After months of training, field demonstrations and operational drills, workers at EM’s Paducah Site have demonstrated the safe and compliant operation of new equipment to compact components — each roughly the size of a 15-passenger van — as part of upcoming deactivation work for a massive uranium-enrichment process building slated for demolition.

Four Rivers Nuclear Partnership (FRNP), the Paducah Site deactivation and remediation contractor, led the efforts during a recent contractor readiness review of the new equipment and its processes.

“Integration between the various organizations within our team was critical to our success. This included valuable input provided by our United Steelworkers team members for the installation and safe operation of the equipment,” FRNP Program Manager Myrna Redfield said.

With nearly 160 tons of crushing force, enough to compact six mid-sized cars, the hydraulic compacter is located at the site’s newly constructed bundle compaction area at the C-720 maintenance facility.

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