NNSA purchases former LeMond building for Y-12 use

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) completed its acquisition of the former LeMond Carbon Facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn., near the Y-12 National Security Complex last Wednesday.

The facility is at 103 Palladium Way in the Horizon Center.

NNSA purchased this existing facility to house Y-12’s National Security Complex's development activities that are currently conducted in facilities built in the 1940s, an NNSA news release stated.

"Providing new space for the essential work of tackling production modernization will allow the development of new technologies to meet future requirements and support the global security mission. The purchase of the LeMond facility is an important step in safely and efficiently housing the necessary research equipment and instrumentation, providing modern laboratory facilities to attract and retain top scientists and engineers, and adapting to a changing mission," the release stated.

“This acquisition is not just a milestone accomplishment for NNSA, but a solution to a known challenge for Y-12 that makes our overall Nuclear Security Enterprise mission safer, more secure, and ultimately more effective,” Jim McConnell, associate administrator of safety, infrastructure, and operations, stated in the release. “NNSA was reviewing various options with Y-12 for upgrading capabilities that currently exist in the aging Development facility.

"This is one of the oldest facilities at Y-12 and represented a risk to our national security missions because of significant degradation of the facility needed to perform activities in the facility,” he said of the Development facility.

Almost 60% of NNSA’s facilities are more than 40 years old, with many dating to the Manhattan Project and early Cold War era, the release stated, adding it is pursuing "innovative strategies that address its aging infrastructure to improve the reliability, efficiency and capabilities to meet core mission requirements."

The release described buying this LeMond facility as one such solution.

LeMond Companies LLC has two subsidiaries — LeMond Carbon Inc., which works on research and development of carbon fiber materials, and LeMond Bicycles Inc., which will build bicycles.

LeMond Composites was founded by Tour de France champion Greg LeMond.

Last year, LeMond Composites CEO Dean Hendrickson told The Oak Ridger he planned to lease a plant in the West Knoxville area for the bicycle company while having a new carbon plant in Oak Ridge at a different location. A Facebook account for Lemond lists a Knoxville address for LeMond Bicycles.

Ben Pounds is a staff reporter for The Oak Ridger. Call him at (865) 441-2317, email him at bpounds@oakridger.com and follow him on Twitter @Bpoundsjournal.

This article originally appeared on Oakridger: NNSA purchases former LeMond building for Y-12 use