Building on the groundwork laid in 2025, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractors are set to achieve significant progress in 2026. January 13, 2026
Office of Environmental Management
January 13, 2026
minute read time
Crews remove a high-bay area of the Alpha-2 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Demolition is scheduled to be completed in early 2026, marking the largest ever demolition at Y-12 and clearing more than 2.5 acres of land to support modernization and national security missions.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Building on the groundwork laid in 2025, the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its contractors are set to achieve significant progress in 2026.
Their projects are removing risks, supporting the U.S. Department of Energy’s modernization efforts to advance important national missions and providing land for Oak Ridge to serve as a hub for nuclear energy technology and innovation.
Projects set for the months ahead will remove old, contaminated buildings to clear space for national security and research missions, prepare more Manhattan Project and Cold War-era facilities for demolition, reduce inventories of nuclear material stored onsite and transfer land to the community for reuse to boost economic development opportunities.
The year kicks off with United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) crews finishing demolition on a former uranium enrichment facility and beginning that process on another 1940s-era building at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
Teams are in the final stages of tearing down the 325,000-square-foot Alpha-2 facility. This project marks the largest ever demolition at Y-12, clearing more than 2.5 acres of land to support modernization and national security missions.
Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management contractor Isotek is steadily processing and disposing of the nation’s remaining inventory of uranium-233 stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 2026, employees are working to reach the halfway mark in the processing campaign.
Crews this spring are also set to initiate demolition of the Old Steam Plant at Y-12, and they will finish preparing for demolition on the 300,000-square-foot Beta-1 former uranium enrichment facility.
OREM and UCOR are also ramping up efforts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where cleanup is transforming the skyline in the central campus.
Teams will begin demolishing 11 highly contaminated former radioisotope processing facilities known as Isotope Row, and complete removal of the former Radioisotope Development Laboratory's remaining hot cell, one of the most contaminated structures at ORNL.
Crews are also working to complete deactivation of the Oak Ridge Research Reactor, one of the largest structures in the heart of the site.
OREM contractor Isotek is steadily processing and disposing of the nation’s remaining inventory of uranium-233 stored at ORNL. In 2026, employees are expected to reach the halfway mark in the processing campaign, which is the highest priority cleanup project at the site. Eliminating this inventory will remove risks and avoid significant costs to taxpayers associated with keeping it safe and secure.
Employees gather samples from 29 wells located on the future footprint of the Environmental Management Disposal Facility. In 2026, they will finish a two-year effort to gather data to understand groundwater levels needed to finalize the facility’s design.
OREM and UCOR are moving closer to starting construction for the new Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF), crucial to complete cleanup at ORNL and Y-12 by adding necessary low-level waste capacity.
Teams will finish a two-year effort monitoring groundwater levels that provides data needed to finish the facility’s design. Crews will also begin grading soil and constructing support facilities for the EMDF, scheduled to be operational in 2030.
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is set to transfer more than 700 acres to the community for economic reuse in 2026. Orano USA has announced plans to use one of those parcels for its new facility — among the largest uranium enrichment plants in North America. The rendering is shown here.
Previous cleanup successes have made land available for community reuse. In 2026, OREM is set to transfer more than 700 acres for economic development.
Two leading nuclear energy companies have already announced plans to invest a combined $6.7 billion to locate on this acreage, and their operations are projected to create 1,100 local jobs.
-Contributor: Ryan Getsi
To receive the latest news and updates about the Office of Environmental Management, submit your e-mail address.