Final phase

in 1980, the U.S. Congress established the West Valley Demonstration Project, a massive cleanup of high-level liquid radioactive waste at the nation's only commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing facility. By 2002, the nuclear waste was packaged and ready for shipment to a repository site. Final decontamination and deactivation of the facility began in July 2002.

The cleanup team, led by Project Manager David K. Ploetz, was charged with removing more than 35 years' worth of equipment and debris from the facility's fuel receiving and storage (FRS) site for spent nuclear fuel. With an extremely high degree of danger involved, project leaders exhausted readiness procedures, including extensive digital tours of the facilities, a full-scale mock-up of the intricate procedures and numerous run-throughs to determine the proper removal sequences. The rigorous training paid off: Personnel exposure to radiation was cut to one-third of the total expected exposure, and the project team exceeded productivity scales.

The project was completed five weeks ahead of schedule, and the surface decontamination levels fell below targeted limits. As a result, the PMI Buffalo, N.Y., USA Chapter named it its 2003 project of the year.

Project: West Valley Demonstration Project

Key Stakeholders: West Valley Nuclear Services Co.; New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Scope: Decontaminate and deactivate nuclear waste management facility in West Valley, N.Y., USA

Start Date: July 2002

End Date: 23 May 2003—five weeks ahead of schedule

Budget: $3.4 million

FUEL STORAGE POOL

	The 800,000-gallon pool, which was designed to hold 924 spent nuclear fuel canisters, underwent a two-phase drainage. The first removed 180,000 gallons, after which the project team manually scrubbed and coated the pool walls to limit contamination.
	An additional fixative coating was used to better meet DOE standards. The fixative, dyed blue to establish treated and untreated surface, caused pool water discoloration, which limited visibility. Team members installed a filtration system to counteract the foggy water
	The second drainage phase removed more than 600,000 gallons at a rate of up to 30 gallons per minute.
	Heavy levels of sediment sat on the pool floor, up to one foot thick. The project team conducted two test runs of remote vacuuming within 75-square-feet sections of the 40 × 75-foot pool floor
	The project team says the pilot runs enabled debris removal in nine shifts; in 1987, debris removal of the same size required 30 vacuuming shifts.

PROCESS MECHANICAL CELL

	An underwater tunnel to the process mechanical cell [PMC] served as the interface with the facility's main plant. A video inspection of the PMC's underside revealed that a portion of it had been damaged in several spots. The project team installed ventilation barriers to maintain pressure so it could properly seal the PMC.
	Avoiding the costly and risky option of designing remote technologies, the project team contracted a nuclear diving company to seal the PMC hatch and remove remaining debris and sludge.
	Given the high degree of danger involved, project leaders exhausted their readiness procedures, including an additional digital tour of the PMC, a full-scale mock-up of the foaming procedure and two dry runs to determine the proper diver-decontamination process.
	The rigorous training paid off: The sealing procedure was expected to require more than 15 dives, but all work was completed in five. Personnel exposure to radiation was cut to one-third of the total expected exposure.

CASK UNLOADING POOL

	This stainless steel-lined concrete pool housed spent fuel canisters set for loading or unloading. Discarded cask liners—stainless steel containers for shipping failed fuel assemblies—had to be removed and packaged for disposal. Due to the risk of airborne contamination, the project team sprayed the casks with high-pressure water prior to removing them from the pool water.
	Eight cask liners and the cask liner rack were removed and placed in a waste receptacle, but three highly radioactive casks remained. They eventually were shielded with steel and packaged for removal.
	Four empty debris barrels also were set for removal, but a compacted filter blocked a clear abstraction. Project team members utilized remote tools to remove the filter and replace it with a recirculating pump to remove sediment.
	The project team members incorporated lessons learned from the first two barrels, cutting removal time by two-thirds for the third and fourth barrels.