Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Archives - Page 2 of 6

CROET president tells Oak Ridge story on national podcast

Posted at 10:38 am February 21, 2022
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Teresa Frady, president of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, is the Spotlight Interview guest on this weekâ€™s episode of the Gone Fission Nuclear Report podcast, which covers U.S. Department of Energy environmental management activities around the nation.

Hosted by Michael Butler, the episode is available on all podcast platforms and can be accessed at www.gonefissionpodcast.com, a press release said.

Frady shared with Butlerâ€™s listeners CROETâ€™s mission to help DOE transition underused assets such as land, buildingsm and equipment to private sector companies at the East Tennessee Technology Park, also known as the Heritage Center. She recently replaced Lawrence Young, who had served as CROETâ€™s president and chief executive officer since its founding in 1995.

â€œOur partnership with DOE in transferring federal land helps the region with creation of quality jobs but also adds the property to Roane County and City of Oak Ridge tax rolls,â€ she said in the press release. â€œThis helps the communities and saves the federal government money since DOE no longer has to maintain those assets.â€

[Read more…]

Workers devise strategies to clean up high-risk contaminated lab at ORNL

Posted at 3:05 pm February 17, 2022
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Workers lower detection equipment through an opening in the roof of the East Cell Bank at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to capture readings inside the facility. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management/UCOR)

Innovation has been required as federal cleanup crews work to deactivate and demolish the final portion of the former Radioisotope Development Laboratory at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

TheÂ structure is known as the East Cell Bank, and it is on the U.S. Department of Energyâ€™s list of high-risk excess contaminated facilities, said a press release from DOE Office of Environmental Management. The East Cell Bank is located in the heart ofÂ ORNL, near ongoing research missions.

Workers with cleanup contractor UCOR characterized the final cell to identify potential radiological and hazardous contamination, the press release said. They conducted the work in stages under aÂ six-story protective structureÂ erected to ensure nearby facilities and ongoing research missions at ORNL arenâ€™t impacted by the cleanup.

The crews began by taking surveys and readings from an opening at the front of the structure, the release said. They used long-reach tools and a specialized radiation detector. The detector overlays a radiation-intensity color map on a picture of the environment and identifies gamma-ray emitting nuclides and their locations.

[Read more…]

DOE makes upgrades to Molten Salt Reactor Experiment

Posted at 11:49 pm February 2, 2022
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

An aerial view of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment. The facility was shut down in 1973, and the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is responsible for keeping it in a safe mode until its demolition is scheduled. (Photo courtesy DOE EM)

The U.S. Department of Energy is upgrading a historic reactor inÂ Oak RidgeÂ to keep the facility safe until it can be demolished.

The reactor, the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, is at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and it was shut down nearly 50 years ago. At some point, the MSRE will be deactivated, and that will save about $5 million in annual operating costs, a press release said.

The work is being overseen by the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

â€œWe have the important responsibility of keeping it safe until major cleanup operations begin,â€ said Nathan Felosi, EM’s ORNL portfolio federal project director. â€œThe latest round of projects is making sure thatâ€™s the case and achieving considerable cost savings to taxpayers.â€

[Read more…]

Updated: K-25 Viewing Platform will be built

Posted at 4:12 pm February 2, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Artist rendering 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 David Brown)

Note: This story was updated at 9 a.m. Feb. 4.

Two federal agencies have agreed to build a K-25 Viewing Platform at the historic site in west Oak Ridge that was used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants during World War II and the Cold War. The design is expected to be complete in March and the building completed by the end of 2023.

The construction agreement for the viewing building at the former K-25 site was signed by the U.S. Department of Energyâ€™s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The viewing platform will give visitors a view of the large 44-acre footprint of the former K-25 Building. K-25, which was the world’s largest building, was erected during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to help enrich uranium for the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. The K-25 Building was demolished in 2013, and many other structures at the site have been removed as the federal government turns over property for private development.

The K-25 Building site itself is now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. That project commemorates the workers, equipment, and processes used during the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The K-25 Viewing Platform and associated exhibits are the final components of a multi-project agreement that the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management signed in 2012, clearing the way for demolition of the North Tower of the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building. The projects commemorate the history of the K-25 site, which has also been known as the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

[Read more…]

ETTP cleanup team receives Secretary’s Award

Posted at 12:50 pm January 13, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, is pictured above in west Oak Ridge after most cleanup work, including demolition of the five large gaseous diffusion buildings, was completed. (Submitted photo)

The Oak Ridge team that mostly cleaned up the former K-25 site, demolishing five large gaseous diffusion buildings and more than 500 structures, has received a Secretary’s Achievement Award from U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The work was done ahead of schedule and under budget, the U.S. Department of Energy said.

