Leak Found at ORNL Research Reactor Pool
WC Monitor
9/12/2014
A leak was discovered this week at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, a nuclear research reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The leak was found at the reactor pool, which is still used to store some irradiated reactor components and other tools and equipment, but both the Department of Energy and site cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, said the situation does not pose any environmental or health risks. UCOR is heading the effort to pinpoint the leak, come up with a plan to fix the situation short term and then recommend some longer term actions to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
UCOR spokesman Allen Schubert said water leaking from the reactor pool is only slightly radioactive. The leak is being collected inside a basin and does not pose any threat outside the building on “Reactor Row” at ORNL’s historic Central Campus. “Obviously, this thing shouldn’t be leaking, and we’re going after it pretty hard to find out why it’s doing that. That’s why we’re treating this pretty seriously. But it absolutely does not pose a threat to anybody,” Schubert said.
Mike Koentop, executive office of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge, said in an email: “DOE and its Oak Ridge cleanup contractor, UCOR, are working to stop a slow seep of water from the Oak Ridge Research Reactor that was discovered (Wednesday) morning. The water contains very low levels of radioactivity and is completely contained within the building. There is no risk to workers, the public or the environment.”
Similar Leak Occurred in 2004
The research reactor has been shut down for more than 25 years, but actual D&D of the facility isn’t scheduled to begin until 2030 or beyond. The Oak Ridge Research Reactor was built in the 1950s, with first operations in 1958. It was Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s main research reactor until the High Flux Isotope Reactor came online in the late 1960s. The ORR was closed in 1987, but it’s still under “surveillance and maintenance” while awaiting eventual decommissioning and cleanup.
The reactor pool currently has about 125,000 gallons of water that’s maintained there for shielding purposes. But officials emphasized that the pool no longer contains any highly radioactive spent fuel. The leak is being monitored around the clock, and the leak rate has reportedly been stable for the past 24 hours. According to internal correspondence, a similar leak occurred at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor in 2004 and was fixed. It’s not immediately clear if the current leak is at the same location or related to the earlier problem.
DOE Wants UCOR to Move Quickly
A high-level team from UCOR and DOE’s Office of Environmental Management toured the reactor facility on Sept. 11 and discussed possible options for moving forward. Sue Cange, the Department of Energy’s acting environmental chief in Oak Ridge, asked UCOR to move forward as speedily as possible. “Given the sensitivity at HQ (Department of Energy headquarters in Washington) to these types of events and the fact that I will be in D.C. tomorrow, I would appreciate it if you would update the fact sheet with any additional information that is collected today so that I can take a copy and provide it to a few key folks at HQ,” Cange said in a message delivered Sept. 11
UCOR informed DOE that the situation at the ORNL reactor was its highest priority and that employees would work through the weekend, as necessary, to “progress toward resolution.” According to Koentop, the leak was discovered during a “walkdown” Sept. 10 by the facility manager as part of the “normal facility oversight duties.” The DOE spokesman said even if the pool were emptied of water, “there would still be no potential for any off-site exposure.” He said the Office of Environmental Management has been evaluating options for removing the irradiated components from the reactor pool.
Sludge Shipments Continue From Sewer Treatment Plant
WC Monitor
9/12/2014
URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, the Department of Energy’s cleanup manager in Oak Ridge, confirmed this week that a sixth shipment of radioactive sludge had been shipped from Oak Ridge to Washington state as part of the continuing campaign to make amends for contamination of the city’s sewage-treatment plant. Each of the shipments so far has been about 5,000 gallons. The treatment plant accidentally became the unwitting recipient of radioactive leaks during UCOR’s demolition of the K-25 building. K-25 is across the Clinch River from the city’s Rarity Ridge sewage facility. The problem was discovered in February, after the radioactive technetium apparently leaked into a pipeline that connected with the sewer line that goes underneath the river to the treatment facility.
As many as 20 truck shipments of hot sludge may be required to get the sewer systems at Oak Ridge back to normal and acceptable levels of radioactivity. “The sewage treatment plant effluent has shown a steady declining rate of Tc-99,” UCOR communications chief Allen Schubert said via email. The fifth shipment of sludge left Oak Ridge on Aug. 7, and the next went out Sept. 8.
The sludge is sent to Perma-Fix Northwest facility in Richland, Wash., for a thermal treatment, and the resulting ashes are to be sent to an EnergySolutions facility in Utah for disposal. “UCOR, along with the city of Oak Ridge, are evaluating the levels in the sludge from each shipment to trend the concentrations to forecast when the project will be complete,” Schubert said.
