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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

Senate committee rejects proposal to close NOAA lab with Oak Ridge division

Posted at 3:27 pm July 31, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has rejected a Trump administration proposal to close a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration laboratory that has a division in Oak Ridge.

The budget submitted to Congress by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, May 23, had proposed closing NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory. That air research laboratory has a field office in Oak Ridge, the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, on South Illinois Avenue.

But an appropriations bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee in a 30-1 vote on Thursday explicitly rejected the proposed elimination of the Air Resources Laboratory, which is part of NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. (See page 40 here.)

The Senate committee recommended providing at least as much funding for the Air Resources Laboratory in fiscal year 2018 as in fiscal year 2017. Fiscal year 2018 starts October 1.

The bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday is the Fiscal Year 2018 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. It’s not clear when the legislation will be considered by the full Senate. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Government, Slider, Weather Tagged With: air quality modeling, air research laboratory, Air Resources Laboratory, appropriations bill, ARL, ATDD, Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, climate change, Climate Reference Network, Fiscal Year 2018 Commerce Justice Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, NOAA lab, NOAA weather and air chemistry research, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, ORAU, tornado formation, tornadoes, Trump administration, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee

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AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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