Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant - Decontamination and Ongoing Cleanup

Decontamination and Ongoing Cleanup

During its nearly 60 years of operations, the cleaning, maintenance, and change out of process equipment at the site generated spent solvents and other contaminants that were disposed of in onsite landfills and surface storage buildings. To date, contamination has been found in various locations on site including the process buildings, the former cooling towers, landfills, waste water ponds, and other buildings. There are also groundwater plumes from the landfills. The Ohio EPA is monitoring cleanup operations, pursuant to a 1989 consent decree.

On June 27, 2005, the Department of Energy awarded a contract to LATA/Parallax Portsmouth, LLC (LPP). This was the first small business contract by DOE at the Portsmouth site. As part of the environmental remediation of the site, LPP removed 31 facilities; an 18-acre switchyard complex which included 160 towers, 18 large transformers, 10 synchronous condensers, 2 switch houses, 1 2-story control room and numerous other structures. LPP's contract was extended as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) stimulus project with their contract ending on March 29, 2011. In 2008, a large project was completed to remove 7,640 tons of scrap material by shearing and disposing of 382 old process equipment converter shells. Between 2003 and 2010, more than 59,500 cubic meters of legacy waste was removed from the site. In September 2010, the DOE awarded the $1.2 billion follow up contract to Fluor-B&W Portsmouth LLC. Fluor-B&W transitioned the remaining LPP scope and workforce on March 29, 2010 and is currently working with USEC to transition remaining personnel and responsibilities for the site.