Bill Sonnenburg joined Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in 2021 as the Project Manager for the Radioisotopes Processing Facility (RFP) Project, a $640 million capital line-item initiative for the Department of Energy (DOE) Isotope R&D and Production (DOE IP), coordinated within the ORNL Isotope Science and Enrichment Directorate. In this role, he led the project team from CD-0 through conceptual design and safety basis development, in preparation for CD-1 approval. The RFP will provide new and expanded radioisotope processing capabilities to meet current, near-term, and future national needs. The facility will utilize domestically designed modular hot cells (MHCs) fabricated in the U.S., which offer a safe and modern alternative to the costly monolithic buildings associated with Cold War-era facilities. By deploying modular hot cells tailored to specific production requirements, the RFP can efficiently produce current priority isotopes and be reconfigured in the future to accommodate evolving isotope needs without significant facility modifications. Bill transitioned from the RFP Project in May 2025 to support a new initiative at ORNL.
In May 2025, he was appointed Senior Project Manager for the development of a classified high-performance computing facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), coordinated through the Field Intelligence Operations Division within the National Security Sciences Directorate (NSSD). This partnership will result in a $1 billion investment in research and development by Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) sponsors over the next five years, significantly advancing government computing infrastructure to support classified research and data analysis.
Additionally, Bill plays a key role in strengthening the Project Management Organization (PMO) within the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) non-proliferation stewardship program (NSP), contributing to two upcoming initiatives at ORNL: a classified NSP uranium program and a related NSP facility project.
Bill brings 20 years of project experience, including 15 years in the nuclear industry. He has a proven track record in project management, effectively coordinating large-scale engineering, procurement, and construction projects ranging from hundreds of millions to several billion dollars in value.
Maintains an active DOE Q clearance with TOP SECRET / Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) access.
