Removal of K-25 north end demolition debris almost complete

Workers are almost done removing demolition debris from the K-25 Building’s north end.

Only a small section of the giant building’s east wing remains. It is contaminated with technetium-99, a slow-decaying radioactive isotope. Further deactivation of that section is needed before demolition can begin, according to a recent article in “Public Involvement News,” published by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office.

“We have made great progress while working safely and efficiently,” said Steve Dahlgren, a project manager for URS-CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR. “We are now focused on preparing the small section that is left for demolition, which will bring to a close the most massive demolition project in the DOE complex.”

The K-25 Building was built as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II to enrich uranium for atomic weapons through gaseous diffusion. The building was shut down in 1964, and all enrichment operations ceased at the plant in the mid-1980s.

K-25 was a mile-long, U-shaped building, and it was once the world’s largest building under one roof.

Demolition work on the north end, which preservationists had lobbied to save for years, started last fall and was completed in January.

Work at the site could be remembered through a preservation agreement announced last summer as well as through Oak Ridge’s potential inclusion in a Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

Note: This is an edited version of a story that appears in the May 2013 edition of Public Involvement News, published by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office.