The copious amount of regulation, numerous oversight agencies and authorities, and very real public concern about nuclear power safety make the work of the Deactivated Nuclear Power Plant Program (DNPPP) team among the most challenging in the environmental industry.
For the skill, precision, and collaboration shown and for the focus on safely dealing with decommissioning U.S. Army nuclear power facilities, the DNPPP team captured the Secretary of the Army Environmental Awards Program Environmental Restoration category. The Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is home to the Radiological Health Physics Regional Center of Expertise, leading the way on the DNPPP and producing notable results.
“The safety and health of the military installations where these reactors are located, their surrounding local communities and the workers charged with the deactivation are all paramount to our success,” said Dave Watters, radiation safety officer. “The two remaining decommissioning efforts slated to be completed by 2029 will end the Army’s liability with prior nuclear power plants. This work has built a legacy in the history of nuclear power and will pave the way for the future generations of Army nuclear power plants.”
In 2019, the Baltimore District completed the decommissioning work on the world’s first floating nuclear power plant – a unique challenge among their challenging list of projects. The historic STURGIS vessel was a former Liberty ship that was converted to a barge and housed the nuclear reactor in its midship. The entire STURGIS barge was engineered and built to withstand destruction, adding to the intricacy of the vessel’s decommissioning and the removal of the reactor.
“The effort to decommission and dismantle a floating nuclear power plant was truly unprecedented and served as a prime example of successful execution of USACE’s mission to provide engineering solutions for the nation’s toughest challenges,” said Brenda Barber, DNPPP program manager. “This one-of-a-kind, historical power plant was never designed to be taken apart, and the available information about its construction was lacking in many details. A multitude of project hazards required mitigation, dictating a painstaking and deliberate process to avoid any release to the environment and the community while also protecting the health and safety of the workers involved.”
Adding to the complexity of the work on the STURGIS was the goal of recycling materials from the barge to improve the economics of the project while reducing the carbon footprint of the ship as it was removed from service.
“Although the primary hazards being mitigated by this project were radiological, recycling was also a priority for the project. Scrap metal recycling has a large positive impact on the environment and also favorably impacted project disposal costs,” Barber said. “Steel is among the most recycled materials in the world, with nearly 40% of the world’s steel production coming from scrap. Recycling steel also requires 75% less energy than producing it from raw materials.”
Barber said the 5,364 tons of steel and other scrap metals recycled as a result of this project eliminated an estimated 6.36 million kilograms of carbon dioxide that would have been generated by the production of virgin steel, according to Mike Berner’s-Lee’s 2011 work, “How Bad are Bananas: The Carbon Footprint of Everything.”
“This would be the equivalent of taking more than 1,000 cars off the road for an entire year. It also saved approximately 13.41 million pounds of iron ore, 7.5 million pounds of coal, and 643,680 pounds of limestone,” Barber said. “By implementing a recycling initiative for the STURGIS project, the team realized cost avoidance for disposal of scrap, cost savings for the metals recycled, and provided benefits to the environment through our recycling efforts.”
“While not always as complex as the STURGIS project, deactivating nuclear facilities comes with real challenges that require teamwork, attention to detail and a keen understanding of regulations,” Rebecca Yahiel, project manager said. “In July 2022, the team began the decommissioning and dismantlement process of the SM-1 reactor at Fort Belvoir, a reactor that was built in 1957 and remained active until 1973.”
The SM-1, located on Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia, was the Army’s first nuclear power plant and the first nuclear power plant in the country to provide nuclear-generated power for a sustained period to the commercial grid.
While the initial deactivation in the 1970s removed a majority of the site’s radioactive elements, the site still had remaining low-level radioactivity within the facility’s containment area and other safety challenges tied to legacy building materials. This knowledge was particularly helpful in planning the final decommissioning.
“The asbestos abatement team and the demolition team worked meticulously to deal with the asbestos and lead paint at the SM-1 site and to efficiently and safely handle this aspect of the decommissioning,” said Yahiel. “The lessons we learned in decommissioning the STURGIS provided valuable insights into this aspect of this project.”
By November 2023, the USACE DNPPP team removed all the reactor components from the vapor container structure and other key pieces of infrastructure at SM-1, resulting in the removal of 95% of the radioactivity from the site. When all aspects of the decommissioning are completed in August 2026, including soil remediation efforts, the SM-1 site will be released for future unrestricted use by the Fort Belvoir garrison.
In January 2024, the team began work on the final decommissioning activities at the SM-1A reactor site in Fort Greely, Alaska. As in previous projects, the team expects to learn from past work to create successful outcomes at SM-1A.
“Our team continues to utilize proven controls and precautions to address safety and other engineering details during all stages of decommissioning and dismantlement at these sites,” said Jeff Hillebrand, project manager. “This will ultimately serve as an important program and will provide a clear path forward in Army nuclear power.”
Social Sharing