Oak Ridge K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant

Location: 4,845 acres (7.6 square miles) of the 34,545 acre (54 square miles) Oak Ridge Reservation. Of the 4,845 acres, the developed plant areas occupies 725 acres.

Date Established: 1943

Present Mission: Hosts the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Mixed Waste Incinerator; conducts environmental restoration, waste management, technology development and demonstration, and related support activities; works with stakeholders to develop future industrial uses of facilities and surplus materials through privatization.

Employees: 3,878 K-25 personnel on site (as of May 1994); total K-25 Site-related population of 5,815, including Department of Energy (DOE) personnel, MK-Ferguson employees, and subcontractor personnel on site; K-25 Site employees at other DOE sites or townsite facilities; and Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory personnel located at K-25.

Annual Budget: The budget request for fiscal year 1997 is $140 million.

Cognizant Secretarial Officer: Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management (EM); principal EM offices -- Office of Eastern Waste Management Operations (EM-32), Office of Eastern Area Programs (EM-42), and Eastern/Southwestern Office (EM-63).

Responsible Operations/Area Office: DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office (OR)/K-25 Site Office (KSO).

Management and Operating (M&O) Contractor: Lockheed Martin Energy Systems (LMES).

Fissile Material: On June 27, 1994, the Secretary of Energy announced that, as of December 31, 1993, there were approximately 1.5 metric tons of highly enriched uranium at K-25; almost all remains in piping and components of gaseous diffusion plants.

The K-25 Site covers roughly 5,000 acres, or 14 percent of the Oak Ridge Reservation, approximately 13 miles from the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The current site configuration is the product of past missions and programs, the most significant of which was the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which operated from the end of World War II until 1985. About 725 acres, within a security fence, contain almost 400 buildings totaling approximately 14.4 million square feet. Of this, almost 90 percent (12.5 million square feet) comprises buildings are currently undergoing or are planned for decon-tamination and decommissioning (D&D). These buildings include the shutdown gaseous diffusion production facilities and gas centrifuge enrichment and ancillary buildings. Of the site's total building area, only 3 percent (390,000 square feet) is less than 20 years old. Most of the buildings are 30 or more years old.

K-25 is a major component of the Oak Ridge Operations Office (OR) and a landlord site of the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM). The primary mission of K-25 is to support the missions of the EM and Enrichment Facilities business unit and other tenants at the site safely, reliably, and efficiently. The site accomplishes its mission by providing programmatic and technical support (including many contractor central staff functions), maintaining the infrastructure by securing and operating under the requirements of permits and technical agreements with regulatory agencies, and directly contributing in special EM and Enrichment Facilities focus areas, such as the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Mixed Waste Incinerator.

Oak Ridge Operations Office [OR] is responsible for managing and overseeing operations of all facilities under its jurisdiction. The three largest sites are located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee: the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the Y-12 Plant, and K-25. OR continues to maintain a presence at Paducah and Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plants, primarily for environmental remediation and waste management.

OR has delegated all day-to-day operational functions of ORNL, Y-12, and K-25 to the DOE site offices, headed by a site office manager and associated support staff. The staff at the site offices are considered a line function, and report through the Site Office Manager to the appropriate OR assistant manager (Defense Programs, Energy Research, Environmental Management, or Uranium Enrichment Operations).

The OR Manager is the Contracting Officer for all OR projects. The site office managers are designated as Contracting Officer's Representatives for most of the projects at their sites, except those that are administered directly by OR or another line function. The DOE K-25 Site Manager is responsible for activities at K-25 and reports to the Assistant Manager for Environmental Management, who has programmatic responsibility for sitewide environmental restoration and waste management activities. The site office managers are not responsible for contracts managed by other elements of OR, such as the Oak Ridge Federal/Integrated Commun-ications Network (ORF/ICN), which is managed by OR's Information Resources Management Division.

OR sites are operated by Lockheed Martin Energy Systems (LMES). LMES has created a structure similar to OR and assigned day-to-day plant-level operations to each site's management chain. LMES has retained certain functions at its corporate office, such as administering large subcontractors who operate at more than one site. For example, the M. K. Ferguson-Oak Ridge Company, managed by LMES, is the Construction Manager for all major OR sites.

