The Department of Energy still plans to develop a field research center in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to test new technologies for addressing mercury contamination in the environment, but the federal agency has decided not to construct the facility at the Horizon Center business park because of objections from the city of Oak Ridge.
“The City presented us with a number relevant concerns, and in response, we directed UCOR (the agency’s cleanup manager in Oak Ridge) to suspend its efforts to select a contractor interested in constructing the facility,” Mike Koentop, executive officer of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, said in a statement.
“We are currently in the process of identifying alternatives that will meet the needs of the Department of Energy and the City of Oak Ridge,” Koentop said.
The earlier proposal reportedly would have constructed the facility at a site that was previously set aside as a “natural area,” and that was opposed by the city’s Industrial Development Board – even though the property adjacent to Horizon Park remains in DOE’s hands.
The proposed field research station is a planned collaboration between DOE’s Office of Environmental Management and Office of Science. It would be constructed by EM, but staffed by environmental scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the department’s largest Science lab.
Wherever it’s to be built, it needs to be near the lower part of East Fork Poplar Creek, which was historically polluted by mercury discharges from the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant – which used vast tons of mercury during the Cold War development of thermonuclear weapons. Hundreds of thousands of pounds of mercury have been lost to the environment, mostly during the 1950s and ‘60s although some residual amounts of mercury continue to leak into the creek on a daily basis.
ORNL researchers have done major studies of mercury in the environment, particularly what factors cause the creation of methylmercury – the most toxic form that bioaccumulates in fish and other aquatic life.
Mark Peterson, who heads an ecological assessment team at ORNL, said methylmercury concentrations in water and fish are higher downstream than in the creek’s upper stretches near Y-12. That’s why it’s important to locate the research facility on the lower end of East Fork, which winds for miles through much of west Oak Ridge after leaving the Y-12 property near the site’s main entrance and eventually joining up with Poplar Creek and downstream reservoirs.
“The work we’re proposing is for a technology development program,” Peterson said. Scientists may look at various ways to remove mercury from the water or creek environment or keep it from moving farther downstream, he said.
“We want to look at potential water chemistry changes,” Peterson said.
Researchers know that the form of mercury can be altered by nutrients in the water or according to the amount of algae and other factors. Peterson said experiments at the creek could help scientists better understand ways to manipulate the ecological changes, such as the introduction of native mussels, in ways that reduce risks.
Koentop said the research effort is part of DOE’s comprehensive plan for addressing mercury contamination in Oak Ridge. The agency is also planning a new $148 million treatment facility at Y-12 to remove mercury from the creek’s headwaters near the center of the facility.
While there has been much improvement in the East Fork’s water quality, the mercury discharges remain out of compliance with the Clean Water Act, and Peterson said a final decision on how to remedy the pollution concerns in the lower parts of East Fork is still years away.
The new research facility, however, could make progress in the long-running mercury assessments.
“We’re excited about it,” Peterson said, “and what we might be able to do to make a positive difference.”
