The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (EM) recently disclosed that EM crews have successfully extracted over 1 million gallons of water from the basement of the Beta-1 building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. According to a news release, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and a cleanup contractor known as UCOR are currently working to remove water that dates back to the time of the Manhattan Project from the Beta-1 building.
It took the dedicated staff of the Beta-1 building 42 days, but eventually they were successful in draining the water that had accumulated in the basement. According to an estimation provided in a press release, the ongoing cleanup operations will necessitate the removal of an additional 450 thousand gallons of water as they advance.
According to a news release, Brian Henry, the Y-12 portfolio federal project director for OREM, mentioned that the conditions in Beta-1 are a fantastic illustration of the sort of circumstances workers are encountering as they prepare aging and decaying structures for demolition at the site. The conditions in Beta-1 were described as being a perfect example of the type of situations crews are encountering. At Y-12, there are a number of programs being developed that are quite similar to one another and will have far-reaching implications in the years to come.
The demolition of this enormous facility is currently underway so that space can be made available for the Department of Energy's (DOE) upcoming operations. The method of water extraction is expected to be completed by the time the month of October comes to a close, as stated in the release.
As the project manager for UCOR, Billy Lloyd, was cited as stating in a press release, "our team has been working diligently to ensure we can safely move deactivation activities to the basement area," which has been problematic owing to water penetration. "Our team has been working diligently to ensure we can safely move deactivation activities to the basement area. Demolition of the building, scheduled to begin in 2026, will not proceed until we are certain that we have successfully completed deactivation of the entire facility and that we have removed any obstacles or hazards to safely bring down the building," according to the press release.
