SPRU Marks Major Milestone With Completion of Field Work, Site Restoration

NISKAYUNA, N.Y. – EM recently completed deactivation, decontamination, demolition, and site restoration at the Separations Process Research Unit (SPRU) nuclear facilities at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.

“The culmination of SPRU fieldwork is a significant achievement to be celebrated by DOE Environmental Management, our prime contractor AECOM, and the SPRU field office technical support staff,” said Steven Feinberg, EM’s SPRU federal project director.

“Congratulations to the DOE Office of Environmental Management and the AECOM team on this accomplishment,” said Mark Whitney, general manager of AECOM’s nuclear and environment strategic business unit.

The SPRU nuclear facilities consisted of a main processing facility known as Building G2, a waste processing facility called Building H2, underground tank vaults, and an underground pipe tunnel connecting the two buildings. Buildings G2 and H2 included process cells with thick concrete shield walls, contained more than 8 miles of process piping, and 85 process vessels ranging from 5- to 10,000-gallon capacities. Building H2 was one story above grade and two levels below grade, while Building G2 was two stories above grade and one level below grade.

A former pilot plant for researching and proving the chemical separation of plutonium from irradiated fuel materials, SPRU operated from 1949 to 1951 and completed its mission to prove the chemical separation of plutonium from irradiated fuel materials.

The SPRU facilities were decommissioned in 1953. That work included flushing the process equipment and placing the facilities in safe caretaking status.

The deactivation, decontamination, and demolition work began in December 2007.