Work on Leaking Reactor Pool to Begin In May
WC Monitor
2/13/2015
Cleanup actions at an old and leaking reactor pool at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are expected to begin in May, the Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge, LLC, said this week. UCOR is evaluating bids for the work package, which would include removing the radioactive components stored in the pool and ultimately draining the 125,000 gallons of water from the reactor pool at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, UCOR spokeswoman Anne Smith said this week. The water had provided shielding for the radioactive materials.
The reactor, once a research mainstay at the laboratory, has been shut down since the late 1980s. The pool was discovered to be leaking late last year, although there reportedly had been problems with leaks for over the decade prior to that. “Our plan remains to remove the highly irradiated components, put shielding over the pool, and then drain the water,” Smith said via email. “UCOR is in the middle of a procurement process and has obtained competitive bids from outside vendors to remediate the irradiated components. The evaluation of those bids is currently underway.”
Smith said UCOR’s project team continues to monitor the leaking pool and collects the slightly radioactive water and disposes of it. “The seepage rate from the pool (about 100 drops per minute) has not changed since it was first discovered,” she said. The actions to be taken at the reactor should eliminate worries about future leaks, which is important because the actual decommissioning and decontamination of the old reactor site isn’t scheduled to begin until sometime in the 2030s.
ORAU Earns $3.47 Million in FY 2014 Fee
WC Monitor
2/13/2015
Oak Ridge Associated Universities received a performance score of 94 and a total fee of $3.47 million for its management of DOE’s Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education in Fiscal Year 2014. The work covers a range of responsibilities, from evaluations of environmental cleanup to training and response for nuclear accidents to university partnerships with national laboratories and support for science education initiatives. “ORAU’s performance met expectations in contributing to DOE mission goals,” Johnny Moore, the Oak Ridge site manager who oversees the government contract, said in a Feb. 3 letter to ORAU President Andy Page.
Moore cited many accomplishments in the letter, including ORAU’s support of more than 7,000 people involved with research projects. He said ORAU had been an “effective partner” for DOE’s Office of Science. “Although there were many instances where ORAU went above and beyond in these areas,” Moore stated, “there were several issues identified by program sponsors during the period that require attention and resolution.” The ORAU contract is due to expire at the end of the year, and DOE has announced plans to put it out for competition. ORAU has said it will submit a proposal.
