Oak Ridge Operations Office

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The Oak Ridge Operations Office is located downtown in the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the Oak Ridge Operations Office is the oversight and management of various facilities and programs related to the Office of Nuclear Energy, Energy Research, Uranium Enrichment, Defense Programs and Environmental Management. Three of the Oak Ridge Operations Office facilities are located on the Oak Ridge Reservation: the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, one of the country's largest multidisciplinary and multiprogram laboratories and research facilities; the Y-12 Plant, which is involved in nuclear weapons component disassembly and storage, enriched uranium material storage and management, and weapons process technology and development; and the K-25 Site, a former Uranium Enrichment Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The Uranium Enrichment Gaseous Diffusion Plants in Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio are also part of the Oak Ridge Operations Office.

The Environmental Management program at Oak Ridge is responsible for the safe and efficient cleanup at all these facilities as well as the cleanup at the Weldon Spring Site in Missouri, the Center for Energy and Environment Research in Puerto Rico, the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Program and Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education in Oak Ridge, and offsite areas that have become contaminated as a result of Oak Ridge Reservation activities. The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program is also included in the Oak Ridge Operations Office. This program manages the remediation actions at 46 sites in 14 states where the Federal Government contracted with private firms to process or perform research in connection with the Department of Energy's atomic weapons activities.

The estimates in this section of the report apply to the program direction by the federal employees of the prime contractors involved in the Environmental Management activities associated with the Oak Ridge Operations Office. These activities include environmental restoration (remedial actions and decommissioning activities) and waste management, including treating, storing and disposing of waste generated by the Offices of Environmental Management, Defense Programs, Nuclear Energy, Enrichment Programs and Energy Research programs. Also included are the central program management for Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. for the Nuclear Materials and Facility Stabilization program and the Environmental Restoration Major Systems Acquisition Oak Ridge-1.

All costs in this site summary are direct program management/support.

FUTURE USE

The Environmental Management program management activities are expected to remain in Oak Ridge for the life cycle of this estimate.

NUCLEAR MATERIAL AND FACILITY STABILIZATION

Activities under the Oak Ridge Operations Office section of this report include the Lockheed Martin Energy Systems central management support of the Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization program in Oak Ridge. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor to the Department of Energy for the integration of the Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization program activities at the Oak Ridge Operations Office. Activities include preparing this report, planning for the acceptance of new facilities into the program, maintaining the progress tracking system and preparing annual reports, maintaining inventories of surplus facilities, ensuring compliance with Department of Energy Orders, preparing budgets and cost estimates, and performing other administrative and technical coordination activities. Two federal Full-Time Equivalents in the Environmental Restoration program support and oversee the nuclear material and facility stabilization activities.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION

The activities under the Oak Ridge Operations Office section of this report include the program direction by the federal employees of the prime contractors involved in Environmental Restoration program activities.

The program direction by federal employees includes the oversight of the activities of the prime contractors for environmental restoration activities at the Weldon Spring Site (M-K Ferguson), the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (Bechtel National, Inc.), and the Oak Ridge Reservation, Paducah and Portsmouth sites (Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc., Jacobs Engineering, M-K Ferguson, and Foster Wheeler). Most of these employees are located in downtown Oak Ridge; however, a few are located onsite. All employees supporting work at the Weldon Spring Site are located in Missouri.

Program direction activities include reporting and coordinating activities with Department of Energy Headquarters, providing direction and guidance to the prime contractors, planning and prioritizing activities, and performing other administrative, technical and financial operations. Also included are Department of Energy direct activities such as prime contractor central management, administrative support, special projects not related to a particular site, and other technical support.

The Major Systems Acquisition Oak Ridge-1 includes environmental restoration activities on the Oak Ridge Reservation, the Oak Ridge Offsite Program, and the Paducah and Portsmouth sites. Lockheed Martin is the integrating contractor for this work. Program management provides essential technical support, administrative integration, and oversight to environmental restoration activities through technical integration and contract management functions. This support is aimed at ensuring proper identification, characterization, remediation, and revitalization of contaminated sites. It includes business management, technical programs, technical oversight, senior management, community relations, and environmental restoration integration.

