Note: This story was updated at 8:04 p.m.
Forty-one employees have been laid off at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, a spokesperson said Thursday.
Thirty-five employees worked on the K-25 Building demolition, and six worked on the K-27 project, said Wayne McKinney, spokesperson for UCOR, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge.
McKinney said the employees, who worked for subcontractors, were notified of the layoffs Thursday. He said it’s part of the normal ebb and flow of subcontracting.
“The percentage of total project personnel released is small and within the normal ebb and flow of subcontractor activity on the project,” a UCOR statement said.
The layoffs were made as the contractor transitions from Fiscal Year 2012, the fiscal year that ends this month, to FY 2013.
McKinney said the laid-off workers augmented the site staff.
“These were employees that were in a support role,” he said.
McKinney did not have other information, such as the specific types of workers affected by the layoffs.
McKinney said there were about 500 workers at the K-25 Building project before the layoffs. About 90 employees worked on the K-27 project before the reductions.
UCOR announced last week that it has completed demolition work on the east wing of the K-25 Building and is preparing to demolish the north end. K-27 is being prepared for demolition but is not yet being demolished, McKinney said.
The K-25 site is located in west Oak Ridge, and it was built to enrich uranium as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. It’s now being converted into a massive industrial park.
The K-25 Building was once the world’s largest building under one roof.
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