Energy secretary meets with lab directors, tours ORNL, Y-12

During a short trip to Oak Ridge this week, new Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz toured Oak Ridge National Laboratory, planned to visit the Y-12 National Security Complex, and met with lab directors from across the country. He also met with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

Moniz was sworn in as the nation’s 13th Secretary of Energy on May 21, and during his visit to Oak Ridge, he said he is “looking at new ways of doing business” and considering organizational changes. He said his visit here gave him an overview of missions that includes cleanup work, clean energy, scientific research, and nuclear security.

“It’s a tremendous place to come to really get this broad panorama,” Moniz said.

The secretary answered a few questions during a short meeting with reporters at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source on Monday morning, briefly discussing the Y-12 security breach last year, the status of the consolidated contract to manage Y-12 and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, and a potential contract competition for ORNL in 2015.

Moniz declined to give many specifics on the status of the $23 billion consolidated contract to manage Y-12 and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, except to say that the contract award, which has been protested, should be resolved promptly. It’s still an active procurement, Moniz said, but administration officials were pleased that the U.S. Government Accountability Office gave a “clean bill of health” to 16 of 17 issues raised by the two protesting teams.

Moniz, who received an update on security upgrades at Y-12, called the unprecedented intrusion at the nuclear weapons plant by three peace protesters in July “an unacceptable breach of security.

“Safety and security are critical,” he said. “We found plenty of issues that had to be addressed all around.”

Regarding the ORNL contract, Moniz said the pressures to have contract competitions are logical, but they’re counterbalanced by the fact that the competitions are disruptive and expensive.

Still, over time, the pressures tilt toward competition, Moniz said.

“I am committed to doing a balance case by case,” he said.

Moniz is a former physics department head at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, former under secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, and former chair of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, or CASL. He visited ORNL several years ago for a CASL dedication.

ORNL officials were clearly pleased that Moniz chose to visit the lab on his first site visit as energy secretary.

The lab directors met Sunday night and Monday morning. ORNL Director Thom Mason chairs the national lab directors committee.

While at ORNL, Moniz toured the SNS and High Flux Isotope Reactor, and learned how ORNL is connecting fundamental science to products in the community, lab officials said. While in Oak Ridge, the secretary discussed, among other things, mercury cleanup work and building demolition projects at Oak Ridge’s federal facilities, including at Y-12 and the East Tennessee Technology Park.

Note: This story was updated at 10:40 a.m. June 4.