OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY
Date Established: 1942
Annual Budget:
Cognizant Secretarial Officer: Assistant Secretary for Energy Research (ER) for operational facilities. The Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management (EM) is responsible for a large and increasing number of shut down facilities. The principal offices within ER are ER-10, ER-20, ER-30, and ER-70. Within EM the principal offices are EM-30, EM-40, and EM-60. The Assistant Secretaries for Defense Programs (DP), Energy Efficiency (EE), and Nuclear Energy (NE) also have interests.
Responsible Operations/Area Office: DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office (OR).
Management and Operating Contractor: UT-Battelle LLC.
Fissile Material: 41 kg of Pu-239 waste (as of February 6,1996);
substantial amounts of U-233 and U-235; and limited amounts of Pu-239.
Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) is one of three Department of Energy (DOE) installations on the 34,545 acre DOE Oak Ridge Reservation in eastern Tennessee. ORNL activities presently occupy 22,606 acres, of which 13,590 are designated as the National Environmental Research Park. ORNL activities use approximately 1,153 acres of developed land. ORNL also has responsibility for approximately 1,500 acres of land and a number of unused farm structures on the Freels Bend Peninsula and Solway Bend of Melton Hill Lake.
In 1942, operations commenced at the Oak Ridge facilities in support of the Manhattan Project. As a DOE multiprogram laboratory, ORNL conducts basic and applied research and development to advance the nation's energy resources, environmental quality, scientific knowledge, educational foundations, and industrial competitiveness.
Activities at ORNL are managed by the DOE ORNL Site Office. As of November 1, 1996, there are 664 U.S. DOE employees assigned to Oak Ridge Operations Office (OR), 50 of whom are located at ORNL. On a typical day, ORNL accommodates nearly 2,000 additional people, including temporary and part-time employees, members of the contractor's central organization, DOE employees, and visitors, in addition to the normal complement of contractor employees.
The DOE ORNL Site Office staff consists of a site manager and three units: operations, institutional management, and program coordination. The site manager is also the OR Assistant Manager for Laboratories. The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center, and the Isotope Enrichment Facility at Y-12 (units that use the electromagnetic separation process to produce enriched stable isotopes) are managed by the DOE ORNL Site Office.
ORNL was managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation (LMER), a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation. On July 1, 1995, ORNL contract modifications were made to convert ORNL to a fixed fee contract arrangement. On August 6, 1996, DOE announced a decision to compete the Office of Environmental Management (EM), Office of Defense Programs (DP), and ORNL contracts. The current contract expires on March 31, 1998. The contract was extended for two years (to 2000), after which the contract will be competed.
UT-Battelle LLC took over management of ORNL in 2000. The group is a non-profit organization created in collaboration by the University of Tennessee and Battelle, an R&D firm. UT-Battelle was formed at the behest of the Department of Energy for the sole purpose of managing ORNL. The $2.5 billion dollar contract is set to expire in March 2005 and it is unknown whether the Department of Energy will extend this contract. On April 22nd, 2003 the DoE informed UT-Battelle on its intention to extend the contract with the firm, but no commitments had been made.
 Oak Ridge High Flux Isotope Reactor |
FACILITIES
Building 2026 - Radioactive Materials Analytical Laboratory
The facility contains small quantities of fissile material and larger quantities of radioactive materials. Nuclear operations are performed in the hot cells, chemical hoods, and glove boxes. These activities are primarily analytical chemistry, including the characterization of radioactive material, by such means as material dissolution, dilution, separation, and physical measurement. Materials in the facility are highly radioactive, including special nuclear materials in the form of analytical samples, reference materials, and analytical standards.
Building 3010 - Bulk Shielding Reactor
This facility is used to conduct shielding studies. The bulk shielding reactor has been inactive for several years and is awaiting funding for fuel removal and subsequent decontamination and decommissioning. The facility contains spent fuel, and legacy contamination exists in some areas of the facility.
