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JULY 2021 | SRNS TODAY | 5
JUL Y 2021 | SRNS T ODA Y | 5
Restoring 1M square feet and counting

Demolition of Cold War buildings
helps SRS surpass major milestone

Recently, SRS demolished the Ford building.

S RNS has surpassed a major environmental restoration Made by Ford Motor Company, these control systems played an important

role as part of Site programs that produced plutonium and tritium.
milestone with the deactivation and decommissioning of 50
buildings at SRS — more than 1 million square feet of space
— since August 2008. Within the next year, an additional 13 buildings Later, the Ford Building was reconfigured to function as a repair facility
for nuclear reactor heat exchangers used to cool reactor vessels. During
are scheduled to be demolished within the Site’s D Area, where the Cold War, SRS operated five reactors, each using 12 heat exchangers.
electricity, steam and heavy water (moderator for reactor vessels)
were once produced. “What most people don’t realize is that each building we take down
presents its own set of challenges from beginning to end,” said Chris
The SRNS Area Closure Projects management team is working from a Bergren, SRNS Director, Environmental Compliance and Area Closure
federally-approved list of buildings to deactivate, decommission, grout Projects. “Often hundreds of hours and a lot of hard work goes into
or demolish at SRS. planning and preparing a building for grouting or destruction, long before
“As a result of this extensive number of deactivation and the heavy equipment arrives. Electrical wiring, radioactive contamination
decommission projects across the Site, we no longer need to incur and friable asbestos are just a few of the hazards we may face. Safety is
the ongoing costs associated with these inactive and obsolete preeminent — the structure has to be cold, empty and dark before the
structures,” said Steve Conner, an environmental project manager roof and walls can be touched by the demolition equipment.”
with SRNS. “We can continue to safely and efficiently demolish and SRNS continues to steadily reduce the Site’s environmentally impacted
remove unneeded buildings to eliminate the need for surveillance footprint, while preparing for future missions. Currently, only 15% of
and maintenance activities, while preventing any potential release of remaining SRS property will require environmental cleanup.
hazardous substances to the environment.”
According to Conner, various structures such as warehouses,
reactors, reactor fuel manufacturing facilities and an enormous
cooling tower no longer stand at SRS.
Built in the 1950s, the P and R Reactor buildings were mammoth
structures both above and below the ground. In 2011, they were
decommissioned, using a unique process that filled the structure
to ground level with a specially designed concrete-like grout. This
cleanup work locked contamination inside the buildings and avoided
the cost of continuing interior maintenance.
More recently, SRS demolished the radiologically contaminated
Ford Building.
Decades ago, employees at the Ford Building worked daily on
hundreds of control rod assemblies, which were used to ensure a Thick steel doors within P and R Reactor buildings at SRS were removed prior to
stable nuclear criticality within reactor vessels that now are dormant. filling the structures with concrete-like grout.