How does it feel to be at Oak Ridge at this point in time as not only the demolition of Building K-27 is wrapping up, but also EM’s Vision 2016 for the site is coming to a successful end?

I feel so blessed, and I mean that sincerely, that I’m here for this time because it is such a significant milestone, not just for Oak Ridge, but really for the Department and for the country. My mother has always told me, ‘Timing is everything,’ and I have been very fortunate to be back in EM for the past six years and to be here for this event. I really feel fortunate and honored. It’s really exciting.

What’s the feeling among the workforce as they see this accomplishment draw near and see these buildings go away?

We have a wonderful workforce in Oak Ridge. We’ve said for years that we’re blessed to have a highly skilled and motivated workforce. One of the things that DOE and UCOR (contractor URS|CH2M Oak Ridge) have partnered on together is sharing the comprehensive vision and cleanup plans for Oak Ridge to communicate that although this is an important milestone, there’s still a lot more work to do in Oak Ridge. 

We have a plan where we intend to transition our workforce from the East Tennessee Technology Park to the Y-12 site without delay or interruption. I think that’s been a really important message to communicate so people understand that although they’re working themselves out of work at the East Tennessee Technology Park, not only is there more work to be done, but there’s a plan for them to continue with this important work. That’s been a critical part of our messaging.

What would you say has been the biggest accomplishment during EM’s work to achieve Vision 2016 at the ETTP?

I think there has been two accomplishments, if I may, instead of just one. I think one of our most impressive accomplishments in recent years has been our ability to pursue a clear and meaningful vision together through the establishment of strong partnerships. I think that DOE and UCOR, together, developed a pretty ambitious yet attainable vision for the East Tennessee Technology Park that benefits both the Department and the greater community. 

I think establishing the partnerships and bringing in the support, not just of the federal staff and the contractor employees, but labor and community representatives and our regulators and even our congressional members, we would not be on the brink of celebrating Vision 2016 without pulling all of those important partners to become part of our collective success. So I think that’s one very important accomplishment.

On the technical side, I think our most significant accomplishment to date out at ETTP has been successfully and safely completing the demolition of the K-25 Building. That’s because we all know that at the time of its construction, the K-25 Building was the largest building in the world. It spanned 44 acres under roof, and was between four and five stories tall and ran a mile in length. Unfortunately, because the facility was not properly shut down, there were a number of unique technical challenges that we had to overcome to safely deconstruct the facility, which is essentially what we did. So I think that was our most significant technical accomplishment.

I’m really pleased with the lessons we’ve learned and how we’ve been able to apply those lessons to the successful and safe demolition of the other gaseous diffusion plant facilities here at Oak Ridge. I’m even more excited with the idea that those lessons will now be transitioned and deployed to both Portsmouth and Paducah.

Can you give some examples of those lessons learned that can be utilized at the Portsmouth and Paducah gaseous diffusion plants?

There have been some really important lessons as to how facilities need to be maintained as they await going through what we call the ‘4D’ process — decommissioning, deactivation, decontamination and demolition — to ensure the safety of our workers, as well as to ensure that we can deconstruct these facilities as efficiently as possible. So that’s one area where there have been some important lessons learned.

There have also been important lessons learned in our nuclear safety practices and approaches, as well as how to best address criticality issues and concerns. There’s been a host of lessons in that particular arena. There have also been some important lessons that have to do with waste management and disposal. I think that what we call here ‘the waste factory’ is a very important component to our success and the role that it plays and the opportunities for us to maximize our ability to efficiently and effectively dispose of waste as it is generated.

One of the factors that has been cited in the successful work at ETTP is the cleanup contract EM has with UCOR. The DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments has noted that the contract could serve as a model for others in the EM program. From your perspective, how has that contract shaped and allowed the successful work to be performed at ETTP? How can that be translated to other sites?

That’s a great question. I agree that the ETTP contract has been an excellent model contract for the Department to utilize. I think first and foremost, I want to applaud the team that worked on its development and the team of people here in Oak Ridge, as well as at the EM Consolidated Business Center and at EM headquarters that work each and every day to administer it. I think that’s an important component to effective contracting that we don’t focus on. We talk a lot about the structure of a contract but we don’t necessarily focus a lot on the administration and management of that contract. I think that is one of the reasons why that contract continues to be held up as a model.

I do think, from a structural perspective, the contract was built in a way to maximize contractor performance. Work is divided into what we call contract line item numbers (CLINs) and it’s structured in a way that we can authorize additional work in different CLINs only if, or after, DOE is satisfied with the contractor’s performance on the previous work. So I think that that is structurally a good concept that can be modelled and applied elsewhere.

This is a cost-plus contract, and we have both an award fee and a performance-based incentive fee approach. One of the things we do a little differently in Oak Ridge is we’ve decided to maintain a semi-annual award fee process. Most of the other sites follow an annual process. Even though it’s more work for us to manage and administer a semi-annual award fee process, we find it to be very effective because we can modify and incentivize certain activities or even behaviors that are important to us during a six-month performance period. I think that that’s been a good tool that has at least worked for us here in Oak Ridge.

