Legacy waste containers leave the West Valley Demonstration Project en route to an offsite disposal facility. The ongoing demolition of the site’s Main Plant Process Building can be seen in the background.
WEST VALLEY, N.Y. — EM and contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) have safely disposed of several containers and boxes of legacy waste and equipment from the West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup.
“This accomplishment reduces stored waste at the site and prepares us for the continuation of our cleanup mission,” EM West Valley Project Management Director and Main Plant Federal Project Director Stephen Bousquet said. “By performing this work now, we can use our highly skilled workforce to further reduce legacy risks.”
Crews moved four of the waste packages into containers approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that have steel-reinforced concrete shielding. They sent them by truck to a rail yard in Lockport, New York, where they were loaded onto rail cars and shipped for safe disposal. Each container held water filtering materials from the former Fuel Receiving and Storage facility at the site.
CHBWV workers also successfully shipped two containers that held vessels from a cell of the Main Plant Process Building to an offsite disposal facility. They also shipped seven waste boxes offsite for disposal that contained storage racks and other oversized equipment used during past operations at the site.
“Our team continues to use their combined knowledge to safely and deliberately complete high risk work activities,” CHBWV Waste and Site Operations Manager Peggy Loop said. “I’m proud of their efforts, accomplishments and the work they continue to do on this project.”
-Contributor: Joseph Pillittere
-Source: EM Update Newsletter