Granholm honored the DOE Office of Environmental Management team fromÂ Oak Ridge in a virtual ceremony Wednesday, a press release said.

K-25 was used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power plants from World War II to the 1980s.

It was the first removal of a uranium enrichment complex, and it cleared 13 million square feet of deteriorated, contaminated structures from the site, the press release said.

“The Secretary’s Achievement Award honors a group or team of DOE employees and contractors who accomplish significant achievements on behalf of the department, demonstrating cooperation and teamwork in attaining their goals,” the press release said. “The award was given to the Oak RidgeÂ Vision 2020Â Project Team based on its achievements from 2020.”

[Read more…]

Mullis, who led Oak Ridge cleanup, now working at DOE HQ

Posted at 3:42 pm December 30, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Jay Mullis, who has led Oak Ridge’s federal cleanup program for more than five years, is now working in U.S. Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Mullis became the actingÂ associate principal deputy assistant secretary for regulatory and policy affairs on November 1. He will serve in that position until it is filled. He replaces Mark Gilbertson, who retired from federal service at the end of October.

With Mullis going to Washington, D.C., Laura Wilkerson has been named acting manager for the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM).

As manager of cleanup work in Oak Ridge, Mullis has been responsible for an annual budget of more than $650 million that supports environmental cleanup and stewardship, decontamination and decommissioning, waste processing and management, surveillance and maintenance programs, historic preservation, and procurement and contract functions, according to DOE.

[Read more…]

DOE, state pave way to transfer 3,500 acres

Posted at 3:05 pm December 30, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

From left, TWRA Executive Director Bobby Wilson, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Acting Manager Laura Wilkerson, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site Office Manager Johnny Moore sign an agreement that lays the groundwork to transfer more than 3,500 acres of scenic East Tennessee land from the U.S. Department of Energy to the state of Tennessee. (Submitted photo)

More than 3,500 acres of federal land could be transferred to the state of Tennessee, including Clark Center Park and Black Oak Ridge Conservation Easement.

The land could be transferred under an agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. The two organizations signed an Agreement in Principle on Wednesday, December 15, that “lays the groundwork to transfer more than 3,500 acres of scenic East Tennessee land to the state,” a press release said.

“Transferring this federally owned land will increase natural resource management and designate areas for greenspace and mixed-use recreational opportunities for the public,” the press release said.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today. Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here. Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here: Basic

Pro

Temporary

Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831 We also haveÂ advanced subscription options. You can see themÂ here. We also acceptÂ donations. You can donateÂ here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!

From left, TWRA Executive Director Bobby Wilson, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Acting Manager Laura Wilkerson, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site Office Manager Johnny Moore sign an agreement that lays the groundwork to transfer more than 3,500 acres of scenic East Tennessee land from the U.S. Department of Energy to the state of Tennessee. (Submitted photo)

More than 3,500 acres of federal land could be transferred to the state of Tennessee, including Clark Center Park and Black Oak Ridge Conservation Easement.

Pro

Temporary

Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

In this photo published in early March, the U.S. Department of Energy said workers had begun taking down the second of four sections of the Centrifuge Complex at East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge. Completing this project will move DOE’s Office of Environmental Management closer to its goal of finishing all major demolitions at ETTP by the end 2020, the department said. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

The cleanup work at federal sites in Oak Ridge is transitioning to limited operations today (Wednesday, April 1).

The transition applies specifically to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM. OREM oversees cleanup work at DOE sites in Oak Ridge, including East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex.

“The safety and health of the EM workforceâ€”federal and contractor employeesâ€”is the top priority of EM leadership across the complex,” DOE headquarters said in response to questions. “As a prudent response to the current situation regarding COVID-19 in Tennessee, effective on April 1, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is transitioning to limited operations. EM is choosing to take this action out of an abundance of caution.”

Activities that support DOE’s cleanup mission will be limited to those necessary to put projects into a status where they will ensure the safety of the public, workers, and the environment, the Energy Department said.

[Read more…]