Demolition of former NNSA Albuquerque Complex Eliminates Over $11 Million in Deferred Maintenance

NNSA reduces risks and costs of excess facilities through demolition and disposition projects

Albuquerque, N.M. – The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) has completed the disposition (transfer, demolition, and disposal) of the former Albuquerque Complex located on Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M.

The $8.4 million project completion was executed under the original cost and schedule estimate and achieved the disposition of over 300,000 gross square feet of buildings, and an additional 435,000 gross square feet of parking lot area.  The demolition which commenced in March 2024, was managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Alabama District through an interagency agreement. 

“This milestone represents NNSA’s commitment to legacy risk reduction and modernization,” said Acting Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator Teresa Robbins. “It also completes the one-for-one congressional offset supporting construction of the NNSA’s John A. Gordon Albuquerque Complex.”

The former Albuquerque Complex was comprised of 26 buildings and structures constructed between 1951 to 1996. Of these 26 buildings, 8 buildings were transferred to the U.S. Air Force, 15 underwent demolition, and 3 were transferred within NNSA for reuse. 

Many of the demolished buildings were barracks which were constructed in 1951 and 1952 to house military personnel stationed at what was then Sandia Base. In 1947, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission took over the nation’s atomic energy program from the Army’s Manhattan Engineer District. The AEC was assigned the mission of nuclear weapons research, development, testing, production and storage. 

During a major expansion of the weapons program in the late 1950s, the AEC employees moved into the surplus barracks which eventually became the DOE’s Albuquerque Operations Office. The barracks housed the employees of the AEC (now Department of Energy) for 64 years until the nearly 1,200 DOE and NNSA employees moved to the new John A. Gordon Albuquerque Complex on KAFB in July 2022. 

Almost 60 percent of NNSA’s facilities are more than 40 years old, with many dating to the Manhattan Project. To meet critical national security demands, NNSA has been steadily working to revitalize the Nuclear Security Enterprise by dispositioning aged facilities, recapitalizing what can be fixed, and streamlining construction processes to save time and money.