After removing 50,000 truckloads of contaminated soil, the U.S. Department of Energy and the contractor that did the cleanup work can now complete the transfer of the land that once housed the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant during the Manhattan Project. The land was transferred from federal to local ownership.
Leaders from the DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge, along with elected officials and private sector representatives, celebrated the milestone at a ceremony Aug. 21 at East Tennessee Technology Park.
“Today marks an important and meaningful step toward completing our ultimate mission at the East Tennessee Technology Park,” OREM Manager Jay Mullis said in a press release. “Our progress has transformed the site from an unserviceable burden to an economic asset for the Oak Ridge community.”
Once home to the largest building in the world, all of K-25’s uranium enrichment facilities were decommissioned in 1985 and demolished in 2020. The cleanup involved demolishing more than 500 buildings, covering an area the size of 225 football fields.
Once they were gone, crews continued removing the foundation slabs and radioactive soil.
Much of the land has already been deeded to the city and is home to private companies developing next-generation nuclear technology, such as Kairos Power. The California-based company began construction in July on its Hermes test reactor, cooled by molten fluoride salt instead of water.
OREM has transferred more than 1,700 acres to the community for economic development and will transfer hundreds more next year. Twenty-five private companies that have found the former federal land or announced plans to build on it have secured $1.35 billion in investment and expect to create about 1,400 jobs, most of them in the high-paying nuclear sector.
TRISO-X, a manufacturer of advanced nuclear fuel, ceremonially broke ground on its $300 million manufacturing facility on former federal lands in 2022. NANO Nuclear Energy announced Aug. 20 that it had purchased land and a building at the former K-25 site for its nuclear technology headquarters.
U.S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, pledged to continue providing money for nuclear cleanup.
In July, the DOE and the state of Tennessee signed an agreement that will deposit $42 million into a state account to fund restoration projects at Oak Ridge, beyond nuclear cleanup, such as building public trails and creating native habitats.
Oak Ridge cleanup included in EPA Superfund award
Environmental work at Oak Ridge is part of the DOE’s larger mission to clean up the radioactive legacy of the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. While Oak Ridge is not the largest cleanup site, it is considered one of the most successful and efficient.
“Not only are we helping to restore the environment while reducing risks to the site, we are also facilitating continued regional economic and recreational development,” said Ken Rueter, president and CEO of UCOR.
The East Tennessee Technology Park is a mixed-use industrial park that also includes portions of the National Manhattan Project Historical Park, conservation lands, and the K-25 History Center. The museum hosted approximately 650 former K-25 employees for their first annual reunion in April.
The cleanup work at the site earned the Superfund National Priorities List Award this year as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual National Federal Facility Excellence in Site Reuse Awards. The awards recognize the achievements of federal agencies, states, tribes, local partners, communities and developers in restoring and reusing previously contaminated federal lands.
Caroline Freeman, director of the EPA’s Superfund and Emergency Management Division in Region 4, emphasized the unique nature of the K-25 site’s development.
“This is a remarkable achievement and it is the first uranium enrichment complex in the world to be deactivated, demolished and its soil remediated for reuse,” Freeman said.
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focusing on technology and energy. Phone 423-637-0878. Email daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Department of Energy completes soil remediation at K-25 Oak Ridge site
