ROGERS (KFSM) — The driver of a big rig hauling former SEFOR reactor materials through Northwest Arkansas was ticketed Thursday (Nov. 29) for violating their permit.
The driver was supposed to exit Interstate 49 at Greenland, where they could take an alternate route to avoid crossing a bridge, according to Danny Straessle, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Arkansas Highway Police cited the driver for violating a permit and being off route. A judge will decide whether the driver will be fined, Straessle said.
The oversized load carried what was once part of a test reactor at the SEFOR site in the 1970s. No actual reactor parts are included, according to officials.
The rig left from around West Fork about 8:30 a.m., heading up Arkansas 265 to Arkansas 170 before getting onto Interstate 49, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
Highway police pulled the driver over in Rogers near New Hope Road.
SEFOR, or the Southwest Experimental Fast Oxide Reactor, was located near Strickler in Washington County and operated from 1969-1972.
It was then acquired by the University of Arkansas, which was never able to reuse the site and began dismantling it in 2016 with the help of federal funding. The dismantling is expected to be complete in 2019.