EM News Flash | Dec. 8, 2016

The three vitrification components are shown unloaded at Waste Control Specialists LLC in Andrews, Texas. EM’s West Valley Site Safely Relocates, Disposes of Vitrification Equipment  WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM has completed the safe relocation and disposal of three oversized containers that once held equipment used to solidify radioactive waste at the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) in New York.    MHF Services transported the steel packages — each weighing at least 150 tons — by heavy haul truck from West Valley to a rail yard in Blasdell, N.Y.  From there they were shipped by dedicated rail for disposal at Waste Control Specialists LLC in Andrews, Texas. The delivery of the components was completed on Dec. 1. Workers in Blasdell, N.Y. move the components from truck to rail for shipment to Waste Control Specialists LLC in Andrews, Texas.    Safe shipment of the waste containers is a significant milestone in the WVDP cleanup. The vessels shipped to Waste Control Specialists included the 195-ton melter used in the vitrification process that converted liquid waste into a glass substance in a demonstration program from 1996 to 2002.       Two tanks were also transported: The 167-ton Concentrator Feed Make-Up tank, which mixed the waste with glass-forming chemicals, and the 150-ton Melter Feed Hold Tank, which stored and transferred the waste mixture to the melter. The equipment was decontaminated in 2004, prior to being removed from the vitrification facility at the site.    In 2012, DOE determined the former process equipment met the criteria for disposal as low-level radioactive waste. A tank used for waste vitrification is transported to a rail station in New York state for shipment to a Waste Control Specialists LLC in Andrews, Texas.    “I am proud of the workers who undertook the vital task of preparing these large components to be relocated and disposed, and then carried out the job successfully and, more important, safely,” said Bryan Bower, federal director of WVDP.         WVDP is an environmental cleanup and waste management project located about 35 miles south of Buffalo, N.Y. The project is conducted by DOE in cooperation with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley, LLC manages and operates the project under contract with DOE.