For Immediate Release
Contact: Fran Poda
fran.poda@ettp.doe.gov
(865) 241-6226
Oak Ridge, Tenn., November 30, 2011 – Six facilities in the East Tennessee Technology Park’s (ETTP) Poplar Creek area have been rendered “cold and dark” and are one step closer to demolition.
URS | CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) performed the work under a contract with ORISE, which will be thoroughly characterizing the buildings prior to demolition. Buildings must be free of hazardous material before intrusive characterization work can begin.
Making a facility “cold and dark” means removing all hazardous energy sources from the facility. Utilities are isolated, mains are cut, and a thorough investigation is conducted to ensure that every conduit or pipe that goes into or out of the facility is accounted for. Once a team has walked down the facility and determined that all this work has been done, it is deemed “cold and dark.”
The six buildings recently completed are the cylinder storage, sandblasting and painting facilities. They contained industrial hazards and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), but there were no radioactive hazards.
Work began shortly after UCOR took over the ETTP contract on Aug. 1 and was finished on Nov. 17. All work was completed safely and without incident.
“A key component of deactivation and demolition (D&D) work is making sure it can be done safely,” says Leo Sain, UCOR President and Project Manager. “Our cold and dark process is a proven way to help ensure the safety of our workers.”
Characterization work is now underway and when it is completed, the building will be demolition ready.
UCOR is the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management contractor at the Oak Ridge Reservation. The company is responsible for deactivation and demolition of the K-25 facility at ETTP, as well as other specific scopes of work at the site, the Y-12 National Security Site, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.