Oak Ridge Today

DOE has open house about landfill on Thursday

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There will be an open house in Oak Ridge on Thursday to discuss the proposed new federal landfill in Bear Creek Valley, west of the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The open house is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, December 8, in the Scarboro Community Center.

“After much work and coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, we are excited to share that the three parties recently signed the final Record of Decision (ROD) for the Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF) project,” the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management said in a notice posted on its website.

[Read more…]

Monday: AC Operations Committee to discuss proposed DOE landfill

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The Anderson County Operations Committee will discuss the proposed U.S. Department of Energy landfill in a meeting this evening (Monday, January 14).

The meeting will start at 6 p.m. at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

The proposed landfill is known as the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, or EMDF. It would be in Bear Creek Valley west of the Y-12 National Security Complex. [Read more…]

Reminder: AC Commission has workshop on proposed DOE waste facility

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The Anderson County Commission will hold a workshop today (Monday, January 7), starting at 6 p.m., to discuss the U.S. Department of Energy’s proposed construction and operation of a new hazardous waste disposal facility on the federal reservation in Oak Ridge.

The purpose of the meeting is to allow commissioners, officials, and residents to provide comments before the deadline for public comment on Wednesday January 9, on the proposed Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF). The deadline was pushed back to this month after officials requested more time to look over the information.

David Adler, director of the Quality and Mission Support Division for the DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, will attend Monday’s meeting, according to WYSH Radio in Clinton. [Read more…]

DOE cleanup: Comment period for EMDF ends at 5 p.m. today

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The comment period ends at 5 p.m. today (Monday, December 10) for the proposed landfill that the U.S. Department of Energy could use in central Bear Creek Valley west of the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The landfill would be used as the existing landfill, also west of Y-12, fills up as DOE cleanup work shifts from East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site) to Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, possibly after 2020. The new landfill would be called the Environmental Management Disposal Facility. The existing landfill is the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility.

The public comment period for the proposed plan for the new facility was extended until December 10. DOE will accept written comments on the proposed plan at any time during the public comment period. You can send your comments via email at [email protected]. Also, you can mail comment to Mr. John Michael Japp at P.O. Box 2001, Oak Ridge, TN 37831.

Copies of the EMDF Proposed Plan are available at the DOE Information Center. It is also available online at https://doeic.science.energy.gov/uploads/A.0100.030.2596.pdf.

SSAB to hear about DOE work to ensure sufficient waste disposal capacity

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EMWMF

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on Wednesday will hear about work by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management to ensure there is sufficient waste disposal capacity to complete future cleanup work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.

DOE is considering a new landfill known as the Environmental Management Disposal Facility. It could be built in central Bear Creek Valley west of Y-12. There was a public meeting to discuss the project at the New Hope Center at Y-12 on Wednesday, November 7.

The existing landfill, the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility west of Y-12, is about three-quarters full, and it is expected to fill up in the early 2020s after cleanup work is complete at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site. [Read more…]

Tonight: Public meeting on DOE landfill

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There is a public meeting about the Environmental Management Disposal Facility in Oak Ridge tonight (Wednesday, November 7).

The meeting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. in the New Hope Center auditorium at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Scarboro Road. Presentations are expected to begin around 6:30 p.m., and a question and comment period could start around 7:15 p.m. [Read more…]

Public availability session on proposed DOE landfill is Thursday

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There is a public availability session on the proposed federal landfill in Oak Ridge on Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Energy has issued a proposed plan to build a new landfill on the Oak Ridge Reservation. The landfill, the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, would be in Bear Creek Valley west of the Y-12 National Security Complex. It is intended for disposal of radioactive, hazardous, and toxic wastes. It would be used as cleanup work ends at the East Tennessee Technology Park and the existing landfill, the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility fills up, and cleanup work moves to Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

A press release said the Sierra Club has invited state and federal officials from DOE, Environmental Protection Agency, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to be available for public questions about the Environmental Management Disposal Facility. The public availability session has been scheduled from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday, October 11, at the TDEC office at 761 Emory Valley Road in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

You can comment on DOE landfill

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You can comment on the proposed new federal landfill in Bear Creek Valley during a public information session in Oak Ridge today (Thursday, September 13).

The landfill would be called the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, and it would be 2.2 million cubic yards on land owned by the federal government. It would be used by the U.S. Department of Energy to dispose of waste from the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The public information session is scheduled from 4:30-6 p.m. Thursday at the DOE Information Center in east Oak Ridge at 1 Science.gov Way. The meeting is hosted by DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The purpose of the meeting is to share information about the proposed plan and hear public comments, according to a public notice sent to Oak Ridge Today on Wednesday afternoon. [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…]

DOE awards environmental sampling contract for possible new waste disposal site

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has awarded Strata-G LLC a contract to perform environmental sampling as part of an effort to build a new disposal facility on the DOE’s Oak Ridge Reservation. (Photo courtesy DOE's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has awarded Strata-G LLC a contract to perform environmental sampling as part of an effort to build a new disposal facility on the DOE’s Oak Ridge Reservation. (Photo courtesy DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has awarded Strata-G LLC a contract to perform environmental sampling as part of its effort to build a new waste disposal facility on the Oak Ridge Reservation.

Under the contract, valued at about $1 million, the veteran-owned small business is responsible for drilling 16 wells to access groundwater, characterize surface water, and gather soil samples for geotechnical investigations at the Bear Creek Valley site, located on federal land west of the Y-12 National Security Complex, a press release said. That site is known as the Central Bear Creek Valley site.

Information gathered from the environmental sampling activities will be used to determine if the site is suited for future waste disposal operations and to support detailed design for the new disposal facility, known as the Environmental Management Disposal Facility. Fieldwork is scheduled for completion in April, and a final report on the effort will be released later this year, the press release said. [Read more…]

Site prep could start this year for mercury treatment plant at Y-12

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Y-12 Mercury Treatment Facility

The Mercury Treatment Facility that will be at the east end of Y-12 National Security Complex could start operating in 2022. (Image by David Brown/U.S. Department of Energy)

 

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

Site preparation could start later this year for the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex as the U.S. Department of Energy prepares for demolition and cleanup work at the nuclear weapons plant.

DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM, expects to complete demolition and cleanup work at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, in 2020. It will then focus on the large-scale demolition work at Y-12.

Among the Y-12 buildings that could be demolished are Alpha 4, Alpha 5, and Beta 4, all large buildings where mercury, a toxic metal, was once used. The buildings used mercury to separate lithium for nuclear weapons. The lithium separation operations started in 1955 and ended in 1963.

But before that cleanup work can begin, OREM needs the Mercury Treatment Facility. The plant was first announced at a press conference featuring U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, about four years ago, in May 2013.

“This water treatment plant is a major step in addressing one of the biggest problems we have from the Cold War era—mercury once used to make nuclear weapons getting into our waterways,” Alexander said at the time. [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…]