Displaying items by tag: Kesselring, Danielle DelBalso, Gene Terwilliger, Naval Nuclear Laboratory, Ballston Spa, West Milton

Photos show an over-sized shipping container used by the U.S. Navy and a flatbed truck used for transport from railways. Photos provided.

BALLSTON SPA – Later this year, in preparation for a major renovation project planned at the Kesselring training site in West Milton, workers for the Naval Nuclear Laboratory will restore some of the train tracks on the south side of the village.

Gene Terwilliger, a spokesman for the Naval Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), gave a presentation on Tuesday to the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors regarding the Kesselring upgrade project, which is expected to begin late next year.

An informational flyer that was distributed by Terwilliger to supervisors and the public reports that “the rail spur adjacent to the Malta Avenue Elementary School, Ballston Area Community Center and Ballston Area Recreation Center requires upgrades to clear the overgrowth in the area and refurbish/replace rails, ties and ballast to ensure readiness to support equipment delivery and transport.”

In a subsequent email, Terwilliger clarified that “the upgrade work to the rail spur will extend from Eastern Avenue to approximately 700 feet west of Eastern Avenue.”

“This work should have minimal impact on the community,” the NNL flyer says. 

The tracks in Ballston Spa were last used in 2004. No definite date has been established for the planned rail work to begin in the village, but the Navy does expect to be utilizing the refurbished tracks by the spring of 2018. 

The NNL further explains that Canadian Pacific Railroad will transport “equipment and components for the refueling” of the S8G nuclear submarine prototype at Kesselring that is used for training U.S. Navy personnel—a process that also necessitates the need for over-sized trucks navigating local roads between Ballston Spa and West Milton. 

“The equipment and components will be transferred from the rail to a heavy hauler for over-the-road transport,” the NNL flyer says. It adds that all road transportation will be “closely choreographed and coordinated with local officials.”

“Some of the shipments,” it continues, “will include spent nuclear fuel and it is our practice to promptly ship this material to our facility in Idaho.” The NNL further reports that there have been “more than 870 similar shipments and all have been done safely with no release of radioactivity and no injury to the workers or the public.”

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