top of page
All Posts


Why the Best Engineering Teams in Oak Ridge Also Master Human Performance
How important is human performance to an engineering team? In high-hazard nuclear work, technical competence is paramount, but on its own doesn't make a team succeed. Most firms looking to work at Y-12, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, or on the region's growing roster of reactor projects are technically ready. Often the projects that run clean are separated from the ones that see issues because of how well the organization understands human performance. Human Performance is

Lucas Engineering
Jul 195 min read


DOE Order 413.3B Explained: What Oak Ridge Contractors Need to Know Before Starting a Project
If your firm is eager about the abundance of work in Oak Ridge, the nuclear capital of the US, there's one document that shapes more of that work than any other, and most engineers have never read it. It's called DOE Order 413.3B. It's the rulebook the Department of Energy uses to run its capital projects including the modernization of the Y-12 National Security Complex, environmental cleanup across the Oak Ridge Reservation, and advanced nuclear facility construction at Oak

Lucas Engineering
Jul 66 min read


The Oak Ridge Nuclear Renaissance: What It Means for Engineering Contractors in 2026
Since its inception, Oak Ridge has built things quietly. For eighty years its biggest facilities have done national-security work that doesn't show up in press releases. That's changing. Right now, Oak Ridge and East Tennessee are seeing the largest concentration of nuclear construction and modernization activity anywhere in the country, and the whole world is watching this "Secret City". Alpha calutron operators at their control panels, Y-12, Oak Ridge. Ed Wescot, Department

Lucas Engineering
Jun 295 min read
bottom of page