BBBTV12 Serving Anderson, Roane, and Morgan Counties
(UCOR press release) The skyline in the heart of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is changing again as workers begin to demolish a once world-famous reactor.
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and its cleanup contractor, UCOR, began tearing down the Low Intensity Test Reactor, also known as Building 3005, in late March. The training reactor became world-famous when a photographer first captured a blue glow caused by radiation in the pool above the reactor.
That photo appeared on the cover of the October 1951 issue of Scientific American. The facility is now highly deteriorated and contaminated, requiring demolition. With demolition underway, Oak Ridge is set to accomplish this EM 2023 priority by the end of the year.
The project follows the recent demolition of the Bulk Shielding Reactor, which marked the first removal of a former reactor from ORNL’s central campus area. It was adjacent to the Low Intensity Test Reactor.
