It’s been clear that the demolition of the K-27 Building — the last of five gaseous diffusion plants in Oak Ridge — has been running well ahead of its schedule for an end-of-year target date, and now the Department of Energy’s cleanup manager has confirmed that the contractor expects to complete demolition in “late summer/early fall,” with disposal of the mountains of debris to wrap in early 2017.
The estimated cost of the K-27 project, including the extensive preparations for the demolition work, was $292 million, and it’s not yet clear whether URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR) will be able to trim that cost significantly by accelerating the take-down of the former uranium-processing facility.
UCOR has taken advantage of highly favorable weather conditions to hasten the demolition of K-27, which ceased operations in 1964. The four-story, 383,000-square foot building is contaminated with uranium and chemical constituents and, due to age and weather-related erosion, falling apart in places.
Many of the workers dedicated to K-27 work will be transferred to other projects at the Oak Ridge site in coming months. Future priorities will be the Poplar Creek Facility — 10 structures of varied contamination but heavily deteriorated — and the K-1037 barrier production facility that has big-time concerns with classified material.
“The Poplar Creek work is ongoing, and building demolition will take place through the end of the UCOR contract in 2020,” a UCOR spokesperson wrote in an email.
Ben Williams of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, estimated the cost of demolishing the Poplar Creek Facilities would be about $74 million.
Most of the demolition debris from the Poplar Creek Facilities will be transported to a CERCLA landfill in Oak Ridge that is specifically set up for radioactive and hazardous wastes generated by cleanup projects.
However, Williams confirmed that a “small portion” of the Poplar Creek debris will likely be shipped off-site because of high levels of radioactive uranium or technetium. He didn’t identify the site, but similar wastes have been sent to DOE’s Nevada National Security Site in the past.
