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Treatment facility will reduce mercury in creek water, allow cleanup work at Y-12

Posted at 1:51 pm November 20, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce the amount of mercury that gets into East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of four large buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War, officials said during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Nov. 20, 2017. Part of the back of the Beta 1 building is pictured at back left. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce the amount of mercury that gets into East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of four large buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War, officials said during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Nov. 20, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 10:45 p.m.

The new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce the amount of mercury that gets into East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of four large buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War, officials said Monday.

Mercury contamination is one of the biggest problems remaining from the Cold War, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander said during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday morning. Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, first announced the new treatment facility at Y-12 more than four years ago.

“In May 2013, I came to Oak Ridge to announce that a new water treatment facility would be built at Y-12 at the head of the East Fork Poplar Creek to prevent mercury that was once used to make nuclear weapons from getting into our waterways,” Alexander said. “That day, I made a personal commitment to address one of the biggest problems we have from the Cold War era—mercury contamination—and help fund a solution. Today, I am proud to see that we are breaking ground on the new water treatment facility.”

Site preparation for the new Mercury Treatment Facility is expected to start this year, with the rest of construction beginning in late 2018. The facility is expected to start operating in late 2022.

The treatment plant will allow workers to demolish four large buildings where mercury, a toxic metal, was once used: Alpha 2, Alpha 4, Alpha 5, and Beta 4. Work on those buildings, mostly on the west side of Y-12, could start by 2024. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge Office, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Alpha 2, Alpha 4, Alpha 5, Beta 4, Chuck Fleischmann, Dan Brouillette, East Fork Poplar Creek, GEM Technologies, groundbreaking ceremony, Jay Mullis, Jim Henry, Ken Rueter, Lamar Alexander, Mark Whitney, mercury, mercury contamination, Mercury Treatment Facility, mercury-contaminated buildings, Michael Evans, nuclear weapons, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Outfall 200, Sue Cange, U.S. Department of Energy, UCOR, URS-CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, West End Mercury Area, Y-12 National Security Complex

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

Posted at 1:35 pm September 19, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: DOE, DOE Oak Ridge Office, early site preparation, East Fork Poplar Creek, East Tennessee Technology Park, Energy and Water Appropriations, environmental management, GEM Technologies, Headworks Facility, Jay Mullis, lithium isotopes, Mark Whitney, mercury, mercury contamination, mercury remediation, Mercury Treatment Facility, nuclear weapons work, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Outfall 200, Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility, site prep contract, Sue Cange, U.S. Department of Energy, UCOR, URS-CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, West End Mercury Area, Y-12 National Security Complex

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

Posted at 10:02 am April 28, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge Office, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Alpha 2, Alpha 4, Alpha 5, Beta 4, cleanup, demolition, DOE, East Fork Poplar Creek, East Tennessee Technology Park, Environmental Management Disposal Facility, Excess Facilities Initiative, Headworks Facility, Jay Mullis, K-25, K-25 site, Lamar Alexander, Mark Whitney, mercury, mercury contamination, Mercury Treatment Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Oak Ridge Reservation, OREM, Outfall 200, Sue Cange, U.S. Department of Energy, water treatment plant, West End Mercury Area, X-10, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

Construction on Y-12 mercury treatment plant could start in 2018, cost $146 million

Posted at 2:28 pm September 10, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Y-12 Process Buildings and Mercury Use Area

Note: This story was last updated at 3:30 p.m.

Construction on a mercury treatment plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex could start in 2018 and cost $146 million, a federal official said Wednesday.

The plant would treat mercury contamination that originates in the West End Mercury Area at Y-12, flows through storm drains, and enters Upper East Fork Poplar Creek at a point known as Outfall 200. East Fork Poplar Creek flows through Oak Ridge.

The U.S. Department of Energy has evaluated several alternatives for treating the mercury, including doing nothing. But DOE prefers an option that would treat 3,000 gallons of contaminated water per minute and store two million gallons of stormwater. It could reduce the flow of mercury, a toxic metal, by an estimated 84 percent. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge Office, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: 2013 DOE Tennessee Science Bowl, Alpha 2, Alpha 4, Alpha 5, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Beta 4, Claude Buttram, East Fork Poplar Creek, EPA, Jason Darby, Lamar Alexander, lithium, Mark Whitney, mercury, mercury cleanup, mercury remediation, Mercury Treatment Facility, mercury treatment plant, MTF, nuclear weapons, Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Outfall 200, record of decision, Site Specific Advisory Board, SSAB, stormwater, Sue Cange, TDEC, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, treatment plant, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Upper East Fork Poplar Creek, WEMA, West End Mercury Area, Y-12 National Security Complex

Five mercury cleanup projects wrapped up in February

Posted at 11:41 pm March 5, 2013
By U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office Leave a Comment

Mercury-contaminated Tank Cleanup

Workers load a mercury-contaminated tank onto inspection saddles. (Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy/UCOR)

Five mercury projects being performed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were completed in February, with URS-CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, issuing the final reports.

The projects ranged from planning new facilities and planning for cost-effective disposition of mercury-contaminated media, to removing old, abandoned tanks containing mercury. All are part of getting ready for an upcoming major focus on mercury cleanup at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

In the area of Y-12 known as the West End Mercury Area, or WEMA, multiple facilities produced a lithium isotope fundamental to the development of the hydrogen weapon. Mercury was used in that process. In those facilities, various amounts of mercury are present in the process pipes and equipment, drains and sumps, soil surrounding the facilities, storm sewers, and stream sediments.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge Office, Top Stories, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Eric Sliger, landfill, lithium, mercury cleanup, mercury projects, mercury-contaminated tanks, Nevada National Security Site, NNSS, soil, U.S. Department of Energy, UCOR, URS-CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, Veterans Contracting Solutions Group LLC, WEMA, West End Mercury Area, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

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Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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