The K-25 building, a U-shaped structure built during the late stages of World War II to process uranium for atomic bombs, is finally being dismantled, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. The building, which was shut down in the 1960s and largely neglected since, is loaded with deposits of fissile U-235 and fraught with potential safety issues.
The task of keeping workers safe during the massive cleanup project has been given to Kelly Trice, who previously managed the cleanup of a Colorado plutonium facility once labeled “the most dangerous building in America.â€
Trice's assignment as project manager comes as Bechtel Jacobs Co., the Department of Energy's cleanup contractor, revamps its strategy at K-25 to bolster safety. The changes were prompted by an accident earlier this year when a sheet-metal worker fell through a weakened floor at the old building.
Not just any demolition job (8/21)