Scaling Nuclear: Amentum’s New Global Headquarters in Tennessee to Anchor Government and Researcher Alliances
Engineering and tech firm Amentum has officially opened its new global nuclear headquarters in Tennessee, deepening its footprint in the state and delivering innovative solutions toward the advancement of next-gen energy capabilities.
Amentum's Global Nuclear HQ in Oak Ridge will now reportedly serve as a centralized hub for the company’s international nuclear business operations. The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony this month to celebrate the opening, with Amentum executive leadership and other state officials in attendance.
According to a company release, the facility houses Amentum’s Nuclear Center of Excellence, a strategic hub for nuclear expertise and collaboration that centers the company’s mission in developing nuclear solutions needed for large-scale power generation and to advance energy technologies.
With over 150 subject-matter experts collaborating in this space, Amentum is deepening its ongoing relationship with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as the lead partner for the government’s United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) initiative. DOE originally awarded Amentum this environmental management contract in 2021, with an estimated value of $8.3 billion spanning a 10-year period.
Under the UCOR contract, thousands of specialized workers continue to execute cleanup at the Oak Ridge Reservation amid challenging, high-hazard work involving legacy facilities that were heavily dilapidated and contaminated.
Amentum also completed cleanup at the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant as part of the UCOR program, which includes site locations such as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, a major DOE manufacturing and storage facility. The tech solutions provider is working to help strengthen U.S. national security through the rapidly growing need for professional and technical labor.
“The opening of our Global Nuclear Headquarters represents a monumental step forward for our business and our industry,” said Mark Whitney, president of Amentum’s Energy & Environment division, in a statement. “By centralizing our global nuclear operations in Oak Ridge, we are leveraging strong local partnerships to deliver increased energy capacity to meet the electricity demand of the people and businesses across the U.S.”
Building on its partnership with DOE, Amentum noted it’s leveraging its new headquarters and Tennessee operation expansion to simultaneously launch the Amentum Nuclear Scholars Program. The company states this initiative, which aims to launch its first student cohort stateside in late 2026, will help establish a synchronized scholarship pipeline between Roane State Community College and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK).
The program is being headlined by a five-year, $500,000 investment to develop curriculum and scholarships for the next-generation workforce needed for the world’s growing nuclear energy demands.
“By launching the Amentum Nuclear Scholars Program alongside our new headquarters, we are directly investing in the local student talent who will pioneer the future of advanced energy and infrastructure solutions,” Whitney added.
Earlier this year, state-owned Great British Energy-Nuclear awarded a 14-year $406 million engineering contract to Litmus Nuclear, a joint venture led by Amentum in partnership with U.K.-based nuclear engineering firm Cavendish Nuclear. Amentum was also selected by small module reactor (SMR) designer Rolls-Royce SMR as its program delivery partner on future grid projects in the U.K. and Czech Republic.
No commercial microreactors or SMRs are yet operational in the U.S., but multiple projects are under deployment for slated operations in the late 2020s and 2030s.
The long-term deployment of Rolls-Royce SMR technology at the former Wylfa Nuclear Power Station in North Wales is another example of Amentum’s full nuclear life cycle experience—overseeing multi-functional program execution and integrated planning to support the global push of advanced nuclear and next-gen SMR systems.
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Eric Moody