Independent Assessment of Safety System Management at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Radiochemical Engineering Development Center – Building 7920 – July 2025

July 2025,

Independent Assessment of Safety System Management at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Radiochemical Engineering Development Center – Building 7920

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Enterprise Assessments (EA) conducted an independent assessment of safety system management (SSM) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Radiochemical Engineering Development Center (REDC) – Building 7920 from January to April 2025. ORNL is managed and operated by UT-Battelle, LLC (UT-Battelle) and is overseen by the ORNL Site Office (OSO). This assessment was performed within the broader context of targeted SSM assessments at selected high hazard (i.e., hazard category 1 and 2) nuclear facilities across the DOE complex. The purpose of this assessment was to evaluate whether the selected safety systems (i.e., the safety class vessel off-gas system, cell off-gas system, and hot cell support area exhaust system) were appropriately functionally classified and are operated and maintained in a manner that ensures they can reliably perform their intended safety function of protecting workers and the public from analyzed hazards. This assessment also evaluated the effectiveness of applicable OSO oversight processes.