WSI Oak Ridge has provided security guard services at the Y-12 National Security Complex for years, but that work has come to an end, three months after an unprecedented security breach.
B&W Y-12, the company that manages and operates Y-12, announced on Monday that it had taken over the security guard force and hired 560 WSI Oak Ridge employees.
On Tuesday, WSI Oak Ridge said the transition was complete.
WSI Oak Ridge said it has provided para-military protective force services to Y-12 for more than a decade and at U.S. Department of Energy sites across the nation for more than 50 years. It continues to provide protective force services for local DOE sites at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, East Tennessee Technology Park, and the Federal Office Building Complex.
“I appreciate the hard work and dedication demonstrated by all our employees,” WSI Oak Ridge General Manager Steve Hafner said. “I am happy that so many employees successfully transitioned to B&W Y-12 and proud to report that every WSI Oak Ridge employee has a position.”
The security force transition from WSI Oak Ridge to B&W Y-12 started Oct. 1 and lasted about a month.
B&W Y-12 announced in September that it would terminate its contract with WSI Oak Ridge. The National Nuclear Security Administration had recommended the move. B&W Y-12 manages and operates Y-12 for the NNSA.
WSI became a subcontractor to B&W Y-12 after the July 28 security breach. Before then, it had operated under a separate contract with the NNSA.
The contracting change was one of several changes made after three anti-nuclear weapons activists, including an 82-year-old nun, sneaked into Y-12 before dawn on July 28, cut through three fences with bolt cutters, and vandalized a building where bomb-grade uranium is stored.
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