Building 3019A - Radiochemical Development Facility
The major activity within this facility is the safeguarded storage of multikilogram quantities of various compounds of uranium containing the fissile isotopes of U-233 and U-235. It is the national repository for U-233. Small quantities of Pu-239 are temporarily stored in the building. The facility is also used for chemical processing and sampling of uranium materials.
Building 3025E - Irradiated Materials Examination and Testing Facility
This facility supports post-irradiation testing for several groups within the Metals and Ceramics Division. Some of the processes include scanning electron microscope fractography, precision densitometry, tensile testing, pressurized tube profilometry, crack arrest and growth studies, fracture toughness studies, uniaxial fatigue testing in air and under vacuum, and transmission electron and field ion microscopy specimen preparation and testing of Charpy impact specimens for the High Flux Isotope Reactor pressure vessel surveillance program.
Building 3027 - Special Nuclear Materials Vault
This building was designed for and is used for storage of special nuclear materials. All special nuclear materials other than fuel elements are stored in Department of Transportation approved shipping containers or other approved containers.
Building 3038 - Isotope Development Laboratory
This facility is currently used for temporary radioactive material storage. Plans are to remove all stored radioactive materials and place the facility into the D&D program.
Building 3517 - Fission Product Development Laboratory
This facility was originally used to separate kilocurie amounts of fission products, including Cs-137 and Sr-90, and to process Ir-192. The facility was shut down in 1989 but continues to store quantities of fission products and 500 grams of Cm-244. Plans call for the removal of radioactive isotopes by 1998 and deactivation by 1999.
Building 3525 - Irradiated Fuel Examination Laboratory
This facility is used for receipt, handling, and testing of irradiated materials (fuel or non-fuel, typically as experimental capsules) in shielded casks; transfer of material into and out of the hot cells; capsule disassembly; nondestructive and destructive testing of irradiated materials; packaging and shipment of irradiated materials (onsite or offsite); waste packaging for disposal; maintenance of remote equipment; and decontamination of the facility and equipment.
Building 7503 - Molten Salt Reactor Experiment
The MSRE is a graphite-moderated, liquid-fueled reactor built to investigate the practicality of the molten salt reactor concept. The MSRE operated as an experimental reactor from 1965 through 1969. Upon final reactor shutdown and fuel draining in 1969, a leak developed in a freeze valve between one of the drain tanks and the reactor. An estimated 2 to 3 cubic inches of molten fuel salt leaked from the valve into the drain tank cell. There has been no other instance of fuel leakage. Continuous gamma radiation and ventilation stack monitors were in operation at the MSRE facility since shutdown in 1969. Significant issues were discovered in 1994 associated with the migration of stored U-233 to other locations within the facility. Consequent risks included the potential for nuclear criticality, exothermic chemical reactions, and radionuclide and fluorine gas releases. Corrective actions have reduced the criticality and chemical reaction risks. Activities to remove the UF6 and F2 gas are under way. The potential release of UF6 gas continues to present a serious risk pending depressurization of the off-gas system.
Building 7700 - Tower Shielding Reactor
This was an operating reactor facility. It is in standby awaiting funding to remove the reactor fuel and start D&D. The reactor was built to perform shielding studies. The facility contains spent fuel, and legacy contamination exists in some areas of the facility. There is a shutdown plan for this facility; however, the existing safety basis documentation addresses an operating reactor facility.
Building 7900 - High Flux Isotope Reactor
This reactor is operated for research and the production of radioisotopes for medical and industrial uses. A fuel storage pool in the reactor facility contains a large inventory of spent fuel from past reactor operations. The storage racks were recently modified to increase storage capacity. Offsite shipments of stored fuel have begun.
Building 7920 - Radiochemical Engineering Development
Part of the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center, this facility has programmatic activities that include recovery and purification of transuranic elements from irradiated targets for use in research, fabrication of americium/curium targets for irradiation in the High Flux Isotope Reactor, power reactor fuel cycle studies, production of special isotopes for research, alpha glove box laboratories for development studies, and analytical chemistry for alpha emitters.
Liquid Low-Level Waste System
This facility processes large quantities of liquid waste containing of
hazardous and low level radioactive byproducts. Transfer of the end product for
disposal is also part of this project.
