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Former site of UB’s Buffalo Materials Research Center
Updated August 14, 2018
From 1960 to 1994, the BMRC housed a nuclear reactor in medical research. The building, on the South Campus, had not been used for this research since 1994. All nuclear fuel and loose radioactive waste was removed from the building in 2005. In 2014, the building underwent the final phases of “decommissioning,” which included the safe demolition, removal and transport of contaminated materials from the building and site to appropriate disposal facilities outside of New York State. The site was restored to a greenfield for unrestricted re-use.
The demolition of the building was conducted in accordance with federal and state guidelines and was managed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to safely close the facility and return the site to a greenfield for unrestricted use.
New York State provided funding to UB’s capital plan to pay for the project. There was no funding from other sources. The entire decommissioning process costed about $12 million.
Upon satisfying remediation requirements, UB requested the termination of the university's Facility Operating License. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission terminated the license and more information on the license termination can be found at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/08/14/2018-17456/license-termination-buffalo-materials--research-center-reactor
For more information on the NRC’s decommissioning process, go to http://www.nrc.gov.