Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is undergoing a cleanup effort, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM), along with cleanup contractor UCOR, has been hard at work reducing the number of high-risk excess contaminated facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
Teams have been clearing out hazards to open up space for researchers, increase safety, and reduce the potential amount of pollution these facilities contain. The most recent achievement by OREM and UCOR is the completion of the characterization of 21 hot cells (strongly shielded rooms designed to contain radioactive materials safely) in a Cold War facility.
OREM's acting ORNL portfolio federal project director, Steve Clemmons, told the DOE, "This is one of the most difficult facilities we're responsible for addressing, and its eventual removal will be a meaningful risk reduction in ORNL's central campus area."
This step of the cleanup process involved safely identifying the levels and types of contamination in Building 3517, or the former Fission Production Development Lab. The constructors of Building 3517 designed it to safely recover fission products coming from the waste of reactor fuel reprocessing.
When large atoms are split into smaller ones, the result is fission, which is then sometimes used to generate electricity.
Fission energy is a clean energy source, offering a nearly inexhaustible source of power for far cheaper than standard energy sources, although its products are radioactive. Utilizing fission energy can save communities and individuals a substantial amount of money while also reducing the use of dirty energy sources and contributing to improved global sustainability goals.
The result is that less carbon pollution is released, decreasing the amount of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, which leads to a reduced spread of disease, cleaner air, and healthier communities.
However, more places, such as Oak Ridge, are transitioning from fission to fusion and other alternatives. Fusion energy is also a clean energy source, although scientists must still resolve a number of lingering challenges before fusion becomes truly viable.
Oak Ridge's achievement is particularly noteworthy because the crew could not actually enter the hot cells to perform their work due to the high levels of contamination and radiation within. Instead, workers drilled through concrete to acquire video footage, which allowed them to complete radiological surveys.
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UCOR ORNL Cleanup Area Project Manager Chad York shared with the DOE, "This is an outstanding effort by our workforce to complete [the] investigation and initial characterization of these hot cells."
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