OR also administers other contracts for the Oak Ridge Reservation, including the contract with Johnson Controls, Inc., for managing and maintaining the Oak Ridge Water Treatment Plant and maintenance of selected roads and grounds outside the main plant areas; U. S. West for ORF/ICN; Bechtel National Corporation for environmental remediation and demonstration projects; and Jacob Engineering and Lockwood Greene for architect/engineering services. OR has recently begun a contracting process whereby specialized services are let and managed by LMES or others. These projects are also considered outside the normal scope of DOE site office responsibilities.

OR has established the K-25 Site Office (KSO) to oversee contractor activities at K-25. KSO has 15 employees who report to the KSO Manager. The KSO Manager reports to the DOE OR Manager through the Assistant Manager for Environmental Management.

MAJOR SITE INITIATIVES/ACTIVITIES

Large amounts of low-level radioactive and mixed waste are stored in the Building K-25 vaults. Buildings K-25, K-27, K-29, K-31, and K-33 contain hazardous and mixed wastes.

The former enrichment facilities are all undergoing or awaiting D&D. The Departmental "Complex Wide Review of DOE's Low Level Waste Management ES&H Vulnerabilities" report, published in May 1996, cited Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) as having special-case waste with no path forward for disposition. Special-case wastes and some higher-activity wastes are being stored in generator facilities, such as hot cells. These wastes have not been characterized due to a lack of a plan for disposal. ORR was also cited as one of the sites within the complex where low level waste (LLW) is being stored under inadequate conditions. Specifically, the report cited continuing releases from waste storage pads (waste storage pads and scrap metal storage areas), a process and tracking system that is not fully developed, uncharac-terized legacy waste, and inadequate emergency management planning for the effects of natural phenomenon.

OR is actively trying to lease facilities to the private sector whenever feasible. Recent legislation has eased the restrictions on such leasing in order to foster economic develop-ment in communities affected by the mission and program reductions. Negotiations have been completed, and a lease has been signed to transfer approximately 1,000 acres of ORR land to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee (CROET) for developing an industrial park. (CROET is a not-for-profit organization with civic, regional, and labor representation.) Actual development has started. The land is located approximately four miles east of K-25, adjacent to Highway 58. An environmental assessment has been developed to assess environmental and socioeconomic impacts.

In addition to the lease of the 1,000 acres, the K-25 Barge Facility has been leased to CROET, along with part of Building K-1401, which will be used as a manufacturing site for light industry by the private sector.

Major operating facilities include the TSCA incinerator, which burns TSCA-controlled wastes (primarily contaminated with polychlor-inated biphenyls) and the Central Neutralization Facility (CNF), which neutralizes a number of K-25 waste streams before discharging them to the environment.

OR has established a task team to plan and initiate implementation of Vision 2010. For K-25, the objective is to have the site defederalized, making its physical and infrastructure assets available to commercial users. Specific areas of focus will include metal recycle, facility reuse, and asset management.

In October 1995, employee concerns were initiated regarding exposure to cyanide at K-25. Despite a large number of samples taken by K-25 personnel, none of which detected the presence of cyanide on any sampling medium, several employees claimed that their concerns were not being adequately addressed by their employer. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was brought in to conduct an independent investigation. The situation was covered by both print and television news media.

NIOSH concluded that a relationship could not be established between the health problems reported by employees at the K-25 site and chronic, occupational cyanide intoxication because the employees at the K-25 site were not occupationally exposed to compounds containing the CN`ion. This information was presented during a public meeting held July 11, 1996.

Workforce restructuring continues to be an issue at the site. On November 20, 1996, officials of the DOE announced the reduction of up to 1,680 prime contractor jobs at the three Oak Ridge facilities. The reductions affect environmental management, defense program's and energy research and development at DOE's K-25 Site, Y-12 Plant, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The K-25 mission change from uranium enrichment to environmental management has resulted in the need to provide interim storage of waste and to renovate aging facilities to support new functions and uses. Chemical waste storage activities and the maintenance program are being challenged to meet this changing mission. There is increased reliance on administrative activities to maintain safe storage of chemical wastes.

