PHOENIX – EM’s Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) is set to make the first major skyline change later this year with demolition beginning on the X-326 process building at Portsmouth, site leaders said at the Waste Management Symposia.

The Portsmouth Site is currently in the final stages of demolition preparation for the building, completing necessary support systems and paperwork to begin taking down the massive structure. Material from the demolition will be the first waste emplaced in the site’s Onsite Waste Disposal Facility, which will become operational in the fall with the first two cells completed.

Lessons learned from the deactivation of X-326 are being translated into real-time lessons learned for the Paducah Site, which is deactivating its C-333 process building.

Paducah’s deactivation efforts will also wean the site off plant-dependent power next year as the Tennessee Valley Authority completes a new substation to provide electricity for cleanup.

“The collective synergy between the cleanup of the two sites not only maximizes cost and schedule, but results in the most comprehensive approach to cleanup,” said Robert Edwards, PPPO manager.

Edwards is centralizing support functions at PPPO headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky to better serve the sites and their stakeholders. The “One PPPO” vision extends to cleanup at Portsmouth and Paducah, and also the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) conversion plants that operate at both sites.

The conversion plants are currently running all seven lines, exceeding production goals for the year.