OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – An EM partnership at Oak Ridge was among several teams recently recognized for excellence by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations.

The EM-NNSA team was honored for its exceptional integration at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12) at Oak Ridge as part of 2021 Excellence Awards given by the NNSA Office of Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations. The team included EM Oak Ridge cleanup contractor UCOR and NNSA Y-12 management-and-operations contractor Consolidated Nuclear Security.

Watch this video to learn more about the EM-NNSA Y-12 award.

The annual awards program was established to recognize teams and individuals for accomplishments supporting the NNSA Office of Safety, Infrastructure, and Operations efforts to achieve the NNSA mission. Five teams at Y-12 were honored for their innovation, teamwork and collaboration.

EM was part of two projects at Y-12 that received awards. The first team safely removed three buildings without damaging or impacting an adjacent occupied facility. The second team demolished and disposed of the Biology Complex and cleared the area for future use.

“In order for us to modernize the site, to reduce risk to the site mission, to site personnel, and the surrounding area of Oak Ridge, we’ve got to get these facilities carefully, safely demolished and disposed of so we can accomplish all of our goals,” said Kevin Bradford with the Y-12 Excess Facility Disposition Program Management.

EM completed the Biology Complex demolition project in 2021. In total, that cleanup removed 11 structures covering an 18-acre footprint. The final building to come down was the largest.

Last year EM demolished the massive six-story, 255,000-square-foot Building 9207 and the three-story, 65,000-square-foot Building 9210. These projects marked the largest skyline changes to date at Y-12.

“I would just say without all of their hard work and dedication to communicating, to carefully planning together, we would not have been able to achieve this successful project,” Bradford said.

The cleared 18-acre footprint for the former Biology Complex is the planned location for the future Lithium Processing Facility at Y-12. Next month, EM expects to finish all soil work, including the removal of building slabs and soil backfilling, and transfer the land back to NNSA by the end of the year.

With demolition complete on the Biology Complex, EM is now advancing cleanup on numerous other facilities that will continue Y-12’s transformation. Crews are now deactivating Alpha-2, Beta-1, and the Old Steam Plant, and early preparation activities are also underway at Alpha-4.