Workers have finished major pre-demolition work on a wartime building at Y-12 National Security Complex.
The deactivation work at the Beta-1 building included removing asbestos; old, brittle thorium-contaminated piping; and more than two million gallons of water.
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor UCOR have been working toward the deactivation milestone since 2020, a press release said. Workers finished deactivating the above-ground floors of the Beta-1 facility in December. Now, only deactivation work in the basement remains before the teardown can begin. Demolition of Beta-1 is expected to begin in 2026.
Beta-1 was built in 1944 to enrich uranium for the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. That federal project built the world’s first atomic bombs. Beta-1, a 210,000-square-foot, two-story building, was later converted to laboratory space for fusion-energy technology.
The Beta?1 Complex includes the Fusion Energy Technology Building, Helium Compressor Building, and a steel utility transformer. All three will be demolished together.
“Having safely and efficiently removed barriers, completing the building deactivation is a great achievement for our team,” said Billy Lloyd, UCOR project manager.
According to the press release, workers faced a significant challenge at Beta-1: There was standing water in the basement due to old, failed sump pumps.
“To resolve this issue, crews installed a water treatment system and have since treated and removed more than two million gallons of water that previously stood in that area,” the press release said. “The system filters water to meet stringent water quality standards. Once filtered, the water is treated and discharged.”
Besides removing the water from the basement, crews removed contaminants from the above-ground structure. That included asbestos from pipes and floor and ceiling tiles. Crews also took out more than 100 linear feet of old, brittle thorium-contaminated piping, the press release said.
“With the above-ground deactivation complete and the basement pumped of water, the final step is to deactivate the basement prior to demolition,” the press release said.
“We continue to make great progress with the water treatment skid in place and are poised for a successful basement cleanup by fall 2024,” Lloyd said.
The next major demolition project at Y-12 is Alpha-2, another large Manhattan Project enrichment facility measuring 325,000 square feet, scheduled to begin this summer.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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