Oak Ridge Today

Crews start work for Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12

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Workers remove asphalt on the east end of the Y-12 National Security Complex, where the Mercury Treatment Facility treatment plant will be built. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

Work began in June to build the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The Mercury Treatment Facility will allow the U.S. Department of Energy to clean up and demolish several large Y-12 buildings that used mercury to separate lithium for nuclear weapons during the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s. The facility is expected to help reduce the amount of mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek, which flows through Oak Ridge.

DOE announced in December that it had awarded a $91 million contract to build the Mercury Treatment Facility. The contract, which could be in place for up to four years, was awarded to APTIM-North Wind Construction JV LLC.

A groundbreaking was held at the site in November 2017, and site preparations were completed by December 2018.

[Read more…]

Two higher-risk buildings torn down at Y-12 Biology Complex

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Crews take down Building 9743-2 at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

Crews tear down Building 9743-2 at the Biology Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

 

By U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management

Oak Ridge is home to more higher-risk excess contaminated facilities than any other U.S. Department of Energy site in the nation, but recent demolition projects are helping change that. This month, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM, eliminated two buildings from the higher-risk list.

The projects were part of DOE’s Excess Contaminated Facilities Initiative, an effort to stabilize facilities, reduce risks, and in some cases accelerate demolition schedules. Oak Ridge is of particular interest since the site houses 297 “excess” facilities—facilities that are no longer operational or serving DOE’s missions. As of December 2016, Oak Ridge contained 60 of DOE’s inventory of 203 higher-risk excess facilities.

“These projects are highlighting EM’s value as crews are removing risks and clearing land for DOE’s important ongoing missions,” said OREM Federal Project Director Brian Henry. “Tearing down these high-risk facilities is a first step with many more planned in the years ahead.” [Read more…]

Brian Henry named portfolio federal project director for Y-12 cleanup

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brian-henry-doe-photo-by-lynn-freeny

Brian Henry (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM, has named Brian Henry as its new portfolio federal project director for cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Henry will replace Laura Wilkerson, who is now director of the Planning and Execution Division, where she oversees the portfolio cleanup directors at Y-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and East Tennessee Technology Park. Henry will report to Wilkerson.

As the portfolio federal project director, Henry oversees all of the planning and execution for Y-12’s current and upcoming cleanup projects, including all decontamination, demolition, and disposal operations, a press release said. In this role, he is also leading preparations for the Mercury Treatment Facility and the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, two of OREM’s largest and most vital near-term capital projects. [Read more…]