WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM and its contractor at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) made significant progress in decommissioning the former nuclear fuel reprocessing center this year, with a focus on preparing for high-level waste (HLW) relocation, deactivation and demolition of site facilities and shipment of waste for off-site disposal.

   Safety is the No. 1 priority at the site, and in 2014, CH2M HILL Babcock &Wilcox West Valley, LLC (CHBWV) and its subcontractors achieved a milestone of 20 months and 1 million work hours without lost-time work injury or illness.

   The site earned DOE’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star of Excellence award. DOE launched its VPP in 1994 to encourage and recognize excellence in occupational safety and health protection. The program outlines areas DOE contractors and subcontractors can exceed compliance with DOE orders and Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. It relies on cooperation between managers, employees, and DOE to continuously improve health and safety programs.

   WVDP Director Bryan Bower said the VPP award is an indication of the safety-conscious culture at the site.

   “The West Valley workplace culture encourages safety accountability from its employees, contractors and subcontractors. We look forward to achieving the next million safe work hours,” he said.

The site achieved several accomplishments in support of relocating 275 HLW canisters from the Main Plant Process Building to temporary storage on the HLW cask storage pad, which is scheduled to begin in 2015. Those accomplishments include:

• Construction of the HLW cask storage pad;
• Procurement of packaging and transport equipment; and 
• Fabrication of the first group of robust storage casks.

   The HLW canisters must be removed from the Main Plant Process Building before deactivation and demolition of the building can take place.

   Inside that building and the adjoining Vitrification Facility, workers continued deactivation and hazard reduction preparation for building demolition. Hazard and radiological source reduction and material and debris removal activities were conducted in many areas of the facilities. Workers also completed decontamination and radiological surveys of the Vitrification Facility this year, meeting all Performance Agreement commitments.

   EM and CHBWV also continued to reduce the site’s inventory of legacy stored waste. Workers completed three campaigns to process remote-handled waste — a total of 119 contact-handled waste containers — for off-site disposal shipment. Workers completed 82 off-site disposal shipments containing 3,000 cubic feet of legacy waste and 71,228 cubic feet of newly generated waste. They also started to prepare shipments of the vitrification melter and its components for off-site disposal.

In November, the WVDP team, CHBWV and its subcontractors, and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority delivered more than 125,000 pounds of food to nine local food banks. This accomplishment highlighted the annual WVDP food drive, which has gathered more than 1.5 million pounds of food in its 25-year history.

   “The WVDP’s donations allowed us to serve 60 turkey dinner boxes for the holidays,” said Annie Widger, co-manager of a pantry in nearby Ellicottville. “This donation allowed us to do so much more.”

   Dan Coyne, CHBWV president and general manager, said his team will continue to focus on safe, deliberate work in 2015.

   “We’re proud of our safe work performance, regulatory and environmental compliance, and excellence in radiological work safety,” he said.

   CHBWV’s top three goals for 2015 include:

• Safe, compliant, and cost-efficient work performance;
• Initiate relocation of the 275 HLW canisters to temporary storage on the HLW pad; and
• Completion of Vitrification Facility deactivation