Environmental cleanup and transformation are happening across the Oak Ridge Reservation, and leadership with Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and contractor UCOR are focused on ways to maintain that momentum.
Office of Environmental Management
October 29, 2024
minute read time
UCOR President and CEO Ken Rueter, left, and Tennessee Tech University President Phil Oldham sign an agreement last year formalizing a partnership between the school and the contractor. UCOR provided support that helped the university launch its new nuclear engineering degree this fall.
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Environmental cleanup and transformation are happening across the Oak Ridge Reservation, and leadership with Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor UCOR are focused on ways to maintain that momentum.
One of the highest priorities is maintaining and attracting a workforce capable of taking on the complex projects slated in the years ahead as experienced employees approach retirement.
Recent OREM and UCOR initiatives have focused on expanding partnerships with higher education. These collaborations help train and educate the future federal and contractor workforce, and they’re also benefiting the colleges and universities involved.
Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and UCOR leadership take a tour of the new Ashraf Islam Engineering Building that houses nuclear engineering classes at Tennessee Tech University. The school hosted a grand opening in October.
The latest partnership helped Tennessee Tech University launch a new bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering this fall.
"Looking at the overall needs in the industry, there did appear to be some niches that were a good fit for Tennessee Tech without being duplicative,” said Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham. “We surveyed students, and they were very interested in pursuing this pathway.”
This is only the second nuclear engineering program currently available in the state of Tennessee, and it will create greater accessibility for students to enter the nuclear industry.
"If we can keep folks in state, we want to do that,” said OREM Manager Jay Mullis. “UCOR has been working very closely over the past year, and they’ve put in quite a bit of effort into helping Tennessee Tech establish that program as a feeder for all the nuclear work that's now taking place in East Tennessee."
From left: UCOR President and CEO Ken Rueter and Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management Manager Jay Mullis tour the construction of the new Ashraf Islam Engineering Building with Joseph Slater, dean of the College of Engineering at Tennessee Tech University.
Tennessee Tech University intern Avery Newman, right, with mentor Garrett Hester at the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The inaugural class already has 23 students, and the university expects to enroll nearly 50 students in the program by its fifth year. Hitting those projections would increase the number of nuclear engineering graduates in the state by nearly 30%.
UCOR provided Tennessee Tech with subject matter experts to help as the school developed its curriculum, and they also shared insight into how courses would best fit the industry and the needs within the state.
Through this partnership, UCOR also provides students with hands-on experience and career opportunities, collaborations on research projects, and scholarships and other financial assistance.
Since 2022, UCOR has hosted 18 interns from Tennessee Tech, with several joining the workforce full time.
“Developing and maintaining a trained workforce to work in hazardous nuclear environmental cleanup projects is essential to the future of companies like ours,” UCOR President and CEO Ken Rueter said. “Our industry needs the leaders that this program is producing. In Oak Ridge alone, there are jobs for decades to come associated with environmental cleanup.”
The new nuclear engineering degree adds to the College of Engineering’s eight accredited engineering programs with 17 additional concentrations, six master’s degree programs, and a college-wide Ph.D. program that supports chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, manufacturing engineering technology, and mechanical and aerospace engineering.
-Contributor: Shannon Potter
To receive the latest news and updates about the Office of Environmental Management, submit your e-mail address.