Reactor core at UA-owned nuclear site raised, contained

October 16, 2018 at 1:18 p.m.

by The Associated Press

FILE — Workers use a mechanical lift to raise the reactor core at the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor nuclear test site in Washington County and place the reactor core into a containment vessel in this Oct. 16, 2018 photo. (Courtesy Photo/ENERGY SOLUTIONS )
FILE — Workers use a mechanical lift to raise the reactor core at the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor nuclear test site in Washington County and place the reactor core into a containment vessel in this Oct. 16, 2018 photo. (Courtesy Photo/ENERGY SOLUTIONS )

FAYETTEVILLE — The reactor core at a University of Arkansas-owned nuclear test site has been raised and contained and will be transported to a final disposal site in Nevada in the coming weeks.

Dean Wheeler, a spokesman at the Utah-based nuclear disposal company Energy Solutions, said Monday that the 84,000-pound reactor was successfully lifted from the unused site.

The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that cleanup of the rural Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor site in Washington County began in 2016 but had stalled earlier this year after funding dried up. In April, additional federal money allowed the cleanup to continue.

The site operated until the 1970s, but was never hooked up to generate electricity.

Wheeler said the container holding the reactor will be filled with grout before it's welded shut for transport.

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