West Valley Environmental Service

West Valley Environmental Service

Still Going – The 40th Anniversary of the West Valley Demonstration Project Act

National energy needs flung open the discussion about alternative sources to supply fuel and power in the United States. One focus was on the viability of nuclear energy. The most pressing problem surrounding nuclear energy was the waste products produced.

In addition, there were efforts to use other expensive byproducts produced during various nuclear processes efficiently. Nuclear waste is dangerously toxic to nature and the environment, especially to human beings. If nuclear energy was to prove a viable alternative, something had to be done with this waste.

One important process associated with nuclear fuel was the separation of reusable uranium and plutonium. A facility was already operational and set up for this new emphasis towards expanding nuclear energy's possibilities.

However, that site closed, and the subsequent cleanup process has lasted decades and cost billions. This costly and time-consuming cleanup of the West Valley nuclear reprocessing facility is the West Valley Demonstration Project.

A number of companies and agencies, such as West Valley Environmental Services have either been directly involved or provided assistance to the project. Let's explore the history of the West Valley facility as well as the decades-long process of cleaning up the area to remove the waste.

The Western New York Nuclear Service Center

New York state officials acquired over 3,000 acres in an area near West Valley in 1961. The plan was to build a fully functional industrial area for atomic energy. The entire area set aside for nuclear facilities was called the Western New York Nuclear Service Center.

The first endeavor at the site designated for a multifaceted nuclear service area would ironically be the only operation and the last. Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. launched a commercial reprocessing plant.

Across the next three years, the Atomic Energy Commission of the United States granted permits to parent company W.R. Grace. Permits paved the way for the first shipments of spent nuclear fuel to arrive in 1965.

Reprocessing the spent nuclear fuel started early in 1966. In 1969, the Getty Oil company purchased Nuclear Fuel Services. During the six-year period of operations, the reprocessing plant in West Valley processed spent nuclear reactor fuel.

Up until 1972, when reprocessing operations ended at the West Valley facility, over 4,000 pounds of plutonium and nearly a million and half pounds of uranium were reprocessed. While the recovery process was effective, there was also waste product.

Abandoned – The End of the Western New York Nuclear Service Center

The life of the West Valley nuclear reprocessing center was short. Throughout the six-year period of actual operations, the facility never operated above 18 percent of capacity. However, even this short span created tremendous problems.

The first problem was who would take responsibility for the facility once it was permanently abandoned. During a four-year period after reprocessing operations were shutdown in 1976, there were numerous ideas and solutions presented.

However, as the growing appreciation of the immense amount of toxic contamination became a reality, no one wanted to assume ownership responsibility. Once Nuclear Fuel Services' lease expired in 1980, the property became a problem for New York lawmakers.

New York was now burdened with a vacant property, but that wasn't where the problems began. The problems had materialized over the short six-year period where the West Valley facility was gradually harboring an increasingly large dump of nuclear waste.

By the time the facility stopped operations, it's estimated that 2,400,000 cubic feet of low-level radioactive waste was buried at the West Valley location. No company expressed any interest in assuming ownership of the toxic acreage.

Over the years, it has become increasingly clear why the West Valley nuclear fuel reprocessing plant was the only privately owned facility ever to operate in the United States. While the U.S. Department of Energy has operated such facilities, this was the first and the last.

An Act of Congress

The problem left behind at the West Valley Nuclear Service Center was far worse than many envisioned. It would be a monumental cleanup process. It took an Act of Congress to initiate the process.

Congress passed Public Law 96-368 in 1980. It was named the West Valley Demonstration Project Act. The United States Department of Energy began the arduous job of disposing of the nuclear waste that had accumulated at the West Valley facility.

It would become a project far more difficult that many envisioned. The project would require first decontaminating the material before the site could be decommissioned. As the project began to unfold, it became clear that surrounding property would become an issue.

Late in 1980, the United States Department of Energy partnered with the Energy Research and Development Authority for the state of New York. Experts quickly appreciated that the project would require a great deal of planning and organization to be both effective and safe.

The agreement also opened the door for the U.S. Federal Government to pay for upwards of 90 percent of the costs to cleanup West Valley. New York would fund the other 10 percent. The U.S. Department of Energy took control of the high-security 175 acre section.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) would oversee the remaining acreage to be decommissioned, plus represent New York State's interest in the ongoing project.

The West Valley Nuclear Services Company, Inc. would be given the go ahead to start the decommissioning process in February 1982. Those who foresaw the West Valley Demonstration Project as a highly involved a troublesome process turned out to be correct.

Three-Decades of Cleanup

Across three-decades extensive work would be necessary to decommission the West Valley site. These efforts to rid the area of nuclear contamination are still being finalized over a half-century later, after New York consented to lease the acreage south of Buffalo for nuclear fuel recovery.

West Valley Environmental Services LLC (WVES) was one of the companies that assisted with the environmental cleanup at the West Valley facility. WVES was a unification of four companies, URS Corporation, Jacobs Engineering Group, Environmental Chemical Corporation and Parallaz Energy Solutions.

The U.S. Department of Energy granted a contract to WVES to oversee cleanup operations for a four-year period beginning in June 2007. In 2011, additional funding was provided to the West Valley Demonstration Project via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Cleaning up the remains left behind from operations at the United States' only private nuclear reprocessing plant has been a long and costly ordeal. Here is a timeline look at a venture into America's Atomic Age that has lasted over a half a century.

1966 - Through a contract granted by the U.S. Department of Energy a Nuclear fuel reprocessing plant opens in West Valley. The facility is operated by Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc.

1972 - The West Valley reprocessing facility is closed by Nuclear Fuel Services, but never resumes operations.

1976 - Nuclear Fuel Services returns ownership of the facility and the surrounding acreage to the state of New York.

1980 - The United States Congress passes legislation to target cleanup efforts at the abandoned nuclear reprocessing facility. The legislation is called the West Valley Demonstration Project Act.

1988 - The first treatment begins for high-level nuclear waste.

1999 - The process of nuclear waste vitrification begins at the West Valley facility.

2001 - The first cost estimates for the West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup efforts are released. The initial report estimates costs in excess of $4 billion.

2002 - The vitrification process for removal of high-level nuclear waste at West Valley is completed.

2003 - With high-level waste removal efforts complete, the project's attention now moves to remaining low-level nuclear waste.

2006 - The state of New York sues the United States Department of Energy. The lawsuit requests the court to assess the level of financial and oversight responsibility of the federal government of the continuing efforts to remove nuclear waste from the West Valley facility. The suit also requests the U.S. government be responsible for reimbursing New York for costs to date.

2007 - The U.S. Department of Energy awards a contract to West Valley Environmental Services LLC for continuing the cleanup at West Valley.

2011 - The West Valley Demonstration Project is budgeted an additional $63 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

2011 - Construction of a permeable treatment wall is started to diminish the risk of plume expansion along the north plateau of New York State Route 90.

2014 - The West Valley Demonstration Project is reviewed and deemed to be years from completion.

2019 - The U.S. Congress reauthorizes $75 million per year in additional federal funds to the West Valley Demonstration Project funding continued cleanup efforts through 2026.