The U.S. Department of Energy said Oct. 6 that workers had segmented the first fissile converter in the C-337 Process Building at the Paducah Site, where crews are preparing the former uranium enrichment facility for demolition.
According to the department, crews are working on nearly 500 converters in C-337, after removing 497 converters from the C-333 Process Building earlier this year. The department said each converter is nearly twice the size of a standard cement mixer drum, and segmentation involves removing, cutting and downsizing the equipment.
The department said handling fissile components in C-337 is more complex than handling the nonfissile equipment in C-333. Work requires enhanced monitoring, strict containment, specialized safety measures to prevent accidental reactions and highly trained workers, according to the announcement. It said experienced personnel are building on lessons learned during C-333’s deactivation.
The department said representatives from the cleanup contractor at the Portsmouth Site in Ohio shared expertise with the Paducah team.