For Immediate Release
Contact: Ashley Hartman
Ashley.Hartman@ettp.doe.gov
(865) 574-7231
OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, September 19, 2017 — URS| CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) has awarded a
$1.4 million contract to GEM Technologies of Knoxville, Tennessee, to perform early site preparation
activities for the new Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak
Ridge.
Under the contract, GEM Technologies will perform limited demolition of existing abandoned
utilities and extension of new utilities, including electrical power, water, sewer, and storm drains, to the
treatment facility sites.
The work included in this contract is expected to begin by November 30 with completion planned
for Fall 2018. Early site preparation reduces risks by identifying and addressing potential site unknowns
at an early stage of construction.
The construction for the Mercury Treatment Facility is scheduled to start under a separate
contract in late 2018.
Mercury remediation remains one of the highest cleanup priorities at Y-12 for the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Environmental Management program. Y-12 used mercury to separate lithium
isotopes from 1955-1963 during the Cold War period. A significant amount of that material migrated into
the environment.
The new facility is expected to dramatically reduce mercury concentrations in the water exiting Y-
12, and it will be operational prior to large-scale demolition on the west end of the site that may disrupt
mercury in the area.
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UCOR2017-10