Pictured left to right at the Bear Creek Burial Ground are UCOR representatives Paul Waldschlager and Sherree Shaw, UCOR President Ken Rueter, OREM Manager Sue Cange, UPF Federal Project Director John Eschenberg, and CNS representatives Brian Reilly, Lynn Nolan and John Stone.

Oak Ridge, Tenn. – The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (EM), along with their major contractors, Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) and URS|CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), recently collaborated to recycle excavated soil resulting in cost savings for two active projects.

NNSA is preparing for one of the largest capital projects in the Department’s history with the construction of the Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) at the Y-12 National Security Complex. As part of this project, CNS, DOE’s prime contractor at Y-12, constructed a haul road, generating topsoil that had to be dispositioned. Meanwhile, UCOR, DOE’s primary cleanup contractor, needed topsoil to address soil settlement at the Bear Creek Burial Ground.

“A key to our success has been our ability to collaborate and work side-by-side with the other programs onsite,” said Sue Cange, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of EM. “Together, we are identifying efficiencies that advance our cleanup and enable the Department’s crucial missions and investments in Oak Ridge.”

The UPF project provided more than 20 truckloads of topsoil to UCOR for the burial ground. Because UCOR did not have to obtain the topsoil elsewhere, and the UPF Project found a convenient means of disposal for the soil, both projects recognized cost savings.

“This cooperative effort solved a problem while providing a win/win for all the partners and the taxpayers,” Ken Rueter, UCOR President and Project Manager, said. “Obtaining the surplus soil from the UPF haul road construction project represents a cost savings for us and cost avoidance for the UPF construction project.”

UPF is essential to the nation’s critical nuclear security missions, and it will replace the outdated World War II-era Building 9212 at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The Bear Creek Burial Ground is an area that operated from 1955 to 1993 and received material that consisted of depleted uranium wastes and industrial wastes associated with nuclear weapons production operations. Since that time, EM has closed and capped the disposal units to ensure safe disposal and comply with all Resource Conservation and Recovery Act regulations.

EM’s cleanup goal for this area is to eliminate contaminant migration so clean ground and surface water in the area is suitable for unrestricted use for the future.