The Department of Energy should finish soil remediation this year at the former K-25 gaseous diffusion complex at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee, and turn to groundwater now that regulators have signed off on written decisions.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management said last week in a press release the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency both recently signed off on records of decision clearing the way for groundwater cleanup. The former K-25 site is now called the East Tennessee Technology Park. Local developers are recruiting businesses to the site.
“With these signings, we can move forward with completing our mission at the East Tennessee Technology Park,” Jay Mullis, who heads the DOE Environmental Management field office at Oak Ridge, said in the release. Environmental Management and its Amentum-Jacobs cleanup contractor finished taking down all the buildings in 2020.
The two records of decision signed in May are for the Main Plant Area and the K-31/K-33 Area, where big uranium enrichment buildings once stood.
DOE plans to use enhanced in-site bioremediation at the Main Plaint Area, which involves injecting carbon sources and microorganisms underground to try and detoxify groundwater contamination. As for K-31 and K-33 Area, crews will utilize monitored natural attenuation.
A future record of decision must address groundwater cleanup plans for Zone 1, which surrounds the Main Plant and K-31 and K-33 areas. Elsewhere at the Oak Ridge Site, Environmental Management is decommissioning and taking down contaminated structures at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex.
