Oak Ridge Crews Remove 64 Million Pounds of Waste in 2025

One project that contributed greatly to Oak Ridge’s waste total this year was the demolition of Alpha-2 at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Here, crews remove lead and work to complete demolition on the west side of the 2.5-acre facility.

Waste haul highlights marked progress to eliminate risks, enable modernization and open space for national security missions and future research and innovation

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Crews removed 64 million pounds of waste from Oak Ridge’s cleanup sites in 2025, a tally showcasing the pace and progress of projects clearing away old infrastructure and preparing numerous buildings for demolition.

“This remarkable number puts the scale of our work in perspective,” Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) Deputy Manager Teresa Robbins said. “It also highlights how much of our progress is often unseen but is equally important to mission success. A considerable amount of this material was generated by deactivation crews inside buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) being prepared for near-term demolition.”

The 64 million pounds of waste compares in weight to about 15,000 average-sized automobiles. Deactivation and demolition (D&D) projects at Y-12 contributed the lion’s share of the overall waste total, generating approximately 59 million pounds of waste. Most of that debris came from tearing down the 325,000-square-foot Alpha-2 building. It marks the largest demolition yet at Y-12, and the first removal of a former uranium enrichment facility at the site.

Adding to the count was waste generated from readying the 300,000-square-foot Beta-1 facility for demolition and disposing of legacy containers from inside Alpha-4, a sprawling facility covering 13 acres of land. Both are former Manhattan Project-era uranium enrichment facilities whose removal will eliminate risks, enable modernization and open space for national security missions.

Workers remove a hot cell from Building 3038, a former radioisotope processing facility, located in Isotope Row in the central campus area of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Crews at ORNL advanced multiple D&D projects this year that boosted the waste total.

Workers completed deactivation, demolition and disposal of Building 3003, a structure that had supported the historic Graphite Reactor. They also made strides deactivating and removing portions of the former Radioisotope Development Laboratory’s remaining hot cell.

Teams advanced deactivation inside the Oak Ridge Research Reactor and at 11 highly contaminated former radioisotope processing facilities, collectively referred to as Isotope Row.

Together, these projects at ORNL resulted in more than 2 million pounds of waste, and they support the continued transformation of the site’s central campus area to open space for future research and innovation.

The Environmental Management Waste Management Facility is a key piece of infrastructure that supports timely, efficient cleanup across the Oak Ridge Reservation. The facility has strict waste acceptance criteria, only taking low-level waste comprised mostly of debris, concrete and soil from building demolition and soil excavation projects.

At the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), teams downsized and disposed of more than 100 pieces of excess heavy equipment, small support structures and excess materials totaling approximately 3 million pounds. These projects supported closure activities to help OREM transition the site from federal ownership into a private industrial park.

OREM contractor UCOR also identified opportunities to recycle 17,835 feet of fencing from ETTP, reducing impact to the onsite landfills’ capacity and demonstrating continued commitment to minimizing waste.

“We are committed to more than just performing cleanup operations, performing them in ways that maximize the investment of tax dollars and find the best solution to continue our mission on the Oak Ridge Reservation,” said UCOR Waste Management & Operations Director Sean Dunagan.

Nearly 95% of generated waste is disposed of onsite at the Oak Ridge Reservation Landfills or the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility. That includes debris, concrete and soil with little or no contamination. Highly contaminated waste, accounting for 99.8% of the generated waste’s total radioactivity, is shipped out of state for permanent disposal.

-Contributor: Ryan Getsi