Safely Reducing Environmental Risks. We are cleaning up contaminated, unused facilities on the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR). In addition to removing excess facilities, we maintain facilities across ORR that are waiting for disposition. We also provide critical upgrades to extend the life of active, but aging, facilities. This continues the same work done by the former UCOR from 2011 to 2022.
Latest Updates
from UCOR’s Social Media
Great news! UCOR has earned its seventh straight national innovation award from the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association! 🏆
UCOR President Jim Blankenhorn accepted the award, which recognizes our team's outstanding Vegetation Management Program. Tree felling is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. To keep our workers safe, UCOR built a specialized safety program that gives crews the exact tools, training, and protective measures they need to handle tough terrain.
Thanks to this innovative program, our crews safely cleared:
🌲 Over 40 acres for the new Environmental Management Disposal Facility.
🌲 39 acres at a legacy Cold War site—with zero injuries or illnesses!
These efforts clear the way for environmental cleanup and open up land for future research and national security missions at Oak Ridge.
Join us in congratulating our team for keeping safety first every single day!
#UCORToday #UCOR #VPPPA
UCOR teams are now demolishing Isotope Row, a group of old isotope research buildings at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that haven’t been used since the early 1990s. These facilities once played a key role in producing and studying elements for medical and national defense uses, but their aging equipment and contamination require careful cleanup. As UCOR safely removes each building, the team reduces risks, supports ORNL’s modernization, and helps prepare the campus for future scientific advances. Learn more here: www.energy.gov/em/articles/first-bite-demolition-begins-legacy-isotope-labs-ornl
Meet Katrina Vargas, UCOR's senior paralegal, who has been with our General Counsel team for two years. In her role, Katrina deals with all insurance matters that are not benefit oriented, especially with UCOR contractors. Katrina and her husband have been married for 18 years. Outside of work, she is a very active person, teaching multiple types of fitness classes. She also loves hiking, paddleboarding, kayak, and her multiple nieces, nephews, and god children. To learn more about Katrina, watch the video: youtu.be/sGPOFMMc0Wo #TeamUCOR #UCORToday
We just kicked off a major stormwater improvement project at the ETTP Heritage Center! 🛠️
Crews are digging in at Mitchell Branch Outfall 190. They are removing old pipes, placing new structures, grading the soil, and restoring the land. Recently, the team removed 70 feet of obsolete pipe to prepare the site for new infrastructure.
Why does this matter? Upgrading this system helps protect local waterways and simplifies long-term environmental monitoring. Most importantly, it moves us one step closer to safely redeveloping the site for the community.
#UCOR #TeamUCOR #UCORToday
What's New
First Bite: Demolition Begins on Legacy Isotope Labs at ORNL
An Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) team has begun demolishing a tight cluster of highly contaminated buildings on one of the most challenging footprints at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The aging, contaminated infrastructure presents risks within its tight quarters in the heart of the laboratory’s central campus. With each teardown OREM eliminates hazards, enables modernization and provides land for new facilities to advance research and innovation.
What's New
Major Deactivation Progress Moves Oak Ridge Reactor Closer to Teardown
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has made significant headway deactivating the Oak Ridge Research Reactor since crews successfully removed its reactor vessel two years ago. With the extracted vessel loaded into a 32,000-pound protective shipping cask for offsite disposal, crews shifted focus to address hazards in the basement of the large facility in the central campus of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), bringing the structure a step closer to demolition.
What's New
Groundwater Study Informs Design for Oak Ridge Disposal Facility
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) has completed a two-year data collection campaign measuring groundwater elevation levels, a crucial component to inform its Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF) project. When constructed, EMDF will provide the waste disposal capacity needed to continue OREM’s large scale cleanup projects at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
What's New
Small Businesses Deliver Big in Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) recently honored six small businesses whose work has advanced key cleanup projects this year. Since beginning its current contract with OREM in 2022, the company has awarded more than $1 billion in subcontracts, with 84% — or $840 million — going to small businesses.
Safety
We Strive to Set the Standard in Safety
Safety is always the top priority at UCOR. We are a DOE Voluntary Protection Program Star site, a designation given to only the safest sites in the DOE Complex. Our award-winning safety performance has earned us many accolades.
Employee involvement is a key aspect of our safety culture. We empower our workers to stop work if they see something questionable. We also have strong worker engagement program to ensure our team members feel safe in their work environment.