Since the permanent shutdown of diffusion operations, K-25 has been declared an EM site. Numerous D&D and waste management activities are ongoing, necessitating interim storage of generated waste until permanent solutions are in place. Although the facilities where wastes are stored were not originally designed for waste storage, they have been modified to comply with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) requirements for waste storage.

Cylinders containing uranium hexafluoride are stored outside and are exposed to the elements. In the past, breached cylinders have released some uranium hexafluoride to the environment. According to the site emergency plan, the total amount of uranium hexafluoride stored at K-25 is estimated at more than 60,000 tons. This material is stored in several yards, generally segregated by size of containers and contents. However, these areas lack engineering controls to minimize the potential for environmental release, and the condition of the yards and containers is deteriorating. Consequently, there is increasing reliance on administrative controls (e.g., inspections and testing for container integrity) to maintain safety.

KEY FACILITIES

Building K-25, Gaseous Diffusion Building

This facility, constructed in 1945, occupies approximately 45 acres and was used for uranium enrichment. The building is shut down and awaiting D&D. Storage vaults in the facility contain significant amounts of lithium hydroxide and RCRA wastes. Major hazards include significant amounts (greater than 1 kg) of SNM dispersed in the shutdown process equipment. DNFSB Recommen-dation 94-1, "Improved Schedule for Remediation (Nuclear Material Stabilization)," applies to this facility. Additionally, 11,000 tons of caustic lithium hydroxide as well as PCBs, hazardous wastes, and mixed wastes are stored in the facility. The large amounts of lithium hydroxide stored in the facility were cited in the recent DOE chemical vulnerability study. The lithium hydroxide is being removed and shipped off site.

The K-25 Building was shut down without proper post-operational cleaning and purging. Coolant and lubricating oils have been removed from the process equipment; deposits and residues remain in place. Deposit amounts and locations are classified, and there are nuclear criticality and safeguards and security issues. The deposit removal project (DRP) has been initiated to bring K-25 into compliance with DOE Order 5480.24 by removing, packaging, and relocating quantities of uranium deposited in piping and equipment across the site. This effort is designed to reduce the probability of a criticality incident in the K-25 Building. Hold-up materials in the K-25 site diffusion process facilities were specifically excluded from the scope of the implementation plan for compliance with DOE Order 5480.24.

Building K-27, Gaseous Diffusion Building

This facility, constructed in 1945, occupies approximately 15 acres and was used for uranium enrichment. Significant amounts (greater than 1 kg) of enriched uranium remain dispersed in process equipment. DNFSB Recommendation 94-1, "Improved Schedule for Remediation (Nuclear Material Stabilization)," applies to this facility. Although deteriorating, the facility is in fair condition.

Building K-29, Gaseous Diffusion Building

This facility was constructed in 1951, occupies approximately 15 acres, and was used for uranium enrichment. Significant amounts (greater than 1 kg) of enriched uranium remain dispersed in the process equipment. DNFSB Recommendation 94-1, "Improved Schedule for Remediation (Nuclear Material Stabilization)," applies to this facility. Although deteriorating, the facility is still in fair condition.

Building K-31, Gaseous Diffusion Building

This facility was constructed in 1951, occupies approximately 20 acres, and was used for uranium enrichment. Significant amounts (greater than 1 kg) of enriched uranium remain dispersed in the process equipment. DNFSB Recommendation 94-1, "Improved Schedule for Remediation (Nuclear Material Stabilization)," applies to this facility. Hazardous and mixed wastes are stored in the facility. Although deteriorating, the facility is still in fair condition.

Building K-33, Gaseous Diffusion Building

This facility was constructed in 1954, occupies approximately 32 acres, and was used for uranium enrichment. Significant amounts (greater than 1 kg) of enriched uranium remain dispersed in the process equipment. DNFSB Recommendation 94-1, "Improved Schedule for Remediation (Nuclear Material Stabilization)," applies to this facility. Hazardous and mixed wastes are stored in the facility. Although deteriorating, the facility is still in fair condition. Deposit isolation, to minimize the risk of criticality, has been completed.

