Job of dismantling Brookhaven reactor

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

  Job of dismantling Brookhaven reactor





    Through painstaking means, the radioactive research device would be

    torn down by robots in method deemed safer than letting it sit idle.





	

	



BY ANN GIVENS

STAFF WRITER



April 12, 2004

The radioactive Graphite Research Reactor at Brookhaven National 

Laboratory may be taken apart by robots and disposed of at a nuclear 

waste dump so toxic that even bugs can't leave once they've entered.



Along the way, lab and Department of Energy officials will take 

precautions to make sure no radioactive material escapes into the 

environment, where it could harm humans or wildlife.



Lab officials and environmentalists agree that, in spite of some risks, 

removing the reactor is the best choice.



"We were persuaded that the dangers associated with dismantling the 

reactor wouldn't even come close to the danger of keeping it in place," 

said Richard Amper, executive director of the Long Island Pine Barrens 

Society and a member of the lab's Community Advisory Council.



The proposal to remove the reactor, which is still preliminary, was a 

major turnaround for the Department of Energy, which earlier had floated 

a plan to "entomb" it for up to 87,000 years. Environmentalists and 

several legislators praised the new plan, which lab officials say will 

eliminate 99 percent of the reactor's radioactive material.



But they said care must be taken in doing the work.



"It's a slow, painstaking job because the material is radioactive," said 

Gordon Thompson, a nuclear engineer who recently completed a report on 

decommissioning the reactor for the Long Island environmental group 

Standing for Truth About Radiation Foundation.



The reactor, which operated from 1950 to 1969, was the world's first 

peacetime nuclear research reactor. Its cleanup, along with the removal 

of mercury and other pollutants from the Peconic River, is among the 

final steps in the federal process aimed at removing contamination at 

Brookhaven National Lab.



If the plan goes forward, it will cost about $97 million, and take 

between two and four years.



The process will be regulated through the Department of Energy, 

officials said. Details of the dismantling are still subject to change.



Fred Petschauer, the project manager for the reactor, said that, while a 

graphite research reactor exactly like this one has never been 

dismantled before, similar ones, and many that are much larger and more 

dangerous, are taken apart all the time. He said there have been no 

major accidents dismantling nuclear reactors in recent years.



The uranium fuel itself was removed from the reactor core shortly after 

it was shut down. What remains are the graphite "pile" that the uranium 

was filtered through, the concrete bioshield that covered the pile, and 

the underground canal that received the spent fuel. All of these are 

radioactive, but far less concentrated than the fuel itself, Petschauer 

said.



Petschauer said the lab and Department of Energy will probably leave the 

bioshield, which is essentially a 5,000-ton concrete and steel wall 

around the reactor, in place while they remove the "pile" at the center. 

That way, he said, the bioshield can seal the graphite from the outside 

environment in case radioactive particles are released while it's being 

taken apart. In addition, he said a "tent" would be placed over the 

bioshield as an additional layer of protection against any radioactive 

material becoming airborne.



He said the "pile" consists of 68,000 graphite blocks and measures 25 

square feet, standing 25 feet high. The fact that it is already divided 

into blocks would make it easier to take apart, and less dangerous, 

since the graphite won't need to be cut.



Petschauer said one possibility is to have robots remove the graphite. 

Scientists man the robots using joysticks and television monitors, he 

said, and can do everything from pick up material to cut it.



The material would then be loaded into special containers and moved by 

truck or train to a nuclear waste disposal site - possibly the DOE's 

Hanford site in Washington state, a site so toxic that flies that go 

into the contaminated areas are trapped so they can't carry radiation to 

the outside world. He said the containers protect against leaking or 

fires in the event of an accident.



It remains to be seen whether the dismantling of the reactor will 

concern residents. Huge protests preceded the removal of fuel from the 

Shoreham nuclear power plant in 1993. But for now, many civic leaders 

and environmentalists say they're glad the lab is removing the reactor - 

and they hope it will do it carefully.



"This is the beginning of a long and complicated process," said Robert 

Alvarez, executive director of the Standing for Truth About Radiation 

Foundation and former senior policy adviser to the U.S. secretary of 

energy. "They should take their time and do this right and safely."



http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-libnl103751776apr12,0,1690018.story 

<http://www.newsday.com>





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