EnergySolutions, of Salt Lake City, will clean up and package radioactive waste from the canceled American Centrifuge uranium enrichment demonstration in Piketon, Ohio, according to a document published by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The work will be done for Centrus Energy Corp., which was the Energy Department’s prime contractor on the American Centrifuge demo at DOE’s Portsmouth Site until the facility ceased operations in 2016 — the year after federal funded dried up.
EnergySolutions will treat the low-level mixed waste in its commercially operated facility at DOE’s Oak Ridge site, according to a March 20 letter to the NRC from Centrus. The regulator published the letter online last week. The waste EnergySolutions will handle includes radioactive material regulated by DOE and hazardous waste regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The waste “will require special treatment (macro encapsulation) before burial” at DOE’s Nevada National Security Site, according to the letter from Kelly Wiehle, Centrus’ regulatory manager, to Jean Trefethen, an NRC project manager.
The letter did not include the financial terms of EnergySolutions’ work. Neither EnergySolutions nor Centrus replied to requests for comment this week.
Both classified and unclassified waste from the roughly 1 square-mile American Centrifuge demo are slated for disposal at the Nevada National Security Site, which is operated by DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration.
Most of this waste will be trucked to Nevada, according to Wiehle’s email to Trefethen.
Some of the American Centrifuge waste will be treated and disposed of on site, according to Centrus’ regulatory filings with the NRC.
In a quarterly earnings call with investors in March, Centrus Chief Financial Officer Stephen Greene said American Centrifuge decontamination and decommissioning will be finished by Dec. 31, 2017. The company estimates the teardown will cost about $40 million. It will cost roughly another $40 million to maintain the Piketon building that once housed the demo, and to keep the company’s NRC license to enrich uranium there live through 2019: the date Centrus’ lease with DOE on the Ohio facility expires.
Meanwhile, NRC will meet virtually with Centrus Monday to discuss the results of a year’s worth of oversight at the American Centrifuge plant.
From Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2016, the NRC assessed the American Centrifuge plant “in the categories of safety operations, radiological controls, facility support and other areas.” The commission also evaluated the plant’s security, though it will not discuss that at the public meeting “due to the sensitive nature of the information,” the regulator said last week in press release announcing the virtual meeting.
“The staff review determined that the facility continued to conduct its activities safely and securely, protecting public health and the environment,” the release says. “Because the NRC review found that none of the program areas at the Lead Cascade facility needed improvement, the agency will continue to implement a modified core inspection program due to limited operational activities at the facility until it is transitioned to the decommissioning inspection program.”
Those interested may register to attend the webinar and ask questions of the NRC here.