Building K-1065, A through E, Waste Storage Buildings

The K-1065 waste storage buildings provide indoor storage for mixed waste from the pond waste management project (PWMP) mixed waste. This waste originated from the K-1407 B and C ponds, which received runoff from plating operations. Sludge dredged from the ponds was previously stored in drums in the K-1417 storage yard. Under PWMP, the drums were repackaged in 21st-Century containers and moved to the RCRA-compliant K-1065 buildings. The containers are in the process of being transported to the Envirocare facility in Utah for treatment and disposal. This process is expected to be completed by 2003. As the buildings are emptied of the pond waste containers, the space is being filled with hazardous wastes removed from the vaults in the K-25 building as part of the waste management activities at K-25 Site. Although 9,500 tons of mixed waste is stored in the K-1065 buildings, it poses no significant environmental, safety, or health risk to workers or the general public. The drums are stored in accordance with requirements stated in 40 CFR 265 (RCRA), and the buildings are of recent and sound construction.

K-1066, Cylinder Yards

These outdoor facilities, constructed from the 1940s through the 1980s, store several thousand steel cylinders containing uranium hexafluoride. The total quantity of radioactive and hazardous materials in the cylinders is significant. DNFSB Recommendation 95-1, "Improved Safety of Cylinders Containing Depleted Uranium," applies to this facility. Only a few workers are around the cylinders on a regular basis. The cylinder contents would pose a risk to the public in the event of a cylinder(s) breach caused by fire.

While a single leaking cylinder would pose an insignificant environmental threat, these cylinders, in the aggregate, do pose a significant environmental issue. The steel cylinders are subject to corrosion; a few have been patched for leaks. The cylinders have been exposed to the weather for 30 to 40 years, and most have serious corrosion damage in varying forms. Although there is an established cylinder inspection program, there are no long-term plans for cylinder disposal, although DOE is currently preparing a PEIS covering disposition. The K-1066 cylinder yard still contains cylinders which are in poor condition and that are not easily inspected. Some of these may be in the worst condition of any in the DOE inventory.

Buildings K-1407/1419, Central Neutralization Facility (CNF)

This facility, constructed in 1985, treats all waste water, including radioactively contaminated water, for pH, heavy metals, and suspended solids to meet NPDES discharge limits. Wastes received at the facility are neutralized by adding sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide, or hydrated lime. Several thousand gallons of sulfuric acid and several tons of hydrated lime are stored at the facility. These hazardous substances pose a risk of reversible health effects to workers in this and nearby facilities. The facility poses a small risk of negligible health effects to the public. Misoperation of the facility poses a negligible threat to the environment. The facility is in good physical condition for the current mission.

Building K-1420, Decontamination and Uranium Recovery Facility

This facility, constructed in late 1940s, occupies approximately 10,000 square feet. Most of the facility is shut down and awaiting final D&D, but a small decontamination shop operates intermittently. Amounts of special nuclear material (SNM) greater than 1 kg, as well as other radioactive, hazardous, and mixed wastes, are present. There is little active work, and few workers now enter the facility; this will change as D&D activities increase. Materials stored in the facility pose a small threat to the environment. The facility is being maintained adequately in its shutdown condition, although it was cited in the DOE Vulnerability Assessment Report for Highly Enriched Uranium.

Building K-1435, TSCA Incinerator

The TSCA Incinerator, constructed in 1989, burns hazardous wastes consisting of oil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mixed wastes, and other TSCA wastes. This is a high efficiency incinerator, with an efficiency of 99.9999 percent for PCB destruction. This facility is operational and functioning as designed. Some of the waste material is radioactively contaminated and is classified as mixed waste.

Building K-1515, Water Treatment Plant

This facility, constructed in late 1940s, operates as a water treatment plant. A significant quantity of liquid chlorine (two one-ton cylinders, greater than the threshold quantity of 29 CFR 1910.119) is present in the facility. The facility is normally unmanned; potential environmental damage is insignificant. The lack of a modern containment system for the chlorine gas system is a vulnerability.