NRC ACCEPTS FOR TECHNICAL REVIEW PHASE 1 OF DOE’S 

DECOMMISSIONING PLAN FOR WEST VALLEY 

 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has accepted for review the Department of 

Energy’s Phase 1 decommissioning plan for the West Valley Demonstration Project (WVDP) 

site in western New York state. 

 The DOE plan was submitted on Dec 3, 2008, and was subsequently revised on March 16 

to include additional technical information. The NRC staff has completed its initial review and 

has determined that the plan, as revised, contains sufficient information to warrant a technical 

review. This determination does not indicate NRC approval of the plan, nor does it preclude 

additional requests for information from NRC to DOE. 

 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 WVDP also includes 

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 

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. 

 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 upon DOE’s decommissioning plan, and that DOE would provide responses to 

NRC’s comments before initiating Phase 1 decommissioning activities. 

 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 

E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

No. 09-061 April 1, 2009
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. 

 A copy of the DOE’s decommissioning plan, the revised plan and the NRC's letter of 

application acceptance to DOE are available in the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and 

Management Systems (ADAMS) under accession number ML083659423, ML090771108 and 

ML090780848 respectively. 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. 

Western New York Nuclear Service Center

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