Demolition has started on the first of 10 former isotope research and production buildings at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, a cluster known as Isotope Row.
The Department of Energy reported the start during the week of September 1, 2026. The work follows six years of targeted decontamination and deactivation and is expected to finish by the end of 2026. The buildings were constructed between the late 1940s and the early 1960s and produced radioisotopes used in medical, industrial, scientific and defense applications. Isotope production ended in the early 1990s, which left contaminated ventilation systems, hot cells and other equipment in place.
United Cleanup Oak Ridge, the cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, began facility cleanup in 2020. In 2024 crews removed four 2,000 pound krypton tanks from a storage building used for thermal diffusion operations. Earlier in 2026 workers removed process off gas and central ventilation lines containing high levels of transuranic isotopes, along with pipe bridges and radiological filter houses from rooftops. The office announced in June 2026 that preparation for demolition was complete.
The Isotope Area Storage and Service Building, designated Building 3036, was the first structure taken down. Because the buildings sit close together, crews sequenced the demolition building by building to prevent cross contamination, and they work in the late afternoon outside normal operating hours to avoid disrupting research on the laboratory central campus. Removing all 10 structures frees roughly 12,000 square feet on that campus for new research facilities.
Jim Blankenhorn, president and program manager at United Cleanup Oak Ridge, called the start a significant milestone that reflects years of careful planning, technical expertise and disciplined execution by the workforce.
Source: ANS Nuclear Newswire - https://www.ans.org/news/2026-09-08/article-8371/demolition-starts-at-ornls-isotope-row/