OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – EM’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) recently completed the final shipment of material from the first phase of its demolition and cleanup of the K-732 Switchyard at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP).

   Completion of this project phase comes after months of disassembling, removing, recycling, and disposing electrical equipment and legacy metal from the former electrical switchyard. It was not always an easy task that sometimes involved specialized trailers to move supersized shipments. The project required workers to transport three 110-ton condensers, each shipped individually, to a local landfill.

   “The removal of the old infrastructure at the K-732 Switchyard moves us another step closer toward achieving our goal of converting ETTP into a privately-owned and operated industrial park,” said OREM Manager Sue Cange. “Once cleanup is complete, we will coordinate with the City of Oak Ridge on the possible transfer of the switchyard area so it can be used to meet the site’s future electrical distribution needs.”

   The switchyard was constructed in 1944 to provide power to the K-27 uranium enrichment process building, which has not been operational since 1964, and is now the final gaseous diffusion plant undergoing demolition at the site. The grounds, which also housed minor support facilities, were later used to store surplus electrical equipment. 

   Teams will conduct soil surveys and characterization to determine what soil remediation may be needed in the area. The contract also contains optional work to remove any contaminated surface gravel and subsurface soils and replace it with clean material.

   EM awarded the project’s firm-fixed-price contract in June 2015 to CTI and Associates, Inc. of Wixom, Mich., a minority-owned small business under the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Program.