NRC CONCLUDES REVIEW OF DOE’S PHASE 1 DECOMMISSIONING PLAN FOR 

WEST VALLEY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has concluded its technical review of the 

Department of Energy’s Phase 1 decommissioning plan for the West Valley Demonstration 

Project (WVDP) in western New York state. The NRC did not identify any objections and 

concluded that the plan will satisfy the decommissioning criteria for unrestricted use spelled out 

in NRC regulations. 

 The West Valley site is located on 3,300 acres of land known as the Western New York 

Nuclear Service Center. The WVDP site, which is a 200-acre portion of the center, contains a 

former commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing facility that operated from 1966 to 1972, and 

produced approximately 600,000 gallons of liquid high-level radioactive waste. The WVDP also 

contains contaminated structures and a radioactive waste disposal area. The site also has a waste 

tank farm, waste lagoons, and above-ground radioactive waste storage areas, with soil and 

groundwater contamination near these facilities. 

 DOE’s Phase 1 decommissioning plan envisions remediation activities within the WVDP 

site boundary, including removal of the main plant process building, the vitrification facility, 

source area of the North Plateau groundwater plume, wastewater treatment facility lagoons, and 

ancillary buildings, foundations, slabs and pads. Phase 1 activities would also include additional 

characterization of site contamination and studies to support the technical approach to complete 

site decommissioning. 

 Through the West Valley Demonstration Project Act of 1980, Congress gave NRC 

authority to review and consult with DOE informally on certain matters related to the project. In 

a subsequent memorandum of understanding, the two agencies agreed that NRC would review 

and comment on DOE’s decommissioning plan, and that DOE would review and consider 

NRC’s comments before initiating Phase 1 decommissioning activities. 

Phase 2 decommissioning of the remainder of the WVDP and center, or its long-term 

management, will be determined in the future and are not part of this decommissioning plan. 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 

E-mail: opa.resource@nrc.gov

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

No. 10-038 March 1, 2010
 The NRC’s Technical Evaluation Report on the Phase I decommissioning plan, as well as 

NRC’s letter to DOE transmitting the report, are available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) under accession number ML100360030. ADAMS 

is accessible via the agency’s Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in 

using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRC’s Public Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 

or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR.Resource@nrc.gov. 

### 

NOTE: Anyone wishing to take photos or use a camera to record any portion of a NRC meeting should 

contact the Office of Public Affairs beforehand. 

News releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address: 

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE 

link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.