Incinerator shut down at Technology Park

A one-of-a-kind waste incinerator, which began operations at the East Tennessee Technology Park more than 20 years ago, has been safely shut down.

Workers fill the sumps at the incinerator with grout. The process was part of closure work.

When the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator began operations in 1990 on the former K-25 Site, the intent was to run it for five years to prove the technology worked.

It was the only incinerator in the nation permitted to burn certain hazardous and radioactive wastes.

Operations ceased in December 2009, after a safe and successful run that saw the facility burn 35 million pounds of liquids and solids from U.S. Department of Energy sites across the United States.

Those waste streams now go to commercial contractors.

The final boxes of waste from cleanup of the incinerator were shipped on Dec. 13, said Mary Magleby, project manager for URS/CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, DOE’s cleanup contractor for the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The facility is now in what is called a safe shutdown mode and will be safely maintained until funding is available to demolish it.

During operations, the incinerator was highly regulated and contained numerous environmental permits.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation have agreed to termination of permits associated with facility operations.