US Department Of Energy Plans Enriched Uranium Materials Plant In Tennessee

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The US Department of Energy (DOE) (Washington, DC) has plans to construct a highly enriched uranium (HEU) materials plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This facility will be located at the existing Y-12 National Security Complex on Bear Creek Road. The main function of this new HEU facility is to serve as a long-term security and storage haven for the massive amounts of uranium located at this facility.

The immense budget for this project is estimated to range from $220 to $300 million. Funding has been awarded for the design portion of this project and final approval for construction should be obtained in mid 2003. Parsons Infrastructure and Technologies (Oak Ridge, Tennessee) was recently awarded the contract to provide the architectural and engineering services. This facility, which will encompass an area up to four football fields, is slated to begin construction in January 2004 and completion is scheduled for late 2006.

The HEU facility will be managed and operated by the company BWXT Y-12, a joint venture of BWX Technologies Incorporated (Lynchburg, Virginia) and Bechtel National Incorporated (Richland, Washington).