K-33 demolition project recognized for cost savings

Workers demolished the K-33 building five months early and almost $8 million under budget. (Submitted photo)

The project to demolish a building in west Oak Ridge that was once used to enrich uranium was one of two this year to receive a Secretary’s Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The DOE Oak Ridge Office reported that the K-33 building at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, was demolished five months early and almost $8 million under budget. K-33 was built in 1954 for uranium enrichment operations, and the two-story, 32-acre building was one of the largest buildings in the world.

“The project team safely and efficiently removed more than 640,000 square feet of asbestos siding and disposed of nearly 164,000 tons of debris,” according to an article in “Public Involvement News,” a monthly publication by the Oak Ridge Office. “The team employed numerous innovative technologies, such as a powered scaffolding system. The K-33 team included Federal Project Director David Queen and Contracting Officer Karen Shears. A small business, LATA-Sharp Remediation Services LLC, was the prime contractor for the project and worked under a firmed fixed-price prime contract.”

The Oak Ridge Office said DOE honors employees every year who streamline operations and avoid costs for U.S. taxpayers.