Nathan Felosi Archives - Oak Ridge Today

An aerial view of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment. The facility was shut down in 1973, and the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is responsible for keeping it in a safe mode until its demolition is scheduled. (Photo courtesy DOE EM)

The U.S. Department of Energy is upgrading a historic reactor in Oak Ridge to keep the facility safe until it can be demolished.

The reactor, the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, is at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and it was shut down nearly 50 years ago. At some point, the MSRE will be deactivated, and that will save about $5 million in annual operating costs, a press release said.

The work is being overseen by the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

“We have the important responsibility of keeping it safe until major cleanup operations begin,” said Nathan Felosi, EM’s ORNL portfolio federal project director. “The latest round of projects is making sure that’s the case and achieving considerable cost savings to taxpayers.”

[Read more…]

*A view of the demolition of a hot cell inside a protective cover at the former Radioisotope Development Lab at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy UCOR)*

Demolition work at a former radioisotope laboratory in Oak Ridge could be complete this spring.

The U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and UCOR announced earlier this year that UCOR, a contractor, had begun removing the two remaining structures at the former Radioisotope Development Lab at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“This project launches our next phase of major demolition and cleanup at ORNL,” said Nathan Felosi, OREM’s portfolio federal project director for ORNL. “Our work is eliminating contaminated structures, like this one, that are on DOE’s list of high-risk facilities and clearing space for future research missions.”

Known as “hot cells,” the structures being demolished are heavily shielded concrete rooms that provided researchers protection from highly radioactive material during the years the laboratory was operational, a press release said.

[Read more…]

DOE makes upgrades to Molten Salt Reactor Experiment

Demolition work at ORNL radioisotope lab could be complete this spring

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