NRC, FIRM TO DISCUSS PROPOSED CHANGE TO DECOMMISSIONING PLAN
FOR FORMER NUCLEAR MATERIALS SITE IN WINDSOR, CONN.
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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and representatives of ABB, Inc., will meet on Friday, Sept. 14, to discuss the company’s plans to supplement the decommissioning plan for a former nuclear materials site in Windsor (Hartford County), Conn.  The meeting is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. in the Public Meeting Room at the NRC’s Region I Office, 475 Allendale Road in King of Prussia, Pa.

Members of the public will be able to attend the session and will have an opportunity to ask questions and/or offer comments before it is adjourned.

ABB, Inc., (formerly Combustion Engineering-Windsor) manufactured nuclear fuel at the site, which is bordered by Day Hill Road to the south.  It was also used at various times to conduct and support nuclear research and development work, including the construction, testing and operation of a U.S. Naval test reactor.  The activities began in the mid-1950s and continued until 2001.  As a result of those operations, soils, buildings and equipment surfaces were contaminated with uranium and byproduct material, both of which are radioactive.

On April 7, 2003, ABB, Inc., submitted a site-wide decommissioning plan to the NRC.  A revised plan that included radiation dose-modeling information was submitted on Oct. 15, 2003.  Several buildings on the site were subsequently demolished and the waste materials shipped off-site to a licensed disposal facility.

Meanwhile, certain portions of the site were to be remediated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).  Radioactive contamination resulted from defense-related activities at the facility.  The buildings and areas where the defense-related materials are located were used by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission prior to the early 1960s, when the first nuclear fuel manufacturing license was issued to Combustion Engineering.

Site studies have identified areas where the commercially generated and defense-related materials have become co-mingled.  Consequently, a process was identified to facilitate the effective and efficient cleanup of the remainder of the site.  This process, under the oversight of the NRC, will involve ABB, Inc., assuming responsibility for cleanup of all the radioactive contamination.  At the meeting on Sept. 14, the NRC and ABB will discuss the company’s plans to supplement the decommissioning plan to complete those cleanup activities.

Once all of the decommissioning work is completed, ABB, Inc., must demonstrate to the NRC that the entire property meets the criteria for “unrestricted release.”  In order for a site to be deemed safe for unrestricted release, any residual radioactivity would have to be within allowable levels.

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Friday, November 28, 2008