Y-12 Blog
A large chiller unit is lifted onto a platform to be placed inside the Mechanical Electrical Building at the Uranium Processing Facility March 15. The chiller is one of four units delivered to the MEB in March, and is the first major piece of equipment to arrive at the building.
The first major pieces of equipment for the Uranium Processing Facility’s Mechanical Electrical Building were delivered in mid-March. The four large chiller units will support heat removal from UPF processes and provide air conditioning for the MEB and Salvage and Accountability Building.
“This is a significant milestone because this is the first major equipment delivery, not only for MEB, but for any UPF building,” said Bechtel National, Inc., MEB Area Manager Misty Lawrence. “This is a visible indicator of all of the hard work and years of planning that it takes to procure and deliver such large equipment. The chillers are a major support component for UPF. “
Detailed planning was necessary to pull off a delivery of this size. Each chiller unit weighs around 49,000 pounds and is approximately 11 feet wide and 12 feet high. They were delivered individually on a special 45-foot tractor trailer that travelled more than 800 miles from Wisconsin.
Timing of the delivery was also essential. The chillers are so large that they needed to be placed before the walls of the building were completed.
The east tower crane was used to lift the chillers from the trailers and lower them onto skates–a steel platform that rolled the chillers inside using a 40-ton triglide dolly with electric drive motors.
Now that the large equipment is installed, work will continue to install siding and enclose the building, along with completion of the roofing system.
Read more about the MEB Subproject.
A chiller is placed inside the Mechanical Electrical Building at the Uranium Processing Facility March 15. The 49,000-pound piece of equipment was moved inside the building using a heavy duty electric dolly.
This year, the Uranium Processing Facility Project broke its own record for most funds raised in Tennessee for the Polar Plunge to benefit Special Olympics Tennessee.
The Uranium Processing Facility Project broke its own record for most funds raised in Tennessee for the Polar Plunge, raising $28,172 for Special Olympics Tennessee. The team raised $5,000 more than last year’s record-setting amount.
“Thanks to the generosity, hard work and dedication of the people at UPF, more athletes will be able to get involved in Special Olympics,” said Sonica Khatri, president of NextGen, which sponsored the effort in February. “The level of effort this year was amazing and a great example of teamwork.”
UPF has been the top corporate fundraiser in Tennessee the past three years. In addition to becoming the top corporate fundraiser in the state this year, UPF had the top five fundraisers in Knoxville.
The last piece of the structural frame was placed Feb. 11 for UPF’s Mechanical Electrical Building.
UPF celebrated the placement of the last piece of the structural frame of the Mechanical Electrical Building on Feb. 11.
The team began erecting structural steel for the 66,000-square-foot facility in late July and began installing the steel for the second level in December. A 130-ton rough terrain crane was used to place the steel on the first level and a larger crane was used for the second level of steel. Approximately 1,200 tons of steel were used to complete the structure.
With the steel framework complete, roof and then the panels that make up the walls of the building will be installed.
The MEB will house most of the mechanical and electrical utility equipment required for the UPF process facilities.
NNSA recently designated UPF’s Construction Support Building as a High Performance Sustainable Building. Representatives from the team include (from left to right) UPF Project Office Construction Manager Mike Pearson; UPF Project Office Construction Integrator Halen Philpot; UPF Project Office Field Engineer Bud Slaven; UPF Project Office Site Infrastructure and Services Federal Project Director Don Peters; CNS Energy Manager Charlie Sexton; USACE Resident Engineer Jason Phillips; and USACE PM Forward Joe Duncan.
UPF’s Construction Support Building (CSB) has received another designation for sustainability, this time from NNSA, which designated the CSB as a High Performance Sustainable Building (HPSB).
The CSB is a three-story, 65,000-square-foot facility that houses construction operations and will serve as UPF’s operations center when the project is completed. The CSB can accommodate 300 office personnel, and an additional 250 craft employees in the break area. It has a 14,700-square-foot warehouse space, rooftop solar panels, and a geothermal well system.
According to the award letter, the CSB “exemplifies high standards in integrated design, integrated management, energy and water efficiency, and enhanced indoor environmental quality.”
Constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for NNSA, the CSB is also the first building at Y-12 to earn LEED Gold status. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a designation from the U.S. Green Building Council for sustainability and resource efficiency. The CSB earned LEED credits for solar panels that provide approximately 15kW of electrical power, insulated concrete form walls, a geothermal well system, automatic faucets, and automatic LED lighting.
“We are proud to have delivered a building that met the stringent requirements for HPSB as well as the LEED Gold standard,” said UPF Federal Project Director Dale Christenson. “The CSB will benefit UPF during construction and serve the site long after UPF is complete.”
Steel installation for the second level of the UPF’s Mechanical Electrical Building recently began.
Steel installation for the second level of the Uranium Processing Facility’s (UPF) Mechanical Electrical Building (MEB) began in late December.
“We are making steady progress on MEB, and with steel going in for the second level, you can see how the effort of multiple teams made it begin to take its final shape,” said Misty Lawrence, area lead for the construction of MEB.
The second level of steel will be installed from west to east and will be complete this spring, Lawrence said. Subcontractor Geiger Brothers will then frame the roof and install siding. MEB is the first of UPF’s three main buildings to go vertical and change the skyline at Y-12.
“UPF will change dramatically in the next few weeks as steel is installed for the second level and MEB rises to its final height,” Lawrence said.