About 80 federal employees could go back to work today in a new place as officials scramble to find space for staff members after the Federal Building closed last week.
Workstations have been set up for those employees in the Building 2714-G Conference Center on Laboratory Road, said Mike Koentop, spokesman at the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office.
Federal officials are looking for more work space at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
“It’s our goal to have everybody back to work within a week,” Koentop said outside a mandatory employee meeting at Pollard Technology Conference Center on Monday morning.
The closure affects about 200 federal employees. The Federal Building was shut down at 6 p.m. Thursday after a semi-annual inspection found insulation with asbestos had fallen into heating and cooling units. The inspection was done by U.S. General Services Administration, which owns the building.
Inspectors found the asbestos-containing insulation in three of four areas they checked, Koentop said. DOE hired a Knoxville firm to also check the building.
Koentop said DOE and GSA will meet this afternoon to discuss their options.
He said it’s too early to say when the Federal Building might re-open. For now, workers are on administrative leave.
Koentop said employees have been relocated in the past to make seismic upgrades to the Federal Building.
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