Meanwhile, the cleanup itself has had problems, especially in dealing with the site's aging K-65 silos, which have held Fernald's most radioactive waste years beyond their design limits. A plan to cook the silo waste into glass-like chunks through a process called vitrification failed in 1996. Only this year have contractors started construction work on Plan B, which calls for moving the waste into new steel tanks, then encasing the waste in concrete blocks. It will be mid-2002 before waste begins moving from the silos, and longer still to encase it and haul it away, DOE officials said. Years ago, officials expected this work to be started in 1995.
Neighbors say they never really bought into the more ambitious predictions.
And they don't want to rush things now just to make a deadline. However long it takes, we just want it done right. The Cincinnati Enquirer , a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper.