Oak Ridge Today

UCOR cleanup contract extended

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The East Tennessee Technology Park (the former Oak Ridge K-25 Site), which is pictured above, is being cleaned up by UCOR for the U.S. Department of Energy. (Photo by UCOR)

The UCOR contract to clean up federal sites in Oak Ridge has been extended one year to July 31, 2021, and the consideration of a new cleanup contract won’t be considered until November 2020 at the earliest.

The UCOR contract could be extended one additional year, to July 31, 2022, using two six-month options, depending upon contractor performance and progress.

Before the extension, UCOR’s contract had been scheduled to expire July 31, 2020.

UCOR works on cleanup projects for the U.S. Department of Energy at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex. The work includes the demolition of old, contaminated buildings that are no longer used. The cleanup work is called environmental management, or EM.

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Cleanup workers start processing U-233 powder at ORNL

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Oak Ridge U-233 Glovebox Installation Oct 2019
Workers at Oak Ridge install new gloveboxes to begin processing a portion of uranium-233 a year ahead of schedule. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

Workers have begun processing a powder form of uranium-233 a year ahead of schedule as part of a larger environmental management, or cleanup, project to process and dispose of the remaining inventory of the nuclear material stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

It’s the highest priority cleanup project at ORNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory.

Isotek is the contractor responsible for processing and disposing of the uranium-233 inventory at ORNL. The work eliminates the need to use Building 3019, which is the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world, for storage of the material, according to DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM.

In the 1970s and 1980s, nuclear facilities sent liquid uranium-233 to ORNL, and the site converted it into an oxide form, known as Oak Ridge Oxide, which is more stable for storage, OREM said in an “EM Update” newsletter published Tuesday. Some of the material was shipped to facilities for use as fuel in reactors. However, most of it was stored at ORNL until workers were able to dispose of it.

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DOE awards new contract to support environmental cleanup in Oak Ridge

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Five contracts worth up to $24.9 million total have been awarded to small businesses to help support the cleanup of federal sites in Oak Ridge.

The awardees include one company based in Oak Ridge and two based in Knoxville.

The awards were announced last week by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management as part of its Characterization, Deactivation/Demolition, and Remediation Services contract.

The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM, said it will use the awards to advance cleanup progress across the Oak Ridge Reservation by issuing task orders to conduct characterization, demolish lower hazard buildings, dispose waste, and provide technical support.

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ETEC presents Muddy Boot, Young Professional awards

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Three women captured the Muddy Boot Award and Postma Young Professional Medals presented by the East Tennessee Economic Council at its annual awards luncheon on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. Pictured above from left are Ashley Hartman Saunders, Naomi Asher, and Sherry Browder. (Photo courtesy ETEC)

Three women received the Muddy Boot Award and Postma Young Professional Medals presented by the East Tennessee Economic Council at its annual awards luncheon on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. Pictured above from left are Ashley Hartman Saunders, Naomi Asher, and Sherry Browder. (Photo courtesy ETEC)

 

Three women received the Muddy Boot Award and Postma Young Professional Medals presented by the East Tennessee Economic Council at its annual awards luncheon on Friday, December 14.

The Muddy Boot Award was created in the 1970s to honor individuals who have gone above the call of duty—like those who served the nation during the Manhattan Project—to make the community, the state of Tennessee, and the nation a better place to live and work, a press release said. More than 90 people have received the award. A full list of recipients and more information about the honor can be found on the ETEC website at www.eteconline.org.

Lawrence Young, founding president and chief executive officer of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, presented the Muddy Boot Award.

Sherry Browder, currently the re-industrialization manager for URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) at the East Tennessee Technology Park and a career environmental management specialist, was awarded the Muddy Boot Award for, among other activities, her work to transform the former gaseous diffusion site to an industrial asset in Oak Ridge and Roane County, the press release said. [Read more…]

Workers demolish contaminated building at ETTP

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Crews began tearing down Building K-633 at the East Tennessee Technology Park in May 2018 and completed the project in June. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

Crews began tearing down Building K-633 at the East Tennessee Technology Park in May 2018 and completed the project in June. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

 

One of the most contaminated buildings left at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, has been demolished, federal officials said.

Demolition crews began tearing down Building K-633, which was once used to evaluate uranium enrichment equipment, in May and completed the project in June, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

The work was done by the Oak Ridge environmental management, or EM, program and its cleanup contractor URS|CH2M Oak Ridge, or UCOR.

“This project eliminates one of the most contaminated remaining buildings at the East Tennessee Technology Park,” DOE said.

Building K-633—the K-633 Test Loop Facility—is the fourth building Oak Ridge’s EM program has removed from ETTP’s Poplar Creek area since last year, DOE said. [Read more…]

Anne Marie White sworn in as DOE assistant secretary for environmental management

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Anne Marie White was sworn in on Thursday in Washington, D.C., as assistant secretary for environmental management at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Environmental management, or EM, is DOE’s cleanup program, and it’s one of the major federal programs in Oak Ridge.

