Y-12 Plant Decontamination and Decommissioning Technology Logic Diagram for Building 9201-4. Volume 1: Technology evaluation

During World War 11, the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant was built as part of the Manhattan Project to supply enriched uranium for weapons production. In 1945, Building 9201-4 (Alpha-4) was originally used to house a uranium isotope separation process based on electromagnetic separation technology. With the startup of the Oak Ridge K-25 Site gaseous diffusion plant In 1947, Alpha-4 was placed on standby. In 1953, the uranium enrichment process was removed, and installation of equipment for the Colex process began. The Colex process--which uses a mercury solvent and lithium hydroxide as the lithium feed material-was shut down in 1962 and drained of process materials. Residual Quantities of mercury and lithium hydroxide have remained in the process equipment. Alpha-4 contains more than one-half million ft{sup 2} of floor area; 15,000 tons of process and electrical equipment; and 23,000 tons of insulation, mortar, brick, flooring, handrails, ducts, utilities, burnables, and sludge. Because much of this equipment and construction material is contaminated with elemental mercury, cleanup is necessary. The goal of the Y-12 Plant Decontamination and Decommissioning Technology Logic Diagram for Building 9201-4 is to provide a planning document that relates decontamination and decommissioning and waste management problems at the Alpha-4 building to the technologies that can be used to remediate these problems. The Y-12 Plant Decontamination and Decommissioning Technology Logic Diagram for Building 9201-4 builds on the methodology transferred by the U.S. Air Force to the Environmental Management organization with DOE and draws from previous technology logic diagram-efforts: logic diagrams for Hanford, the K-25 Site, and ORNL