Robert D. Copp, until recently the chief executive officer of Nitrocision LLC of Idaho Falls, has been named project director of the Hematite Decommissioning Project in Festus, Mo.
Copp will be responsible for all project operations at the site. For years the facility manufactured uranium fuel for the U.S. Government (including the Navy and the U.S. Department of Energy) and commercial electric power utilities. Westinghouse Electric Co. took over the site after buying the nuclear operations of ABB in April 2000. The Hematite facility was the oldest nuclear fuel manufacturing facility in the United States when Westinghouse stopped fuel manufacturing operations in June 2001.
The NRC approved the site's decommissioning plan in November 2011. The work under way now includes excavating waste burial areas, removing contaminated soil and shipping the material for off-site disposal. This phase of site operations is expected to be completed in 2013.
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