K-25 cleanup complete in Oak Ridge

Gov. Bill Lee, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and Sen. Lamar Alexander came to Oak Ridge to celebrate a historic milestone – the first completion of the cleanup of a former uranium enrichment complex.

“The difference between Oak Ridge and other sites is that Oak Ridge finishes the job. Oak Ridge gets the job done,” Alexander told the crowd underneath a tent near the K-25 History Center as people also watched the event virtually.

“In Oak Ridge, we do it a little bit better or a whole lot better than the rest of the nation,” Fleischmann said.

Contractors demolished more than 500 contaminated buildings at the former K-25 site, later called the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, and now the East Tennessee Technology Park, according to a news release. It’s an area equal to the size of 225 football fields.

Lee thanked the “men and women who have put their heart and soul and lives and sweat into this project.” Other speakers joined him in thanking the people who worked on the project, from demolition workers to politicians.

“While this is a Department of Energy project, it’s all of you,” Brouillette said.

The buildings on the former K-25 site were built in secrecy in the 1940s to provide enriched uranium for the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. After the end of World War II, the complex continued with new buildings, enriching uranium for both military and commercial purposes, and exploring new enrichment technologies. The site permanently shut down in 1987.

Department of Energy-Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Manager Jay Mullis said the cleanup work began in the mid-1990s.

The site’s closure left behind hundreds of contaminated and deteriorating buildings that contractors had to work to decontaminate and remove. These included five enrichment buildings, including the original mile-long K-25 building, which was the largest building in the world in 1945.

“We were probably one tornado away from an environmental disaster,” David Adler, director of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management’s Quality and Mission Support Division, said in a documentary played for guests at the event.

Mullis said the cleanup work employed about 1,000 workers per day when it began in earnest. The demolition posed challenges.

A video shown at the event detailed the challenges, including a worker falling through a deteriorating building’s floor. After that point, the contractor had to make sure to repair the building before demolishing it to avoid similar accidents. However, Mullis told reporters that the Department of Energy had a better safety record than other similar industries.

He told reporters that contractors finished the project four years ahead of schedule. Ben Williams, Department of Energy public affairs specialist, said the project avoided costs of $500 million by being completed early. In addition, it was $80 million under budget.

Over the course of the past 20 years, the Department of Energy has invested $4.5 billion to complete major cleanup at the East Tennessee Technology Park, he said.

“Under budget and under time – they rarely occur independently. They even more rarely occur at the same time,” Lee said, adding that the savings “equate to real dollars (saved) for taxpayers.”

Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch also attended the event and spoke about the site’s future.

“The theme for today’s event is ‘from teardown to turnover,’” he said. “I suggest that the theme moving forward should be ‘from turnover to transformation.’” Gooch specifically highlighted two projects in the East Tennessee Technology Park area. The first is the K-25 History Center, which Gooch said will expand Oak Ridge tourism. Currently, the History Center is in the top floor of a fire station on the site, but a news release from the Department of Energy and contractor UCOR stated there are plans to build even more facilities for Cold War and World War II-related exhibits.

Gooch also highlighted the city’s own project, currently pending an environmental study, to build an airport toward the front of East Tennessee Technology Park – although this project will not be directly on the former K-25 site. He said it will also attract industry.

Alexander also pointed out that industrial developers often need flat land, which the site can now provide. The news release stated nearly 1,300 acres and 14 facilities have been transferred for economic development and more than 3,000 acres are part of a conservation easement for recreational use.

Source: University of Tennessee, by Ben Pounds

The East Tennessee Economic Development Agency markets and recruits business for the 15 counties in the greater Knoxville-Oak Ridge region of East Tennessee. Visit www.eteda.org

Published October 29, 2020