UCOR is deactivating high-risk Y-12 facilities. Those include massive facilities like the more than 500,000-square-foot Alpha-4 building as well as the the Alpha-2 and Beta-1 buildings, which housed four of the 11 calutron tracks used to separate uranium during the Manhattan Project. Under our previous contract, UCOR demolished the last two buildings in the Y-12 Biology Complex where 11 facilities once stood. After the building slabs were removed, the land was returned to Y-12 for a future lithium processing facility.
What's Happening Now
OVERVIEW OF CLEANUP PROGRESS
UCOR is decommissioning and demolishing (D&D) excess contaminated facilities on the Y-12 site. We are also decommissioning large, contaminated and deteriorating facilities like Alpha-2, Beta-1, and Alpha-4. These three together are over a million square feet.
Number of excess facilities:
90+
Number that are high risk:
25+
Number of facilities demolished:
11
Milestone Dates
0
Completed Manhattan Project-era Alpha-4 roof repairs
0
Completed site preparations for Mercury Treatment Facility
0
Completed removal of West COLEX process facilities
0
Completed demolition of historic Biology Complex
0
Completed demolition of Criticality Experiment Lab
The Past
In early 1943, the first of nine facilities that used calutrons in their electromagnet enrichment process became operational. The Alpha and Beta facilities supported the Manhattan Project. The site’s mission has changed over time. For the Cold War, Y-12 separated lithium-6, a process that used mercury as a solvent, much of which leached into the environment. No longer a production facility, today’s Y-12 works to ensure safe and effective U.S. nuclear weapons deterrent as part of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
The Future
To free up much needed real estate on the Y-12 site, more than 90 excess facilities need to be removed, with 25 of those considered high risk. Legacy materials and waste must be removed and disposed of, and contaminated soil and water must be remediated.
Because there is a significant amount of mercury contamination in the buildings, UCOR is constructing the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility. The facility will limit and control potential mercury releases as crews demolish massive Manhattan-project and Cold War-era buildings and address the soil beneath them.
As we free up land on the site, Y-12 will be able to modernize processes and operations for their national security mission.