As assistant secretary, White will provide leadership to continue the safe cleanup of the environmental legacy brought about from five decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research, a press release said. She will work closely with communities that have partnered with DOE and its predecessor agencies for many decades, the press release said. [Read more…]

Spending bill has $639 million for DOE cleanup in Oak Ridge

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Y-12 Biology Complex aerial

An aerial view of the Biology Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Plans call for eventually demolishing the complex. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

 

The federal spending bill approved last week includes $639 million for the federal government’s cleanup program in Oak Ridge, including what could be full funding for a top priority deactivation and demolition project at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The $639 million for the current fiscal year is an increase of $141 million or more, compared to recent fiscal years, and it’s the most money appropriated in a while.

Besides Y-12, the fiscal year 2018 funding will be used for U.S. Department of Energy cleanup projects at East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“It’s very positive for us,” said Jay Mullis, manager of the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM. Mullis gave a brief update at a meeting of the Oak Ridge Reservation Communities Alliance on Monday.

In addition to $125 million to deactivate and demolish the Biology Complex at Y-12, the fiscal year 2018 spending bill includes $17.1 million in funding for the planned Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12, about $200 million for continued cleanup work at ETTP, and a total of roughly $12 million for the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, or EMDF. That’s a proposed landfill that could be west of Y-12 and accept waste from future cleanup work at Y-12 and ORNL, possibly early in the 2020s. The project plan for EMDF is expected to be open to public comment later this summer. [Read more…]

Trump administration requests more money for DOE, NNSA

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The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2:50 p.m.

The Trump administration has requested more money for the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration than it did last year, but the impact could vary at Oak Ridge’s major federal sites.

The NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within DOE, would get a big increase of $2.2 billion, compared to spending levels enacted in fiscal year 2017. The boost would raise NNSA funding to $15.1 billion. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is an NNSA site.

The NNSA proposal is more than $1 billion higher than the $13.9 billion requested by the Trump administration in fiscal year 2018, which was up $1.4 billion over the fiscal year 2016 spending level ($12.5 billion).

Oak Ridge Today reported last year that Y-12’s funding would have been up 25 percent under President Donald Trump’s budget request for the current fiscal year, if Congress had approved the proposed spending levels. [Read more…]

A great technical achievement, Molten Salt Reactor could be entombed

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The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory housed the reactor and offices for operating personnel. The facility was constructed in the 1950s for a nuclear aircraft project and was later expanded significantly and retrofitted to accommodate the MSRE. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory housed the reactor and offices for operating personnel. The facility was constructed in the 1950s for a nuclear aircraft project and was later expanded significantly and retrofitted to accommodate the MSRE. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:30 p.m.

Former director Alvin Weinberg once called it the greatest technical achievement at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was inspired by the campaign to build a nuclear-powered aircraft in the 1950s, and it was the first reactor to ever operate using uranium-233.

Now parts of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment that are too radioactively “hot” for humans could be entombed in concrete.

For now, the idea is only under study, and there is no guarantee that any part of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, a nuclear historic landmark that has been dormant for decades, will be entombed.

But it’s one of the proposals being evaluated by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. The goal is to finish the evaluation by the end of the year.

Jay Mullis, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, presented the proposal to the Oak Ridge City Council and Site Specific Advisory Board in two separate meetings earlier this month. The entombment proposal is one of five items being evaluated as part of a 45-day review started by DOE’s Environmental Management, or EM, program in June. [Read more…]

Groundbreaking scheduled for Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12

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The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

 

A groundbreaking has been scheduled for Monday morning for the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Y-12 operations have historically used large amounts of mercury, and many of the buildings, now in varying states of deterioration, have mercury contamination, a media advisory said.

“The treatment facility will lower existing mercury levels from past releases and will serve as a guard against a potential increase in releases as mercury-contaminated buildings are demolished,” the media advisory said.

Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette will attend the groundbreaking, which is at Y-12 and not open to the public. U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, both Tennessee Republicans, will also attend the groundbreaking, the media advisory said.

The groundbreaking is being presented by the U.S. Department of Energy and URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, DOE’s cleanup contractor at federal sites in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

DOE names Jay Mullis as new cleanup manager in Oak Ridge

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Jay Mullis

Jay Mullis

 

He’s been the acting manager, and on Wednesday, Jay Mullis was named manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. That’s the office that oversees federal cleanup projects at East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex.

Mullis has served as the OREM acting manager since October 2016, and he has served as the deputy manager since February 2015. He has 30 years of federal service, a press release said.

OREM is responsible for environmental cleanup across the 32,400-acre Oak Ridge Reservation, which includes ETTP, ORNL, and Y-12.

“Specifically, Mullis will oversee environmental cleanup and stewardship, decontamination and decommissioning activities, waste processing and management, surveillance and maintenance programs, historic preservation efforts, and procurement and contract functions,” the press release said. [Read more…]

UCOR awards site prep contract for Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12

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The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2:30 p.m.

UCOR, the federal government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, has awarded a $1.4 million contract to a Knoxville company for early site preparation activities for the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, and the work could start in November.

GEM Technologies of Knoxville will perform the work for the new Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12, UCOR said in a press release Tuesday.

UCOR is also known as URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC.

Under the contract, GEM Technologies will perform limited demolition of existing abandoned utilities and the extension of new utilities—including electrical power, water, sewer, and storm drains—to the treatment facility sites, the press release said. [Read more…]