In 1943 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, scientists working on the secret Manhattan Project produced the world’s first enriched uranium. Some areas of the reservation still suffer from contamination left over from nuclear projects that were active through the Cold War. But that, too, is being relegated to history, thanks to a massive cleanup project managed by Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC.
Bechtel Jacobs, owned by Bechtel and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., has worked at Oak Ridge, one of the largest and most complex nuclear cleanups in the United States, since 1998. In 2003, DOE awarded Bechtel Jacobs a $2.25 billion cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for accelerated environmental site cleanup. The compressed schedule is expected to save the government billions in cleanup, operating, and maintenance costs by completing the work 21 years ahead of an original 2030 target date.
Remediation work covers 2,100 hectares contaminated by radioactive elements, mercury, asbestos, PCBs, or industrial waste. The project is disposing of radioactive scrap metal, contaminated soil, construction debris, organic liquids, wastewater, and sludge residue.
Final milestones will be the demolition of abandoned contaminated buildings in East Tennessee Technology Park that, at the time of construction, were the largest buildings in the world under one roof. Because they have been shut down for almost 40 years with limited maintenance, they are in an extremely deteriorated condition. When that is completed, the complex will be transformed into an industrial park under the leadership of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee.
|
|
