Fort Belvoir holding public meeting on plan to dismantle nuclear power plant

Update from the Army Corps of Engineers on January 29 at 1:30 p.m.: Due to the impending weather in the Fort Belvoir area, we are postponing tonight’s meeting. The feedback, participation and question we receive from the public are immensely important to the success of this project, but in the interest of safety of the community and our staff we will be rescheduling tonight’s meeting. We will send more details on the new meeting at a later date.

Fort Belvoir is holding an information meeting for Fairfax County residents on Tuesday to go over its plans to complete the decommissioning of an old nuclear power plant on the post.

The two-megawatt SM-1 reactor operated on the eastern side of Belvoir from 1957-1973, serving as primarily as a training facility. It also provided power to the post and was the first reactor to be connected to the U.S. commercial electrical grid.

After SM-1 was deactivated in 1973, most of its radioactive material was removed, according to the Army.

“Since this time, the facility has remained in safe storage while much of the remaining radioactivity has been allowed to decay,” the Army Corps of Engineers said in a press release. “[The Corps of Engineers] has conducted quarterly monitoring to ensure the site does not pose any hazards to the surrounding installation tenants, the community or the environment.”

The final decommissioning of the plant is still in the planning phase, and the Army Corps of Engineers does not expect to begin dismantling the facility until 2020.

The meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the South County Government Center (see map). The first hour will be an open house, and at 7:30 p.m. a formal presentation and Q&A session will be held.

More information about the project can be viewed on the Corps of Engineers website.