INEEL unveils plan to dismantle Power Burst reactor

BOISE – The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in Arco has a plan to begin dismantling a 32-year-old reactor that has outlived its usefulness.

The Power Burst Facility reactor was built in 1972 to test the safe operating limits of reactor systems by simulating various kinds of accidents.

In its day, it was the world’s only reactor capable of performing rapid changes in power level within milliseconds, but it was placed on standby in 1985.

Its removal under federal Superfund supervision is part of INEEL’s accelerated cleanup to remove a majority of radioactive waste from past laboratory activities by 2012. The cleanup is being overseen in part by Bechtel, a contractor working at the site.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s plan calls for removing two-thirds of the shielding lead from the structure to be reused, recycled or thrown away.

Then the Energy Department wants to dispose of water from the reactor pool and get rid of an experimental test chamber from the reactor vessel. More shielding would be placed over the vessel after water is removed.

“The preferred alternative would reduce long-term risk, minimizes short-term worker risk and radiation exposure (and) is cost effective,” according to an Energy Department statement. The department plans a second phase of the project to decommission the reactor.

The other option is to do nothing more than keep an eye on Power Burst, officials say.

Officials are taking comments through Jan. 23.