Staff Reports
WC Monitor
1/8/2016
Unlike many of the Department of Energy’s big cleanup projects, radioactivity is not the concern during preparations for demolition of the K-1037 building in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The challenge is to do the cleanup while protecting the classification issues at the 380,000-square-foot facility, where the so-called “barrier” – a key part of the nation’s gaseous diffusion operations that enriched uranium for weapons and reactors — was designed and manufactured.
The technology for concentrating the fissionable U-235 isotope remains classified, and DOE and its Oak Ridge cleanup manager – URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) – are currently characterizing the large facility and making plans for demolition over the next couple years.
Mike Koentop, executive officer of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge, said he could not provide any details of the barrier or how the agency plans to deal with it. “The barrier is sintered nickel powder,” Koentop said in an email response to questions. “Any elaboration beyond that is classified.”
According to UCOR, the main hazards at K-1037 are “typical industrial wastes.” Company spokeswoman Anne Smith said, “There are no significant radiological contaminants in the building.”
K-1037 is located on the far east end of the East Tennessee Technology Park, which once housed the nation’s largest uranium-enrichment complex. Koentop said he there is no cost estimate available on the cleanup and demolition of the building. “We are still working through the process to determine what is going to be required to successfully complete the project, so we don’t have an accurate estimate at this point,” he said.
Sue Cange, DOE’s Oak Ridge cleanup manager, toured the facility last month when Mark Whitney, the principal deputy assistant secretary for EM, was in town for a conference. Cange said she wanted Whitney to get a good look at the building so officials in Washington could better understand the future challenges in the cleanup.
K-1037 is now scheduled to be demolished in 2018, though Cange said the work could continue into 2019. Many preparations are necessary before demolition begins, she said.
Cange didn’t directly address how DOE plans to remove the classification concerns and wouldn’t comment on whether workers will chop up the classified equipment to prepare it for disposal. “We’re still working with the classification officers and with our headquarters to determine the appropriate approach for dealing with the building from a classification perspective,” she said, adding, “We’ve had crews in there for several months, characterizing the building.”
UCOR has begun consolidating and removing much of the combustible materials that have been stored there for years, Cange said. “There’s a lot of excess personal protective equipment, file cabinets full of paper, just standard equipment and materials that have been in storage in the building for a long time,” she said.
The DOE official said all of the barrier production equipment remains inside K-1037. “And, of course, the primary challenge that we have with that building is the classification concerns,” she said.
Regarding disposal of the materials, Cange said DOE expects to ship much of the material – especially the building rubble – to the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility in Oak Ridge. The Superfund landfill has been approved for disposal of classified wastes.