There’s been a lot of discussion over the last couple of years on structuring contracts that have an appropriate base period and option periods that are of a reasonable duration to accomplish the work, and I think that’s another feature of this contract that we have. And finally, I really think one of the reasons for our collective success in administering this contract really goes back to establishing a partnering approach that’s based on building trust and improving communications and resolving issues in a timely manner. I think that summarizes all of the various components that help to make this contract a good example for others to follow.

One of the things that sets ETTP and Oak Ridge apart, somewhat, is the focus on reindustrialization. How successful has that effort been to date, and with the completion of the demolition of Building K-27, how will that further support such reindustrialization efforts?

The reindustrialization program is something I’m very passionate about and I believe very strongly in it. I was one of the charter members of a reindustrialization task force that was established 20 years ago here in Oak Ridge with the expressed purpose of transitioning the former K-25 gaseous diffusion plant into a private-sector industrial park while we were cleaning the site up. I’m very proud of my role in being a part of that initial task force and really helping to get this concept off the ground.

With that said, I think one of our biggest challenges in the past was helping private industry look beyond the current conditions of the site and envision it as a private-sector industrial park. Every day now, we’re making progress in erasing the image and the legacy associated with the former mission at the site. So that’s been an important milestone. In fact, Vision 2016 is a very important milestone to demonstrate to private industry that we have successfully reduced the largest and most contaminated structures at the site. 

We’re sequencing our projects in a way now that allows us to complete cleanup quickly, in relative terms, and you can see visible changes to the site each and every month you come out there. So I think that’s been an important accomplishment that’s helped us to overcome that initial challenge we encountered.

I think that we still have challenges that we need to face helping private industry address issues and concerns associated with the stigma of locating at a former uranium enrichment facility that’s on the Superfund list. That often results in challenges with obtaining financing from banks and other financial institutions, so that’s a challenge we continue to work on. 

Also, we have a challenge at the site where we continue to look forward to sufficient land parcels that do not have encumbrances tied to them that prevent future development. Obviously when we were constructing and operating the K-25 site, nobody thought that that site would be reused 60 or 70 years later for private development, and so it wasn’t constructed in a way that necessarily supported or allowed future reuse. So that’s been a challenge that we had working with our community reuse organization.

I will say we have a long list of what we consider to be successes out at the site. Today we have about 20 private companies that are operating at the site. They generate about 200 private-sector jobs. We also have a number of sustainable energy projects that have been constructed through private investment and are operational. As an example, we have three solar arrays that generate about 1.7 kilowatt hours of energy each year. That’s a lot of energy that would operate almost 200 private residences. We’ve transferred about 700 acres of land and 13 buildings, and we’ve transferred a lot of our critical infrastructure, like water and rail and roads and even emergency services, to the city of Oak Ridge, who will be the municipal provider of those services for the park.

So we really have a number of successes under our belt. Probably the most exciting one is the recent availability of about a 200-acre parcel of flat land that is the former site of the K-31 and K-33 buildings. Having that mega-parcel, if you will, really will help us attract a new level of industry to the site. We like to joke that it’s rare to find flat land in East Tennessee, and anywhere you can find 200 acres of developable land that is ready for development is really something special in the hills of East Tennessee. 

Another unique thing about the site is it’s not just going to be a private-sector industrial park. There’s a very strong historical preservation component that’s being built and will be part of the Manhattan Project national park at the East Tennessee Technology Park. And there’s a very strong conservation piece that has already been established and is being added to as part of the complete package. So it’s very exciting to be able to provide an asset that’s able to be utilized for some many different and important future functions. 

With Vision 2016 now coming to an end, what will be some of the hallmarks of Vision 2020 for the ETTP site that you’ll now be focusing on?

I’ll start off by saying that I believe we have most of what we need already in place to be successful in achieving Vision 2020. We have a good contract with a high-performing contractor. We have an amazing labor force. We have other important resources in place to allow us to complete the job.

Like most EM sites, we need consistent funding at the level we’re currently at to be able to continue making progress and meet Vision 2020. In Oak Ridge, we’ve been very fortunate to have the support of the cleanup program, both by Senator Lamar Alexander and Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, as well as the whole greater community. Our hope is that support will continue so we can finish the job in the time we’ve identified.

What is going to be the challenge to completing Vision 2020, and how do you see that challenge being overcome?

We still face some challenges. We still have some challenging projects ahead of us. As an example, one of the most challenging projects to come is the demolition of the plant that was utilized to produce the barrier material for the gaseous diffusion process. There’s a large amount of legacy material and process equipment in that building, and a lot of the technology is still classified, which presents a challenge to us to successfully complete that project.

Another challenge is making sure that we take a thorough and comprehensive look at everything that needs to be done to leave the site in a condition where it is attractive to private industry to consider locating there. We’re currently working on a closure plan that helps to identify all of the consideration that needs to be made to take the site from completion of cleanup, in accordance with the terms of our regulatory agreements and our contract, to actually a closure site, or a site where DOE really has minimal stewardship responsibilities. I see that as a huge challenge because it actually goes beyond just completing the cleanup of the site.