Uranium Processing Facility progress brings hundreds of jobs to East Tennessee
About 400 skilled craft employees and professional services personnel will join the state's largest construction project, Y-12 National Security Complex's Uranium Processing Facility.
And that's just in the first wave of construction hiring. The project will continue hiring to a peak of around 900 skilled craft employees and 1,000 professional services personnel.
The $6.5 billion construction project recently achieved several major milestones propelling it into the next phase of the nuclear facility construction.
“The go-ahead to begin construction on the three main facilities is a significant step forward for the project,” said UPF Project Director John Howanitz. “Now that we’ve received authorization to proceed, construction activity will increase dramatically and the skyline of Y-12 will truly begin changing in the coming months.”
Consolidated Nuclear Security, LLC, the managing and operating contractor for the Y-12 site, was recently granted approval by the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to begin nuclear construction on the facility's main processing building, salvage and accountability building, and its process support facilities.
Together with NNSA, we have already achieved significant progress in preparing the site,” said Howanitz. “The project will dramatically increase in activity with more personnel, delivery vehicles, and material movements.”
The UPF project is being built through a series of seven subprojects, the first two of which have already been completed.
The facilities are being constructed for the Department of Energy’s NNSA as part of the effort to modernize the Y-12 National Security Complex, which has been relying on aging, World War II-era buildings.
The NNSA expects the Uranium Processing Facility will be complete in 2025.
Source: Knoxville News Sentinel, by Brittany Crocker
The East Tennessee Economic Development Agency markets and recruits business for the 15 counties in the greater Knoxville-Oak Ridge region of East Tennessee. Visit www.eteda.org
Published May 9, 2018