The High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a versatile research facility utilizing a highly-enriched U-235 core. HFIR provides a robust and well-documented source of MeV-scale electron antineutrinos, making it an excellent choice for short-baseline neutrino experiments. The PROSPECT experiment, recently conducted at HFIR, not only pursued its primary research objectives but also assessed HFIR's background conditions, showcased technology for surface-based rare event detection, and validated HFIR's suitability for fundamental neutrino studies. With future experiments on the horizon at this exceptional facility, further efforts are necessary to quantify both intrinsic building and cosmic backgrounds. This poster presents two local initiatives at ORNL focused on accurately characterizing these background sources.