Oak Ridge environmental management, UCOR finishing largest soil remediation project

The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor UCOR have completed the largest soil remediation project at the East Tennessee Technology Park.

The three-year-long project removed more than 100,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil, which equates to nearly 8,500 dump truck loads, from the footprint of the massive K-25 building. The K-25 building - a mile-long, U-shaped building - was demolished in 2013, leaving behind areas of contaminated soil that needed to be addressed.

Demolition of K-25, once the largest building in the world, was part of a larger effort to remove an entire uranium enrichment complex. Over the span of that project, OREM removed more than 500 buildings with a combined footprint that could span 225 football fields. That work was completed in 2020.

When major soil remediation began at the East Tennessee Technology Park in 2018, UCOR divided the site into parcels of differing sizes, called Exposure Units. The largest remediation effort, called EU-21, encompassed the area inside the U-shape of the K-25 Building footprint.

“We’ve experienced a lot of challenges during soil remediation, both at EU-21 and all across ETTP,” said Jimmy Hughes, UCOR area project manager. “The amount of soil needing remediation increased significantly from initial estimates, but through smart planning and innovative approaches, we managed to keep the project on schedule.”

Initial estimates projected approximately 20,000 cubic yards requiring removal from EU-21. That grew to over 103,000 cubic yards as remediation progressed and soil sampling indicated additional excavation would be needed.

Across the entire ETTP site, initial estimates indicated that approximately 100,000 cubic yards of soil would need to be excavated - an amount that would eventually rise to more than 470,000 cubic yards.

Some of the approaches that helped keep remediation efforts on track included shipments by rail for some of the waste, implementing efficient methods for loading and transporting excavated soil, and reusing topsoil excavated from other OREM projects for backfill.

Nearly all soil remediation at ETTP is complete. Finishing all soil remediation at ETTP is an environmental management priority for 2024. UCOR will complete the few remaining tasks in the coming weeks.

“We’ve taken the next big step to complete our cleanup mission at the East Tennessee Technology Park,” said Joanna Hardin, OREM’s ETTP portfolio federal project director. “Finishing soil remediation is a major milestone because it allows us to transfer the remaining parcels of land to the community for beneficial and economic reuse.”

Wayne McKinney is a member of the UCOR communications staff.