Monday, July 28, 2014

BWX Technologies: does more than work for the Navy!




BWX Technologies

 

 

Last updated: October 29, 2013

Lynchburg, Va.

This site handled (or was contaminated by) uranium, according to government records. See below for more details.
 

Government Assessments

“Babcock and Wilcox Company's Nuclear Facilities Plant in Lynchburg, VA, performed work for a variety of AEC and DOE projects. Babcock and Wilcox Company's Nuclear Facilities Plant in Lynchburg, VA, participated in the AEC's Oxide Pellet Fabrication Program, which was managed by the New York Operations Office.

Records indicate that shipments of enriched uranium were made to and from the Fernald facility during the years 1968-1972.

The company also recovered highly enriched uranium from weapons scrap received from the DOE's Oak Ridge facility between 1985 and 1996.

 In 1997 the Babcock & Wilcox Company facility in Lynchburg, VA became the BWX Technologies facility. From 1998 to 2000, the company fulfilled a contract for the recovery of enriched uranium from scrap materials containing beryllium.

The Lynchburg plant also participated in a DOE-sponsored program called Project Sapphire, under which the plant had responsibility from 1995 to 2001 for downblending enriched uranium obtained from the government of Kazakhstan.”
 
Radioactive Materials / Other Materials of Interest
  • uranium
FUSRAP* Status: Status unclear
 
NIOSH* 2011 Evaluation: Potential exists for significant residual radiation (from 1960 to 1967, from 1973 to 1984, and from 2002 to time of study) 
       
“The documentation available for this evaluation is insufficient to rule out the period between 1960-1967, or the period after 1972. There was no available documentation describing the materials, processes and/or objectives of the enriched uranium shipments between Babcock & Wilcox and NLO (Fernald) during the 1968 through 1972 period.”

“There is no documentation that anything other than routine cleaning was ever performed at this facility, as it appears to have remained and is currently operational. Contamination spread from AWE related activities is currently not distinguishable from non-related contamination.”
 
Locations
 
The Journal has attempted to locate current owners for each site. Their responses are included when available.Address (may be historical):1570 Mount Athos Road    A Babcock & Wilcox spokesman didn't have any comment
 
 
 
IN RE BWX TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
RCRA (3008) Appeal No. 97-5
 
BWX Technologies, Inc. is charged with violations arising under the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA), as amended, 42 U.S.C. §§ 6901 et seq., and the
Virginia Hazardous Waste Regulations (VHWR), 9 VAC 20-10-10. The alleged violations
relate to the storage of hazardous waste during a three-year period, from November
19, 1980, to September 30, 1983, in a storage unit known as the Cold Pond, which was
formerly part of BWXs nuclear-fuel-component manufacturing facility, located near
Lynchburg, Virginia. BWX did not report the existence of the Cold Pond or otherwise seek
a permit for it at any time. BWX subsequently closed this storage unit, emptying it of its
contents.
http://www.epa.gov/eab/disk11/bwx.pdf
 
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