Oak Ridge Today

Crews preparing for first demolition of uranium enrichment building at Y-12

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A U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management crew member works to install one of three bridges to support the relocation of utilities away from the Alpha-2 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Each bridge weighs over 2,000 pounds. (Photo courtesy DOE OREM)

From U.S. Department of Energy “EM Update” email newsletter

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management crews at Oak Ridge are moving closer toward completing the first-ever demolition of a former uranium enrichment facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex as crews reroute utilities around the structure.

Workers are slated to begin demolition on the Alpha-2 building this fall. Initiating teardown of the facility is an EM priority for 2024.

The 325,000-square-foot Manhattan Project-era facility is one of nine uranium enrichment process buildings constructed at Y-12. Its removal by the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor UCOR will eliminate a high-risk excess contaminated facility, enable modernization, and clear land to support national security missions.

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K-25 cleanup shifting to groundwater

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An aerial view of the East Tennessee Technology Park shows the Main Plant Area left of Poplar Creek and the K-31 and K-33 Area at right. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

Crews are expected to finish remediating soil, reversing or stopping environmental damage at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge this year, and federal cleanup managers are shifting their focus to groundwater. It’s the final phase of cleanup at the former uranium enrichment site.

Now also referred to as Heritage Center and East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the K-25 site produced fuel for nuclear weapons and reactors starting in the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II and continuing through the Cold War. The site has been shut down for almost four decades, and a massive cleanup project has been under way for many years.

The groundwater work can begin with the recent signing of two records of decision between the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. That’s according to “EM Update,” an electronic newsletter published by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.

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K-25 site has first reunion

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Jim Young was the oldest retiree in attendance at the recent K-25 site reunion. The 101-year-old started working at the K-25 site as a security guard in May 1944. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

From “EM Update” newsletter

Long vacant parking lots at the former K-25 site at Oak Ridge were full again on a recent Saturday afternoon as retired employees gathered for a first-ever reunion.

“There are some folks here that I have not seen since I retired,” said Bob Merriman, who began working at the K-25 site in 1963. “It’s amazing to be able to visit with them and to see them still doing well.”

What started as a plan to host a small picnic quickly turned into much more.

“I said we’ll have it down here at Turtle Park in Oak Ridge, but I think I’m going to open it up to all K-25 workers,” said Pam Toon, an event organizer who started work at the site in 1987. “When I did, massive amounts of people signed up.”

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UCOR awards $45,000 in STEM education mini-grants

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Dyllis Springs kindergarten students build problem-solving, creativity, and spatial skills with Lego projects. (Photo courtesy UCOR)

Submitted

Drones, a manufacturing simulator lab, and hands on meteorology are among the classroom projects that United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) will fund through its 2024 mini-grants. UCOR awarded $45,000 in mini-grants to fund 41 projects for East Tennessee K-12 teachers in 29 schools. The grants support projects in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as related classes.

With this year’s awards, UCOR has given a total of $395,000 to fund STEM and STEM-related projects since 2012.

“STEM education is an important part of both our community outreach and our workforce development program. It’s exciting to read the grant proposals and see all of the projects teachers are doing to expose students to future STEM careers,” said UCOR Community and Education Outreach Coordinator Shannon Potter.

This year’s mini-grants went to elementary, middle, junior high, and high schools and included projects such as:

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Crews clean up demolished ORNL reactor

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An aerial view of the site of the Low Intensity Test Reactor after U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management crews demolished it. Crews have since shipped the reactor vessel and backfilled the pit where the facility had stood. (Photo courtesy UCOR/DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

Workers have finished cleaning up after demolishing the Low Intensity Test Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The work was done by cleanup contractor UCOR for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

Workers finished the tearing down the Low Intensity Test Reactor and disposing rubble and debris last fall, achieving a federal environmental management priority that year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

“However, the reactor vessel remained on the building’s footprint until it could be shipped for final disposition offsite,” DOE said in its “EM Update” newsletter.

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Almost two miles of pipes replaced at waste treatment systems

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Oak Ridge crews installed approximately 5,500 feet of new piping as part of a project at the Liquid and Gaseous Waste Operations system. The work required 5,000 hours of welding to complete the nearly two miles of welded lines. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management/UCOR)

Close to two miles of pipes were replaced at waste treatment systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The two-year, $18 million project was completed three months ahead of schedule and $900,000 under budget, according to federal officials. The project replaced above-ground pipes and valves at the 3608 Process Waste Treatment Complex, “making the system more efficient and reliable and helping avoid the possibility of disrupting ongoing ORNL operations,” federal officials said.

The piping replacement was a project of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor UCOR. The goal was to extend the life of the Liquid and Gaseous Waste Operations (LGWO) system at ORNL. DOE said the LGWO system is critical to ORNL’s ongoing missions, and an outage would result in immediate impacts at the site.

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Crews prepare to demolish Graphite Reactor support facilities

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An aerial view of a filter house, fan house, and 200-foot-tall exhaust stack that provided support to the Graphite Reactor, which is located about 100 feet away from these facilities. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

Federal cleanup crews are preparing to demolish three support facilities for the historic Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The demolition of the support facilities is planned for next year.

