Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management

About Us The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is a U.S. Department of Energy field site located in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The site dates back to 1942 as part of the Manhattan Project. Engineers developed three distinct campuses within the Oak Ridge Reservation, and each pursued a different technology to enrich uranium. In the decades since, each of these campuses—the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12), and East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP)—evolved and conducted different missions for the Department. Scientists and engineers purified isotopes, conducted research, built weapons, and created environmental legacies that our program has worked to clean and remove since 1989. While Oak Ridge has a rich history, it also has an incredibly bright future. Our employees realize that their progress directly impacts the Department’s other missions and development at the site. At Y-12, we are working to address excess and contaminated facilities, remove mercury soil and groundwater contamination, and enable modernization that allows the National Nuclear Security Administration to continue its crucial national security and nuclear non-proliferation responsibilities. At ORNL, we are working to remove excess and contaminated facilities to improve safety and make way for DOE to continue its advanced supercomputing, materials, and energy research at the site. The primary mission of our office is to protect the region’s health and environment, ensure the Department’s vital missions locally, and finally, to make land clean land available for future use. To accomplish this, we adhere to several principles as we conduct our operations. We value the skills or our employees, operate in a transparent manner, collaborate with our various stakeholders, encourage innovation and continuous improvement, and demonstrate accountability through good stewardship of taxpayers’ money.