Surveillance and maintenance report on the Alpha-4 Building at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant for fiscal year 1995
Part of the Environmental Restoration Division and funded by the Office of Environmental Management (EM-40) Program, the Oak Ridge Y-l2 Plant Decontamination and Decommissioning Program strives to protect human health and the environment and reduce the number of hazardous-material-contaminated facilities by properly managing and dispositioning facilities when they are no longer required to fulfill a site mission. Building 9201-4, known as Alpha-4, is the only facility at the Y-12 Plant under the D and D Program, and it is the D and D Program that provides surveillance and maintenance (S and M) of the facility. Alpha-4 housed uranium enrichment operations from 1945--47. In 1955 a process known as Colex, for column exchange, that involved electrochemical and solvent extraction processes began. These processes required substantial quantities of mercury as a solvent to separate lithium-6 from lithium-7 (in the form of lithium hydroxide). The Colex process was discontinued in 1962, leaving a legacy of process equipment and lines contaminated with mercury and lithium hydroxide. Now in the inactive-shutdown phase, Alpha-4 requires an S and M program that provides for risk mitigation, hazard abatement, and site preparation for subsequent D and D and/or long-term maintenance of the shutdown status of the building. Daily surveillance activities emphasizes structural integrity, leak detection, safeguards, health of personnel, environmental issues, safety conditions, equipment, hazardous materials, mercury monitoring, and cleanup. This report communicates the status of the program plans and specific surveillance and maintenance requirements for Alpha-4.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant (Y-12), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States); USDOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 671920
- Report Number(s):
- Y/ER-256; ON: DE98005630; TRN: 99:000805
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Dec 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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