Local Teachers Learn About Oak Ridge’s Expanding Nuclear Career Opportunities

Teachers, administrators and staff from Roane County High, Midway High and Midway Middle schools visit Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management contractor UCOR for briefings and tours of cleanup.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Public school teachers, administrators and staff in the region recently learned more about the diverse array of careers for students in the years ahead related to the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management’s (OREM) mission — and a growing list of jobs possible due to cleanup success.

Attendees explored how OREM’s mission is ensuring local communities are safe, clean, and prosperous by removing hazards; enabling modernization at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) research and national security sites; and creating new economic opportunities that attract new industry to Oak Ridge. Cleanup achievements and economic opportunities are connected: Oak Ridge's successful cleanup of the East Tennessee Technology Park has led to the siting of the nation’s first nuclear innovation hub.

From left, Orano USA Operations and Commissioning Manager Loris Kim and Roane State Community College Oak Ridge Campus Director Andy Spellman talk about training the future workforce for Orano USA’s uranium enrichment facility that will diversify domestic sources of uranium enrichment for nuclear energy. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is enabling the transfer of land for the announced location for the company’s multibillion dollar facility.

OREM contractor UCOR was a featured industry partner at The Roane Alliance’s first-ever “Nuclear Careers Day.” Roane County is one of two counties that contains portions of DOE’s 30,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation, where OREM’s cleanup takes place.

Nearly 300 public school teachers, career counselors and school administrators from 11 middle and high schools attended the professional development event, spending a full day touring DOE’s sites and learning from employees and partners before students return to class this fall.

The event was created with support from Roane Alliance, the county’s unified economic development voice that promotes economic development, job creation and workforce development partnerships.

“Talking with our education partners, we found that teachers wanted to learn more about the current opportunities at Oak Ridge, and also the future jobs with new commercial nuclear investments, like Orano USA, and the facilities now under construction,” Roane Alliance Education & Workforce Development Director Jennifer Brown said.

The Roane Alliance and Roane Public Schools’ Career & Technical Education staff assembled a packed agenda for school staff groups to visit. Participants are pictured here touring the Oak Ridge Enhanced Technology and Training Center.

Roane Alliance and Roane Public Schools’ Career & Technical Education staff assembled a packed agenda for school staff groups to visit UCOR; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Y-12 National Security Complex; Tennessee Valley Authority’s Clinch River site; and Roane State Community College, where they heard from college and business leaders about future workforce needs and development programs.

Roane County Secondary Supervisor of Schools Lance Duff was one of the drivers for the Nuclear Careers Day. He noted how the event provided staff with information to share with students to help them realize broader opportunities and paths available to them.

“We know there will be significant hiring in the Oak Ridge Corridor over the next five years due to retirements and new facilities being built, so our teachers and counselors can be the most influential voices for students and parents to encourage them to pursue these great career options,” said Duff. “We know there will continue to be needs for scientists and engineers, but we walked away learning about the skilled craft labor, operators, construction jobs and support positions needed today and in the future. Several teachers told me, ‘I had no idea about all of these job opportunities.’”

-Contributor: Chris Caldwell