The onetime switch house for uranium enrichment facilities at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge site in Tennessee has been fully demolished, cleanup contractor URS-CH2M Oak Ridge said this week.
Elimination of Building K-731 is another step in restoration of the 2,200-acre former enrichment complex now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park. “The former switch house facility played an integral role in providing electric power to the uranium enrichment facilities for more than 40 years,” UCOR said in a Facebook post Tuesday.
Demolition began Aug. 30, and it is expected to take a number of weeks to haul away the debris, the company said.
Further information on the demolition project was not immediately available.
UCOR last year completed demolition of the fifth and final gaseous diffusion plant at ETTP, but much work remains to meet DOE’s goal to by 2020 convert the heavily contaminated site into a private industrial park. That includes demolition of the “Poplar Creek Facilities” that were built to support operations at Oak Ridge gaseous diffusion plants.