The deactivation work at the three facilities is being done by UCOR, a cleanup contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

The buildings include the filter house, or Building 3002; fan house, or Building 3003; and exhaust stack, or Building 3018. They were previously used to filter and release exhaust from Graphite Reactor operations.

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DOE asks for public comment about ETTP groundwater decision

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The U.S. Department of Energy has asked for public comment about a proposed plan to reduce groundwater contamination in the main plant area of East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

Comments are for an interim record of decision. There will be a public meeting Tuesday evening in Oak Ridge.

“The proposed plan identifies enhanced in situ bioremediation (EISB) as DOE’s preferred alternative to remediate six specific areas of groundwater in the main plant area of the East Tennessee Technology Park,” DOE said in a public notice distributed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. “EISB is a method that involves using microorganisms to reduce contamination levels in these specific areas of groundwater. For these six areas, workers have excavated, or will excavate, the primary sources of contamination, as specified in the Record of Decision for Soil, Buried Waste, and Subsurface Structure Actions in Zone 2, East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (DOE/OR/01-2161&D2).

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Contract awarded for K-25 Viewing Platform

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Artist rendering of the exterior of the new Viewing Platform, which will be located next to the recently constructed K-25 History Center overlooking the footprint of the K-25 Building. (Artist renderings by Smee + Busby Architects)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded Geiger Brothers a $9.9 million contract to build the K-25 Viewing Platform at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge. The Viewing Platform will help commemorate what was once the world’s largest building and part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. The site enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants through the Cold War.

The K-25 Viewing Platform will be next to the K-25 History Center, which opened about three years ago. It will give visitors a complete view of the former building’s massive 44-acre footprint.

While the K-25 History Center focuses on the men and women who built and operated the Oak Ridge Diffusion Plant during the Manhattan Project and Cold War, this facility will help visitors understand the scope and magnitude of the former K-25 Building, a press release said.

The U-shaped K-25 Building was a mile long. It was demolished in 2013.

Construction on the Viewing Platform is scheduled to begin in May 2023, and it is expected to be complete in late 2024, the press release said.

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Eight new members join DOE’s environmental advisory board

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The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) welcomed eight new members during the board’s February monthly meeting in Oak Ridge. From left (front), Bonnie Shoemaker, Leon Shields, Michelle Lohmann, and Harriett McCurdy; from left (back), Tom Tuck, Mary Butler, Atilio Anzellotti, Christine Michaels, Noah Keebler, Mike Mark, Harold Conner, Jr., Rosario Gonzalez, Roger Petrie, Paul Dill, Melyssa Noe and Kristof Czartoryski. (Submitted photo)

The U.S. Department of Energy recently welcomed eight new members to its Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management citizen advisory board.

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is a federally chartered citizens’ panel that provides independent recommendations to OREM, which is responsible for the cleanup of the Oak Ridge Reservation.

“ORSSAB is a core element of our outreach and engagement with the community,” said OREM Manager Jay Mullis. “We’re very grateful to have area residents who are willing to invest their time and energy to learn more about our work, share their perspectives, and provide recommendations. Their insight and feedback greatly benefit our cleanup program.”

All board members are volunteers from the region and have a variety of backgrounds.

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UCOR announces management change

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Tom Dieter

United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC, the lead cleanup contractor at federal sites in Oak Ridge, has announced a top management change that will be effective April 1.

UCOR Chief Operating Officer Tom Dieter has announced he will retire March 31, and Kent Fortenberry has been appointed to take his place.

In a press release, UCOR said Dieter has had a 30-year career, and during that time, he has earned a national reputation, leading more than $3 billion in cleanup successes in complex nuclear enterprises in several states.

“Tom led UCOR’s transition for our 10-year, $8.3 billion Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup contract, and we’re grateful for his leadership in the company maintaining a strong safety performance in our first year,” said UCOR President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Rueter.

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Oak Ridge EM prepared for cold weather to prevent failures

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From DOE Office of Environmental Management’s “EM Update” newsletter

UCOR employees Andy Rodgers, left, and Alex Johnson install heat tracing to protect systems at the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility during the holiday 2022 cold snap in Oak Ridge. Temperatures did not reach above freezing for more than four consecutive days. (Photo courtesy UCOR/DOE EM)

UCOR employees Andy Rodgers, left, and Alex Johnson install heat tracing to protect systems at the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility during the cold snap in Oak Ridge. Temperatures did not reach above freezing for more than four consecutive days.

Much of the nation experienced an extreme cold snap over the recent holidays, and Tennessee was no exception with temperatures dipping to nearly zero degrees in Oak Ridge. Despite the bitter weather, preparations and recent upgrades helped prevent infrastructure failures during that time.

Many employees with EM cleanup contractor UCOR reported to work over the holidays to ensure issues were resolved at several essential facilities. (EM stands for environmental management.)

At the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, advanced planning and preparation protected critical water management systems during the deep freeze over the nearly weeklong cold snap, including a 6.5-hour unplanned power outage.

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