The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and cleanup contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) are setting a new benchmark in cleanup progress — conducting demolition on two former Manhattan Project uranium enrichment facilities in a single year. Crews have successfully prepared the 210,000-square-foot Beta-1 facility for teardown to begin this summer at the Y-12 National Security Complex. That demolition comes after workers finished knocking down Alpha-2 six months ahead of schedule.

Cleanup crews in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) central campus have filled 120 feet of underground ductwork connecting multiple facilities with a cement mixture to isolate them for safe demolition and avoid potential impacts to neighboring buildings. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and cleanup contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) completed the project to prepare for demolition of Building 3002, a former filter house used to clean exhaust from the nearby historic Graphite Reactor.

Oak Ridge crews are deactivating Beta-4, which spans the equivalent of nearly seven football fields, as similar preparations for demolition draw to a close at another former Manhattan Project-era uranium enrichment facility, Beta-1, at the Y-12 National Security Complex. This marks a significant step forward in the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management’s (OREM) effort to remove legacy hazards, enable modernization and open space for important national security missions at Y-12.

A detailed data-gathering process known as characterization is helping the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) advance cleanup at one of the nation’s most important national security sites. Teams are characterizing land, buildings and slabs to identify contamination at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Field work underway by contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) and subcontractor RSI EnTech is paving the way for upcoming demolition and land reuse at Y-12.