Closing the Fuel Cycle Through Vitrifi cation The West Valley Demonstration Project

The West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) demonstratedclosure of the commercial nuclear fuel cycle in the United States.However, these closure processes are not being used in the UnitedStates even though they are currently taking place in France,United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, and India. Instead of reprocessingspent nuclear fuel, spent fuel assemblies in the U.S. are beingstored underwater in pools and in highly shielded dry storagecasks, awaiting shipment to a federal repository.The WVDP is located on the Western New York Nuclear ServiceCenter approximately thirty miles south of Buffalo, New York,and was the only functional U.S. commercial spent fuel reprocessingfacility. Approximately 640 metric tons of commercial anddefense fuels were reprocessed using the PUREX and THOREXprocesses. More than 97 percent of the uranium and plutonium inthe spent fuel was recovered and returned to government and commercialfacilities to recycle these materials into new fuel. The reprocessingfacilities operated from 1966 to 1972. High-level wastes(HLW) resulting from the reprocessing operations were left in storageat the site following discontinuing plant operations.In 1980, the West Valley Demonstration Project Act wassigned, directing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to cleanup the site and remove most of the hazardous wastes left behind.Under the WVDP Act, the remaining spent fuel assemblies wereshipped offsite, certain plant cells were cleared of highly radioactiveequipment to reuse these areas for HLW processing, andthe HLW liquids and sludge were pretreated to remove the bulkof the chemicals that were not compatible with the conversionof HLW to borosilicate glass. The pretreated HLW was vitrifi edinto a stable borosilicate glass form that was packaged in stainlesssteel canisters. Additionally, the majority of the former reprocessingplant’s equipment was decommissioned, dismantled, packaged,and shipped for disposal. The vitrifi cation facility wherethe HLW was converted into a stable glass was then dismantledwith its equipment decommissioned, packaged, and shipped fordisposal except for certain major equipment that will be shippedover the next few years. Demolition of a number of site facilitieshas already taken place with more to follow in the next six years,including taking the main plant processing building and the vitrification facility down to ground level. To accomplish this, theHLW canisters need to be relocated from storage in the former reprocessingfacility to a modular above-ground storage facility. Thecanisters will be stored in a shipment-ready confi guration awaitingaccess to the federal repository for HLW and spent nuclear fuel.Phase I decommissioning of the former reprocessing facility andsupport facilities constructed under the WVDP is planned to becomplete by 2018, with the remaining facilities to be decommissioned,demolished, and dispositioned in the follow-on Phase IIeffort. Completion of these Phase I and II activities will mark thecomplete closure of the fuel cycle at the West Valley site.