Included in program management is funding for the State of Tennessee, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the State of Ohio to support its independent monitoring and oversight of activities and facilities as outlined in the Department's Agreement-In-Principle with the State.

Business management accounts for the greatest portion of program management. This includes progress tracking, contract management, facility management, financial management (budget preparation and control) procedures and programmatic guidance, including integrating and reconciling plans and budgets with Oak Ridge Operations and the nationwide Environmental Management program.

Technical programs include those activities performed for the Oak Ridge Reservation as a whole, rather than a specific facility. These activities include Oak Ridge Reservation-wide environmental data gathering, compliance reporting, permitting, and land-use planning.

Technical oversight includes oversight of ground-water programs, risk assessments, records management, health and safety, and quality assurance to ensure consistency across the Oak Ridge Reservation. Senior management personnel for the Environmental Restoration program and the support groups that provide community relations and program integration support are also included in program management. This ensures an integrated Environmental Restoration program and supports such activities as preparing this report and coordinating stakeholder involvement and public participation. Strategic planning, personnel management and training, participation with advisory boards, and administrative support are also included in program management.

A concentrated effort has been made over the last few years to reduce program management costs. Overlapping areas of management and activities have been eliminated and business systems that required extensive personnel hours have been replaced by electronic data bases and reporting systems.

WASTE MANAGEMENT

This section of the report includes only program direction by federal employees of Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. involved in Waste Management program activities at the K-25 Site, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 Plant. The Lockheed Martin waste management activities are included in the K-25 Site, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Y-12 Plant sections of this report.

The program direction for the Waste Management program encompass activities that are necessary for, but not directly a part of treatment, storage, disposal, and related operations. The Department of Energy employees oversee the activities of Lockheed Martin. They plan and prioritize activities and perform other administrative, technical and financial operations.

There is significant interaction between the Oak Ridge Operations Office and the Department of Energy Headquarters to ensure that there is a consistent and integrated waste management program across the nation. Waste is shipped to other Department of Energy facilities and commercial waste treatment and disposal companies.

DESCRIPTION OF PERSONNEL

Current Composition

The current FY 1996 Federal Full-Time Equivalent allocation of 149 Full-Time Equivalents, which is depicted in the following table, consists mainly of managers, administrative support, professionals, and engineers. This multidisciplinary mix is needed to perform management oversight and technical support. The contractors and subcontractors staff are a mix of professional and labor that conducts day-to-day site operations and plans and performs remediation.

The number of federal Full-Time Equivalents is expected to decrease over the next few years because of improved productivity and consolidation of activities.

* The Projections for Full-Time Equivalent employees are based on FY 1996 planning baselines (see Reader's Guide).

Site Management Structure

The Assistant Manager of Environmental Management reports to the Oak Ridge Operations Office Site Manager. The responsibilities include managing the Environmental Restoration, Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization, Technology Development and Waste Management programs, the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, and the Weldon Spring Site Remedial Action Project. The Waste Management, Environmental Restoration, Technology Development and Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization programs are co-located to foster communication and integration.

Jacobs Engineering is the technical support contractor, M-K Ferguson is the construction contractor, Foster Wheeler is the design contractor, and Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. is the integrating contractor for both the Environmental Restoration program for the major systems acquisition and the Waste Management program.

Future Full-Time Equivalent Needs

This report assumes that the level and mix of Full-Time Equivalents at the Oak Ridge Operations Office will remain relatively static during the near term. Outyear changes to the mix of Full-Time Equivalents may be related to a decrease in remedial action activities and an increase in the decommissioning activities.

COMPARISON WITH PREVIOUS ESTIMATE

The FY 1995 Baseline Environmental Management Report did not contain this section. Instead, costs were spread across the various sites and programs supported by these activities. However, this report assumes that the costs for the activities have not changed substantially.