The parcel was transferred to the Industrial Development Board of Oak Ridge, and according to OREM, there is already interest from businesses to reuse the land. Tennessee law enables the board to acquire, own, lease, and dispose of properties to promote industry and to develop trade by attracting manufacturing, industrial, and commercial enterprises to Oak Ridge.
Since completing major cleanup of the former uranium enrichment complex in 2020, OREM and its cleanup contractor, UCOR, have converted the site into a privately owned industrial park that has become a hub for nuclear energy development. The ETTP now contains more than 25 businesses that, according to OREM, are making a projected capital investment of $7 billion and are expected to generate 1,700 private sector jobs.
“The economic development that’s happening today at ETTP is a testament to the value and impact of our cleanup mission,” said Mark McIntosh, OREM’s ETTP portfolio federal project director. “It’s rewarding to see the nuclear legacy come full circle here. Our projects cleared away some of the nation’s oldest enrichment facilities, and now that space is being reused as the home for the next generation of nuclear companies.”
The history: According to OREM, the transferred parcel once served as the site of the K-27 and K-29 buildings, two of five massive gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment facilities that operated there for decades. The K-27 Building, built in 1945, covered 383,000 square feet and was demolished in 2016. The K-29 Building, which spanned 291,000 square feet, began operating in 1951 and was demolished in 2006.
The Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant operated from the mid-1940s until 1985. Initially used to enrich uranium used in the nuclear weapons that helped end World War II as part of the Manhattan Project, the plant later produced enriched uranium for defense missions and commercial power.
Decontamination and decommissioning of the plant began in the early 2000s and involved removing more than 500 deteriorated and contaminated buildings that could span the footprint of 225 football fields. As the buildings were demolished and the site remediated, land was transferred to the ETTP for redevelopment.
Current status: While the buildings were all removed by 2020, major field work at the ETTP was completed last year. Field work included the removal of building slabs and the removal and disposal of more than 554,000 cubic yards of impacted soil.
With remediation of the site, Oak Ridge has become the first site in the world to remove a former enrichment complex, and the first DOE site to pursue reindustrialization.
The next property transfer planned at the ETTP will be a 3.5-acre tract adjacent to the K-27 and K-29 areas. In addition, the process is underway to transfer a 667-acre parcel near the ETTP to Orano in the coming months for the company’s planned “Project Ike” uranium centrifuge enrichment facility.
