With 2023 in the books, DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) is moving ahead with an ambitious slate of projects this year that will alter the site’s skyline, remove inventories of nuclear waste and complete a major phase of cleanup.
Office of Environmental Management
January 9, 2024
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OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – With 2023 in the books, DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) is moving ahead with an ambitious slate of projects this year that will alter the site’s skyline, remove inventories of nuclear waste and complete a major phase of cleanup.
As in years past, OREM is focused on taking down excess contaminated facilities across the Oak Ridge Reservation, thereby eliminating risks and opening land for reuse to support research and national security missions.
While last year’s projects changed the landscape at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), crews are set to make major changes at the Y-12 National Security Complex in 2024.
The most significant project on the horizon is the demolition of the 325,000-sqaure-foot Alpha-2 building. This will mark OREM’s first teardown of a former Manhattan Project-era enrichment facility at Y-12, clearing away a high-risk excess contaminated structure.
Teams with cleanup contractor UCOR will also advance many other deactivation projects at ORNL and Y-12 that set the stage for other near-term demolition projects. Those include Beta-1 at Y-12 and the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, Isotope Row facilities, Building 3026 Hot Cell, and Graphite Reactor support facilities at ORNL.
Work is also moving forward on OREM’s highest priority at ORNL — eliminating the remaining inventory of uranium-233 stored onsite. Oak Ridge contractor Isotek is beginning the next phase of its processing campaign that involves material 15 to 20 times higher in radiological dose than the previous material it processed to date.
OREM is also focused on advancing two critical infrastructure projects essential for future cleanup projects.
In 2024, crews are set to finish early site preparation activities and begin a groundwater field demonstration study for the Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF). The study, which spans two wet seasons through 2026, involves understanding how groundwater levels adjust following construction of the landfill. It will capture data that will help inform and finalize EMDF’s design.
Another focus is progressing construction on the Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12. When operational, this plant allows OREM to begin addressing Y-12’s large, mercury-contaminated facilities and sources of mercury in the soil, thereby protecting against releases into a nearby creek.
OREM is reaching its final chapter at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP). This year, workers are scheduled to finish all soil remediation projects at the site, and OREM also expects to finalize decisions to initiate the last phase of groundwater cleanup there.
In addition to cleanup at ETTP, OREM plans to transfer additional land for economic development this year, moving it closer to its ultimate vision of transforming the site into a multi-use industrial center, national park and conservation area for the community.
-Contributor: Ben Williams
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