EM workers safely removed three shield windows with a combined weight of 75,675 pounds from the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project. The windows allowed workers to see inside a former reprocessing cell while working remotely. The side of the Main Plant building frame where the windows were located is pictured.

EM workers safely removed three shield windows with a combined weight of 75,675 pounds from the Main Plant Process Building at the West Valley Demonstration Project. The windows allowed workers to see inside a former reprocessing cell while working remotely. The side of the Main Plant building frame where the windows were located is pictured.

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. – EM and prime contractor CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) recently removed three shield windows that together weigh more than 75,000 pounds from a former cell in the Main Plant Process Building, allowing for continued progress in the demolition of the facility at EM’s West Valley Demonstration Project site.

“Extensive planning, a deliberate approach and lessons learned led to the successful removal of these shield windows,” EM West Valley Main Plant Project Director Stephen Bousquet said. “Workers prepared these windows with safety in mind to prevent damage during the removal, and to control any potential contamination at its source.”

An EM 2023 priority is to dispose of 9,000 tons of Main Plant demolition waste. Workers have safely completed demolition of seven areas of the facility after launching the project early last fall. The Main Plant is one of the last remaining major facilities at West Valley. Its successful demolition will further reduce environmental risks and position the site for the next phase in cleanup. The demolition is expected to take approximately 30 months to complete.

Shield windows allowed workers to see inside the Chemical Process Cell while performing work remotely using manipulators, or robotic-type arms.

Each window weighed 25,225 pounds, measuring more than 54 inches tall and more than 56 inches wide. With a depth of 63 inches, each window is also thick, made from seven layers of leaded glass with oil to ensure clear visibility.

Prior to the removal operation, workers unbolted the window frames from the building frame, emptied the oil for safe disposal offsite, covered each window with wood and attached a chain to the inside window frames for safe removal.

Decades ago, the Main Plant operated as a commercial reprocessing facility to recover reusable plutonium and uranium from spent nuclear reactor fuel. During spent fuel reprocessing, an operator used the cell to chemically separate the spent fuel from fuel assemblies.

Later, DOE used the cell to store high-level waste canisters, which are currently stored on the Dry-Cask Storage Area at the site until a permanent repository becomes available.