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The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management has started the demolition of a former reactor facility for the first time in Oak Ridge history.
The demolition is being done by Oak Ridge cleanup contractor UCOR, according to a Sept. 13 DOE news release. The Bulk Shielding Reactor, also known as Building 3010, was built for radiation shielding research in the 1950s at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
“While this project is not the biggest demolition we’ve undertaken, it carries a lot of significance,” EM Oak Ridge Office Acting Manager Laura Wilkerson said in the release. “It is the first removal of a former reactor at ORNL, and it is a signal of much more to come at the site in the immediate future.”
“A great deal of prep work was necessary to ensure this facility could be demolished safely,” Dan Macias, UCOR site integration and cleanup manager, said, according to the release. “As with all cleanup work we do, safety is the top priority, and crews have been working diligently during the past few years to eliminate hazards and ensure successful demolition of the reactor facility.”
The reactor was one of more than a dozen similar reactors built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory spanning several decades, the release reported. The facility is one of 16 inactive research reactors and isotope facilities overseen at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by EM.
“UCOR is proud to be part of another significant cleanup milestone on the Oak Ridge Reservation,” UCOR president and CEO Ken Rueter said in the release. “From completing the first-ever cleanup of a gaseous diffusion plant to this notable milestone, the landscape at the Oak Ridge Reservation is changing dramatically, providing essential land for continuing federal missions and economic development. We look forward to continuing cleanup progress at ORNL and across the reservation.”
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