The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s plants that convert depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) to more stable compounds recently returned to full operations at both the Portsmouth and Paducah sites’ first-of-a-kind facilities.
David Lu, completed his summer internship at the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) headquarters in Washington, D.C. in August. Later that month, he toured the EM Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Conversion Plant at the Paducah Site near his hometown of Murray, Kentucky.
The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) recently awarded $9.8 million, or about 98% of the available fee, to Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the prime contractor for the Portsmouth Site’s decontamination and decommissioning project in Ohio, for its performance during the evaluation period of the first four months of fiscal year 2024.
Recent upgrades to EM’s facilities that convert depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) to more stable compounds for reuse or disposal are delivering improved safety, reliability, operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
EM achieves another milestone in its offsite shipping and disposal of depleted uranium oxide from the Portsmouth site.
EM has successfully commenced a major disposal effort for a key uranium-enrichment byproduct with the recent arrival of 60 uranium-oxide storage cylinders by rail at a licensed facility in west Texas.
Both of EM’s conversion plants that recycle depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) to safer and more beneficial products are back in business with improved safety and sustainability measures following a COVID-19 operational pause.
Managers of the EM sites at Portsmouth, Ohio and Paducah, Kentucky, provided an update at the 2022 Waste Management Symposia last week on cleanup progress at the two locations.
One of EM’s two plants that convert depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) to more stable compounds recently returned to conversion operations following a 20-month safety pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
EM has selected Joel Bradburne to serve as field manager of the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) in Lexington, Kentucky.