The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has begun demolishing a low-intensity test reactor in the Oak Ridge area.

In late March, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor UCOR started with the planned demolition of Building 3005, also known as the low-intensity test reactor, according to an April 4 news release.

“We’re pleased to make headway on the removal of this old reactor facility, which is an EM priority for 2023,” ORNL Portfolio Federal Project Director Nathan Felosi said in the release. “Our progress is helping eliminate hazards and open land for reuse at ORNL." 

The reactor was at first popularized after a photo of the blue glow caused by radiation in the pool above the reactor was featured on the October 1951 cover of the magazine Scientific American, the release reported. As a result of the site's high level of deterioration and contamination, the facility now needs to be taken down.

Other Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials publicly commented as well in order to express their praise for the workers on the project, the release reported. 

“Great kudos to our workers in the field for discovering the structural concerns, pausing the work, and bringing it to the attention of our management team and engineers, allowing the project to remain safe,” Dan Macias, ORNL site integration and cleanup manager, said in the release.

The goal is to complete the tear down by the end of the year, the release reported. This effort has been approximately five years in the making, with extensive planning and deactivation work "due to unique conditions associated with the facility."

This project follows the demolition of the bulk shield reactor which sat adjacent to the low-intensity test reactor, according to the release. That demolition reportedly marked the first removal of a former reactor from the laboratory's central campus area.