Cleanup Preparations Begin at University of Arkansas SEFOR Facility

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Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor in south Washington County.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A team of eight professionals from Energy Solutions, an international nuclear services company based in Salt Lake City, is at the University of Arkansas’ Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor, SEFOR, near the community of Strickler in south Washington County, to begin the first stages of planning for a complete cleanup of the facility.

“Thanks to the efforts of the entire Arkansas congressional delegation we have finally been able to begin this long-awaited project,” said Collis Geren, vice provost for research. “The congressional delegation sponsored the inclusion of SEFOR as a pilot cleanup project in the 2005 Federal Energy Policy Act. This past February, members of the Arkansas delegation were able to provide $1.9 million within the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act for a thorough examination of the site and the creation of a complete cleanup plan. That plan will decommission and deconstruct SEFOR and restore the area to green field condition.”

The University of Arkansas and Energy Solutions should have the plan completed by the end of January 2010. After that time the university can apply to the U.S. Department of Energy for complete funding for the actual cleanup. It is estimated that the entire cleanup will cost $20 million.

Energy Solutions is one of four companies that bid on the project.

“This company has an impeccable safety record and offers services that include the safe recycling, processing and disposal of nuclear material,” said Geren.

Examination of the site started Thursday, Nov. 5. This phase of the cleanup project involves assessing the situation and planning only. No materials will be removed at this time. In fact, the most dangerous material was removed decades ago.

“The nuclear fuel for the reactor was safely removed from the site in 1972,” said Geren. “There is a small amount of residual radioactivity on the site but it is safely stored. But hazardous materials still at the site include asbestos and residual sodium, in and around the cooling system of the reactor, as well as lead in paint and PCBs in fluorescent lights. Once we know everything that is in the site then the plan will have to address how to safely remove and dispose all of it.”

The SEFOR cleanup is a joint project involving not only the university and Energy Solutions, but also the U.S. Department of Energy, the Arkansas Department of Health and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. It is expected that this project will pioneer a more efficient method of deconstructing and restoring similar sites around the nation.

About SEFOR

The Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor was a 20-megawatt sodium-cooled nuclear test reactor, built near the Strickler community in Washington County in 1968. The test reactor was funded by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. It was operated from 1969 to 1972 by the Southwest Atomic Energy Associates, a group of 17 investor-owned electric utilities. SEFOR was fueled by plutonium oxide-uranium oxide and was developed to get the data needed to design and operate large-scale commercial sodium-cooled reactors.

SEFOR was shut down after its experimental program ended, its nuclear fuel and sodium coolant were removed and disposed of off-site, and it was officially deactivated in 1974. The University of Arkansas took possession of the facility in 1975 and used it for instrument calibration and research until 1986. Since then the university has essentially served as a caretaker for the unused site, while trying to get the funding to remove the hazardous materials, demolish the buildings, and return the area to green field conditions.