium from the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project. It originated from a 1960s research and development test of thorium and uranium reactor fuel in New York. It is stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Building 3019—the oldest continuously operating nuclear facility in the Department of Energy complex—in 403 ceramic-like uranium oxide monoliths. Each of the monoliths is bonded to the inside of a steel canister about 3.5 inches in diameter and about two feet long. [Read more…]

Filed Under: National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada National Security Site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Area 5, Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site, Brian Sandoval, Building 3019, burial, CEUSP, Consolidated Edison Indian Point-1, Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project, Darwin Morgan, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, DOE, Energy Department, Ernest Moniz, landifll, Las Vegas, LLW, low-level radioactive waste, Mark Whitney, memorandum of understanding, National Environmental Policy Act, Nevada, Nevada National Security Site, NNSS, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Environmental Management, Office of Secure Transportation, ORNL, radioactive waste, radioisotopes, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium, uranium oxide

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