Amentum-led United Cleanup Oak Ridge plans this summer to hire a subcontractor to start site preparation for a new landfill to dispose of 2.2-million cubic yards of low-level waste at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, a federal spokesperson said Tuesday.
“There are still several significant steps remaining,” before United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) can start construction of the planned Environmental Management Disposal Facility, a DOE spokesperson said in an email response to an Exchange Monitor inquiry.
The goal is to have the new onsite landfill operational in the 2028-2029 timeframe, with construction starting a couple of years before that, the DOE spokesperson said.
The state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration approved DOE’s record of decision for the landfill in September. The landfill will replace the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, which is nearly full.
The early preparation includes re-routing Bear Creek Road and the haul road leading to the existing landfill, clearing trees and preparing the footprint for the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, according to a Jan. 5 press release from UCOR subcontractor Strata-G. It also includes water and electrical utility line extensions to support the new development. Strata-G President John Patterson has been UCOR’s project manager for the new landfill since June 2020.
Plans are nearly complete for the Groundwater Field Demonstration project that will start this spring, the DOE spokesperson said. Crews will gather data from “for 2 wet seasons” to inform the landfill’s final design, the spokesperson said. Regulators must also sign off for the design before construction can start.
The new waste facility is located in central Bear Creek Valley about two miles west of the Y-12 Nuclear National Security complex. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) has said that because the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility will be full by the end of the decade, the new landfill is crucial to continue demolition of contaminated structures around Y-12 and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
