The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and cleanup contractor United Cleanup of Oak Ridge (UCOR) are making significant progress as they prepare to dismantle what has been called one of the most challenging facilities in the Y-12 National Security Complex.
Alpha-4 is a 510,000-square-foot building on 13 acres that enriched uranium during the Manhattan Project and processed lithium during the Cold War. Past operations at the facility resulted in severe mercury contamination.
“Preparing a facility for dismantling is always the longest part of the process,” said Morgan Carden, Alpha-4 federal program director. “Removing hazards from inside a facility takes time so crews can remove it safely and efficiently. At Alpha-4, our crews have much more to consider, and the scale is much larger than on recent projects.”
The team has completed placing the facility in “cold and dark,” meaning they disconnected the building from all utilities.
Now, the teams are in the decontamination phase, which includes removing classified equipment to pave the way for others to move in and begin complete decommissioning.
They are also addressing elemental mercury issues at the facility. The presence of mercury presents many challenges. Experts estimate the equipment, facility and surrounding area contained nearly 450,000 pounds of the element. Its retrieval will continue to be a focus for the project team.
Staff have sorted and segmented the 447 legacy containers in the building in advance for transportation and disposal.
Once disinfection is completed in 2028, crews will begin characterization, waste removal, venting and purification process lines and full decommissioning.
Although Alpha-4’s cleanup will be a lengthy process, team members have found a solution that shortened the timeline by nearly two years and saved $16.3 million.
Crews began using a new drum crusher that speeds up work, reduces the size of the old drums to be processed, avoids the risks associated with performing the task manually, and saves significant costs. Efforts to reduce the number of items that need to be decrypted also shortened the sanitation phase.
“On a project of this size and complexity, thoughtful planning and a proactive questioning attitude are critical,” said Wayne Sproles, UCOR’s Y-12 decommissioning and demolition manager. “We are constantly evaluating our approach to ensure the safest, most cost-effective approach is taken.”
Ryan Getsi is a communications staff member at UCOR.
As part of the sanitation phase, workers package and remove classified materials from the Alpha-4 facility.
Aerial photo of Alpha-4.
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and Oak Ridge Consolidated Cleanup are taking steps to address issues at the Alpha-4 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
The team has sorted and segmented 447 legacy containers at the Alpha-4 facility for transportation and disposal.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Crews enter decontamination phase before dismantling Y-12’s Alpha-4