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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 responds to SSAB’s waste disposal recommendation

Posted at 12:21 pm August 14, 2014
By Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board Leave a Comment

Submitted

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has responded to a recommendation made earlier this year by the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board.

In May, the federally appointed citizens’ panel recommended that DOE continue to plan for additional on-site waste disposal capacity on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, or ORR, for low-level radioactive and chemically hazardous waste.

DOE currently operates the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, or EMWMF, a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Bear Creek Valley near the Y-12 National Security Complex. When the facility began accepting waste in 2002, it was expected to handle all projected low-level waste from cleanup operations on the ORR. However, with the amount of demolition and work left to complete, EM requires additional disposal capacity onsite.

DOE has conducted a study to develop, screen, and evaluate alternatives for an additional waste disposal facility, with a working name of EM Disposal Facility, or EMDF. ORSSAB’s recommendation encouraged the agency to continue working toward adding disposal capacity and proposed recommendations for a new facility.

The ORSSAB encouraged DOE to minimize the need for additional on-site capacity when possible. In its response, DOE said it was examining the final cover design of the EMWMF to allow for extended capacity. The waste acceptance criteria for other so-called “sanitary landfills” on Chestnut Ridge are being evaluated for possible modifications to allow a wider variety of waste. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Bear Creek Valley, chemically hazardous waste, cleanup operations, demolition, DOE, EM Disposal Facility, EMDF, EMWMF, Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, low-level radioactive waste, low-level waste, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Oak Ridge Reservation, Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board, ORR, ORSSAB, SSAB, U.S. Department of Energy, waste burial, waste disposal, waste disposal facility, Y-12 National Security Complex

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