Tennessee officials recently attended the groundbreaking for a center that aims to provide nuclear and radioactive material training, and the facility located in Oak Ridge is expected to be running by 2023, according to a statement at energy.gov.
It is called the Oak Ridge Enhanced Technology and Training Center (ORETTC) and is both federal and state funded. Representatives from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Tennessee officials such as Gov. Bill Lee were at the groundbreaking for the center, which is focused on training first responders at the local, state and national level. The center will include a “Simulated Nuclear and Radiological Activities Facility,” which is designed to provide training for people in charge of safety protocols for nuclear and radioactive materials. It will train first responders and experts in nuclear operations, as well as other safeguards and emergency responses. The center will use the most up-to-date technologies available.
“A key NNSA nonproliferation mission is ensuring that nuclear and radioactive material is protected from use in an act of terror,” said Kasia Mendelsohn, who is the acting deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA). “This facility allows us to integrate more state-of-the-art technology into our training and gives us room to expand our efforts in other areas.”
Along with Mendelsohn and Lee, senior managers from Y-12 National Security Complex and NNSA were on-hand for the groundbreaking ceremony.
The center will contain the state-funded Emergency Response Training Facility, which was developed by Roane County. This will involve full-time teaching staff offices, virtual reality rooms and classrooms for training for first responders and the state and local levels.
The Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council took to the internet about the project, tweeting Lee’s comment that the center “creates yet another opportunity for Tennessee to be a global leader in nuclear energy.”
“We look forward to welcoming first responders and experts to this new space and pioneering best practices for nuclear safety,” Lee said.
