Note: This story was updated at 5:30 p.m.
The field work is complete on 27 cleanup projects at three federal sites in Oak Ridge that used $751 million in Recovery Act funds.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or EM, announced the end of the field work on Thursday.
“We’re done knocking down buildings and with all the work in the field,” said Mike Koentop, executive officer in Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. “We have paperwork left to do to close out projects.”
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the Recovery Act or stimulus bill, was passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama in February 2009. It was meant to help stimulate an economic recovery during the depths of the Great Recession, and it was intended to address long-neglected infrastructure projects and programs.
In Oak Ridge, the Recovery Act funding paid for several demolition projects such as the demolition of the 1.4-million-square-foot K-33 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park and other projects ranging from mercury reduction at the Y-12 National Security Complex to transuranic waste processing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [Read more…]