Removal of high GWP refrigerant from US nuclear site continues
24th December 2024
USA: More than two-thirds of the 8,500,000 lb (3,855 tonnes) of high GWP refrigerant R114 has been removed from a former US uranium enrichment plant in Kentucky.
R114, an ozone depleting CFC, with a massive GWP of 10,000, was used to control temperatures at the gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah.
Owned by the US Department of Energy, the facility was constructed in 1952 to produce enriched uranium, initially for the nation’s nuclear weapons programme and later for nuclear fuel for commercial power plants. It was the last government-owned uranium enrichment facility operating in the United States when work ceased in 2013.
During uranium enrichment operations, Paducah produced large quantities of heat when uranium hexafluoride gas was compressed. The heat was removed by pumping R114 into the system to control temperatures during the conversion process.
Since 2020, the site has shipped 5,900,000 lbs (2,676 tonnes) of the refrigerant for disposal offsite. 1,000,000 lbs (454 tonnes) of the refrigerant was removed this year.
The Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP) led the effort to remove the environmental hazard from the site. It was the fourth consecutive year FRNP met the US Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management priority to dispose of 1,000,000 lb of R114 per year.
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Huge refrigerant removal operation continues at US nuclear plant – 23 December 2023
USA: An amount of refrigerant with a CO2 equivalence virtually equal to half of Europe’s entire 2023 F-gas allowance continues to be removed from a former US uranium enrichment plant. Read more…
