Home > Facility Info Finder > Sites Undergoing Decommissioning > Research & Test Reactors

NASA - Plum Brook

1.0 Site Identification

2.0 Site Status Summary

The NASA Plum Brook Reactor Facility (PBRF) is located within a fenced area in the northern portion of NASA's Plum Brook Station. The Plum Brook Station is located about 6-km (4-mi) south of Sandusky, Ohio, about midway between Cleveland and Toledo, south of Lake Erie, and just north of the Ohio Turnpike. The Plum Brook Station is surrounded by farmlands and low density housing. NASA currently has two 10 CFR Part 50 facility licenses to "possess but not operate" two reactors within the PBRF. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license TR-3 is for the 60-megawatt research test reactor, constructed for testing materials to be used in space program applications. NRC license R-93 is for the 100-kilowatt swimming-pool type Mock-Up Reactor (MUR). Upon approval the Decommissioning Plan, these two licenses were amended on March 20, 2002 to allow decommissioning of the facility. The PBRF operated from 1961 to 1973. The facility is to be decommissioned, with the end objective being removal and disposal of remaining radioactive materials, release of the 11-ha (27-acre) facility for unrestricted use, and termination of the NRC licenses. The radiological criteria for license termination to allow unrestricted use are set forth in 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E, "Radiological Criteria for License Termination". After many years of little to no activities at the Plum Brook reactor site, decommissioning is well underway. While awaiting NRC approval of the DP, NASA prepared the reactor facility by conducting pre-decommissioning activities under its POL AMendment. NRC approved the DP in March 2002, and in November 2002, NASA conducted the first reactor tank entry in 30 years. In August 2003, NASA began taking important steps in removing the reactor internals and segmenting the reactor tank for shipment to Barnwell, SC. NASA plans to complete decommissioning by 2010.

3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues

NASA recently discovered radioactive contamination on and off the NASA Plum Brook test reactor site near Sandusky, Ohio. The material was identified as cesium-137 and cobalt-60 in a drainage ditch leaving their property, and in Plum Brook approximately one mile downstream towards Lake Erie. The radioactive materials are likely the result of reactor operations which ended in about 1973. Sediment samples identified up to 38 pCi/l cesium-137 (background is about 1 pCi/g). The stream, on its five-mile journey to Lake Erie, crosses residential areas, school-owned lands and a golf course.

4.0 Estimated Date For Closure

12/31/2010

Privacy Policy | Site Disclaimer
Monday, April 14, 2008