Demolition Of Building Underway At Western NY Nuke Site

WEST VALLEY, N.Y. (AP) — A building that has been central to the decades-long cleanup of a western New York nuclear site is being demolished.

Crews this month began tearing down the vitrification facility at the West Valley Demonstration Project. The reinforced concrete structure is where more than 600,000 gallons of high-level radioactive waste were solidified into glass for disposal.

Debris from the building demolition is being loaded into waste containers and shipped offsite to a federal low-level waste disposal facility. The process is expected to continue through the spring.

The 3,300-acre site 30 miles south of Buffalo housed the nation's first commercial nuclear reprocessing facility from 1966 to 1972.

Cleanup has been ongoing since Congress passed the 1980 West Valley Demonstration Project Act.