Oak Ridge Today

Water tower at East Tennessee Technology Park demolished

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K-25 Water Tower Demolition

The K-1206-F Fire Water Tower at East Tennessee Technology Park—the former K-25 site—before it was demolished Saturday. (Submitted photo)

One of the most iconic structures at East Tennessee Technology Park—the checkerboard water tower that has dominated the site’s skyline for 55 years—has been demolished.

UCOR and its subcontracting partners brought down the 382-foot-tall tower on Saturday through a controlled explosive demolition that sent the structure toppling into an empty field.

Officially called the K-1206-F Fire Water Tower, the 400,000-gallon structure was designed and built by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company in 1958 to service the site’s fire protection system. It operated until June 3, when the valves were turned off. It was drained, disconnected, and permanently taken out of service on July 15. [Read more…]

UCOR presents awards to small businesses

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UCOR Small Business Awards

UCOR presented awards to eight small business at its Inaugural Small Business Awards ceremony, held Wednesday, June 12, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Oak Ridge.

UCOR is the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for the Oak Ridge Reservation, and it has subcontracted more than 70 percent of its work to small businesses, exceeding its subcontracting commitment to DOE, a press release said. [Read more…]

Ferri retires, UCOR organization changing

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Mark Ferri

Mark Ferri

Jeff Bradford

Jeff Bradford

Mark Ferri, who has led the safe, successful deactivation and demolition work at K-25 since UCOR arrived in Oak Ridge in August 2011, has announced that he will retire from the company at the end of February and will accept a CH2M Hill corporate opportunity in the United Kingdom.

Ferri was part of UCOR’s original, handpicked leadership team. His selection proved a wise one, as progress under his leadership has been stellar. Workers have demolished more than two million square feet of the old gaseous diffusion facility, and more than 15,000 loads of waste have been shipped under the “pack as you go” philosophy that he and his counterpart, Waste Management Manager Jeff Bradford, installed as part of the UCOR way of doing business.

[Read more…]

UCOR ships 15,000 loads of waste from K-25

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K-25 Building Demolition Debris

Some of the debris from the demolition of K-25’s east wing. (Submitted photo)

UCOR has shipped 15,000 loads of demolition debris from the K-25 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the company announced last week.

The 15,000 loads represent approximately two million square feet of the deteriorated former gaseous diffusion building, built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. That square footage is the equivalent of 40 NFL football fields combined.

The material has been sent to the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility in Oak Ridge for permanent disposition.

[Read more…]

One-of-a-kind waste incinerator in ‘safe shutdown’ at ETTP

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Filling the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator

Workers fill the sumps at the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator with grout, as part of the work to close it. (Submitted photo)

A one-of-a-kind waste incinerator, which began operations at the East Tennessee Technology Park more than 20 years ago, has been safely shut down.

When the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator, or TSCAI, began operations in 1990, the intent was to run it for five years to prove the technology worked. It was the only incinerator in the nation permitted to burn certain hazardous and radioactive wastes.

Operations ceased in December 2009, after a safe and successful run that saw the facility burn 35 million pounds of liquids and solids from DOE sites across the United States—even some from Hawaii.

[Read more…]