The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and cleanup contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) are making significant headway preparing what is described as one of the most challenging facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex for demolition.
Alpha-4, a 510,000-square-foot structure covering 13 acres of land, enriched uranium during the Manhattan Project and processed lithium during the Cold War. Past operations inside the facility led to heavy mercury contamination.
“Preparing a facility for demolition is always the lengthiest part of the process,” said Alpha-4 Federal Project Director Morgan Carden. “It takes time to remove the hazards from inside the facility so crews can take it down safely and efficiently. At Alpha-4, our crews have much more to account for and it’s at a much larger scale than recent projects.”…