25.5 square miles in Oak Ridge previously tapped for environmental cleanup cleared by EPA, DOE says

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Thousands of acres previously considered contaminated in Oak Ridge through decades of uranium enrichment have been cleared for use, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM).

In an announcement Wednesday morning, the department said 16,377 — just over 25.5 square miles — of the Oak Ridge Reservation’s 33,069 acres won’t require cleanup before being used. The reservation’s property had been placed on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund National Priorities List, which made the entire space subject to federal review and cleanup.

Even though the area was added to the list in 1989, the DOE said the cleared land was not used for DOE projects.

That fact prompted the EPA and Tennessee Depart