US Department of Energy: The “worst of the worst” contaminated buildings are at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s inspector general has identified more than 200 high-risk buildings that are contaminated and deteriorated with no definitive timetable for cleanup, and the “worst of the worst” is at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge.
The audit report released Wednesday by Inspector General Gregory Friedman found serious weaknesses in the DOE’s efforts to deal with the old facilities — some of which have been out of operation for decades — that are loaded with radioactive and hazardous materials and are gradually falling apart. The schedule for turning the facilities over to the DOE’s Environmental Management Program for cleanup is getting stretched and delayed, the report said, noting many of the dirty and degraded facilities won’t be designated for cleanup until 2025 — or possibly even a decade later.
Building 9201-5, also known as Alpha-5, is a former uranium-enrichment facility that dates back to the World War II Manhattan Project. The report said the National Nuclear Security Administration, the semi-independent part of the DOE that oversees the nuclear weapons complex, had characterized Alpha-5 as “the worst of the worst,” even though about $24 million has already been spent to reduce risks at the big building.
The IG report notes that in addition to hazardous and radioactive contamination being spread by water from leaking roofs, there is a risk of explosion from materials housed at the 530,000-square-foot building.
According to the report, Alpha-5 was built in 1944 and over the years supported various national-security missions that used such materials as uranium, mercury and beryllium. Since operations ceased in 2005, the “highly contaminated facility” has experienced “significant degradation.”
“In particular, during a 2008 Environmental Management assessment, it was noted that the facility had substantial flooding, exterior piping and associated supports were corroding, and reinforced concrete roof panels had deteriorated,” the IG report stated. “The assessment concluded that the combination of the large facility size, rapidly deteriorating conditions, and vast quantity of items requiring disposition made this facility one of the greatest liabilities in the Department’s complex.”
The issues at Alpha-5 were compounded by the shutdown facility’s housing of a “hub of utilities” that served other operations at Y-12 and “could affect national security mission work as further degradation occurs.”
Since that evaluation in 2008, the government has invested more than $24 million in operating and maintenance costs at Y-12. That investment included a Recovery Act-funded project in 2011 that accelerated the removal of tons of legacy materials from Alpha-5.
“However, since cleanup efforts were performed, officials informed us that the facility has degraded at an increasingly alarming rate,” the IG report said. “In particular, a 2014 NNSA site assessment indicated that roof degradation continues to be widespread throughout the facility with varying levels of severity. This has resulted in significant water intrusion and the spread of radiological and toxicological contamination.
“Additionally, the assessment identified the potential for an explosion or reaction associated with remaining contaminants and personnel safety issues related to the degraded condition as high-risk areas. Overall, the assessment concluded that this facility presents a high risk to the workers and environment and should not be accepted.”
The assessment last year concluded that the option with viable risks was to demolish the big building.
“Further, it noted that funding will need to be diverted from mission work to prevent the realization of imminent risks and mitigate the consequences of realized risk events,” the Inspector General report stated.
In its response to the report, DOE management said it “respects the findings” and agreed with the primary recommendations. One recommendation is to reconsider plans to dispose of all the old facilities, so decision-makers can better assess effective use of limited funding.
The DOE’s overall cleanup plans at sites around the country — including Oak Ridge — are currently estimated to cost more than $280 billion, the IG report stated.