Sept. 30, 2010
Deputy Assistant DOE Secretary from D.C. Discusses Piketon Clean Up, Contamination, Decommissioning, and Future Uses of Footprint
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Piketon, OH (HNN) - What waits below has been the title of both a film occurring under the sea and occurring under the earth. The phrase has applicability to issues facing Decontamination & Decommissioning activities at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
And, there’s a possibility that the same phrase may apply to waste sites in Huntington, WV where dumping occurred during the operation of the then Atomic Energy Commission uranium processing Huntington Pilot Plant.
Dr. Mark Gilbertson, office of environmental management, deputy assistant sectary program and site support of the Department of Energy, spoke to a full house in Piketon, Thursday, Sept. 23. Using a submit questions on card format, the DOE deputy assistant secretary answered concerns about the status of the Piketon facility both now and for the future.
He often disavowed prior circulating statements that a nuclear power plant would be built on the site. In short, Dr. Gilbertson explained that any such plant would be a “private enterprise,” not a governmental venture such as the gaseous diffusion plant.
But, he spoke of investing in “clean energy jobs” for the future using “the next generation of energy technologies,” which would break our dependence on oil, produce more energy at home and promote energy efficiency.
Dr. Gilbertson told the audience that the Department of Energy recommends energy parks at cleaned up sites, as well as wildlife refuges and industrial parks. The energy parks could handle various components of new technologies (including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, nuclear, clean fossil and hydrogen generation), smart grid distribution, storage, and manufacturing (e.g. solar panels, wind turbines). Beside commercial use of existing technology, the site could contain research and development of advanced technologies.
His concerns are cleaning up the Piketon plant site and reducing the environmental footprint. The process could take years.
During a brief interview after the talk, a Piketon resident asserted that the waste buried from the Huntington uranium recycling plant should not be dug up and moved. The DOE rep did not disagree that waste buried in the classified area at Piketon would EVER be moved.
Editor's Note: From about 1951 to 1962, the AEC operated a uranium and atomic weapons facility on the grounds of the INCO plant. Since the Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction Pilot Plant recycled materials sent from Portsmouth, various components of the West Virginia plant became radioactively contaminated too.
That’s why trucks and railroad cars buried the demolished exterior and interior of the plant in Piketon around 1979.
They rest in a “classified” burial site with other “classified” materials.
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Deputy Assistant DOE Secretary from D.C. Discusses Piketon Clean Up, Contamination, Decommissioning, and Future Uses of Footprint
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Piketon, OH (HNN) - What waits below has been the title of both a film occurring under the sea and occurring under the earth. The phrase has applicability to issues facing Decontamination & Decommissioning activities at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
And, there’s a possibility that the same phrase may apply to waste sites in Huntington, WV where dumping occurred during the operation of the then Atomic Energy Commission uranium processing Huntington Pilot Plant.
Dr. Mark Gilbertson, office of environmental management, deputy assistant sectary program and site support of the Department of Energy, spoke to a full house in Piketon, Thursday, Sept. 23. Using a submit questions on card format, the DOE deputy assistant secretary answered concerns about the status of the Piketon facility both now and for the future.
He often disavowed prior circulating statements that a nuclear power plant would be built on the site. In short, Dr. Gilbertson explained that any such plant would be a “private enterprise,” not a governmental venture such as the gaseous diffusion plant.
But, he spoke of investing in “clean energy jobs” for the future using “the next generation of energy technologies,” which would break our dependence on oil, produce more energy at home and promote energy efficiency.
Dr. Gilbertson told the audience that the Department of Energy recommends energy parks at cleaned up sites, as well as wildlife refuges and industrial parks. The energy parks could handle various components of new technologies (including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, nuclear, clean fossil and hydrogen generation), smart grid distribution, storage, and manufacturing (e.g. solar panels, wind turbines). Beside commercial use of existing technology, the site could contain research and development of advanced technologies.
His concerns are cleaning up the Piketon plant site and reducing the environmental footprint. The process could take years.
During a brief interview after the talk, a Piketon resident asserted that the waste buried from the Huntington uranium recycling plant should not be dug up and moved. The DOE rep did not disagree that waste buried in the classified area at Piketon would EVER be moved.
Editor's Note: From about 1951 to 1962, the AEC operated a uranium and atomic weapons facility on the grounds of the INCO plant. Since the Huntington Pilot Plant/Reduction Pilot Plant recycled materials sent from Portsmouth, various components of the West Virginia plant became radioactively contaminated too.
That’s why trucks and railroad cars buried the demolished exterior and interior of the plant in Piketon around 1979.
They rest in a “classified” burial site with other “classified” materials.
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