Decommissioning the University of Illinois Nuclear Research Laboratory

Decommissioning the University of Illinois Nuclear Research Laboratory

The Nuclear Research Laboratory (NRL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was decommissioned in about 10 months after being in SAFSTOR for 12 years. A detailed site characterization study was conducted in 2005, and the removal of low-level radioactive wastes was begun in 2011. The first phase of the project was the removal and packaging of wastes in the building that were created from the operation or experiments conducted within the reactor. This activity was followed by the removal of interference from the upper part of the bioshield, and from the reactor tank that held the TRIGA reactor. The upper part of the bioshield was then sawed into blocks for disposal.