Oak Ridge Today

Seven graduate from Y-12 apprentice program

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Y-12 Apprentice Graduation Ceremony

Brett Spradlen, third adult from left, was presented his carpenter’s certificate by Y-12 Vice President and Facilities, Infrastructure and Services Director Linda Bauer, third from right. Also pictured from left are Vivian Spradlen (Brett’s mother), Alison Spradlen (wife), Hunter and Brody Spradlen (sons), Eddie Spradlen (father and Y-12 Security and Emergency Services employee), and Wayne Jobe (Y-12 journeyman carpenter). (Submitted photo)

Seven people recently graduated from the Y-12 National Security Complex Apprentice Program at a ceremony held at the site’s New Hope Center.

Each graduate spent three to four years with a journeyworker and attended between 144 and 246 hours of classroom training each year on his own time, usually in the evenings at local union halls.

This is the second graduation ceremony for the restarted apprentice program at the site. Previously, Y-12 had not graduated an apprentice for almost 30 years.

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Y-12: Almost 20 years of recycling makes a big difference

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Thanks to a Y-12 National Security Complex aluminum beverage can recycling program, more than 400 local organizations have received a $200 donation from the company since the program’s inception in 1994. Over the years, more than $81,600 from recycling revenue has been donated.

The most recent recipients are Tabitha’s Table, an ecumenical Oak Ridge food ministry that provides a hot meal weekly; Family Promise of Knoxville, a program for individuals facing homelessness for the first time in their lives; Sunshine Industries, a therapeutic recreation program for handicapped adults who live in Knox County; and People Promoting Animal Welfare, an organization that operates a feline/canine adoption center and spay/neuter clinic in Greenback and offers low-income families affordable sterilization of cats and dogs.

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Y-12 technology brings licensee recognition

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The pairing of an environmentally friendly solvent invented and patented by the Y‑12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge with the business acumen of its licensee Scott Manley has gained recognition in two recent competitions.

Manley owns RockinBoat LLC, a South Carolina start-up that in 2011 obtained sole commercial rights to manufacture and market the solvent RonJohn. Teknikem, the chemical division of RockinBoat LLC, offers the solvent as its sole technology. Initially developed at Y-12 by Ron Simandl and John Brown for use in dismantling weapons parts, the 2011 R&D 100 Award–winning technology can completely strip adhesives and finishes from a variety of surfaces with advantages not afforded by other commercially available solvents.

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Y-12 employees help make holiday merrier for many

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Bicycles from Y-12 Workers

Bicycles and helmets provided by Y-12 workers await distribution to area charitable agencies. (Submitted photo)

Nearly 50 workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex served as Santa’s elves in the Y-12 Employees’ Society’s 2012 Angel Tree program. The society collaborates with various charitable agencies to help provide holiday gifts for families deemed eligible for assistance by their county’s Department of Human Services.

The elves, working with donations provided by hundreds of Y-12 co-workers, did the additional footwork needed to fulfill the holiday gift wishes of 497 children in Anderson, Roane, Morgan, Loudon, Scott, and Monroe counties. Coordinated this year by Y-12 employee Jessica Smith, the program is now in its seventh year.

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Medal of Honor recipient visits Y-12

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Col. Bruce Crandall at Y-12

Pictured with Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall, a Medal of Honor recipient, at the Y-12 National Security Complex History Center are Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Don Naab, left, Y-12’s Ray Smith, and WSI-Oak Ridge Deputy General Manager Jim Rackstraw. Rackstraw served with Crandall in Vietnam. (Photo by B&W Y-12)

Medal of Honor recipient Lt. Col. Bruce Crandall visited the Y-12 National Security Complex last week. Now retired from the U.S. Army, Crandall is one of 80 living Medal of Honor recipients.

Awarded the nation’s highest award for military valor, Crandall flew more than 900 combat missions during the Vietnam War. His bravery in rescuing wounded soldiers and bringing supplies to ground troops was memorialized in the book, “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young,” and in the film “We Were Soldiers.”

He was in East Tennessee to promote the 2014 Medal of Honor Convention, which will be hosted in the Oak Ridge-Knoxville area, and to promote the school program Character Counts.

Y-12 cleaning technology licensed by local engineering firm

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Y-12 SIMWyPES Cleaning Technology

MK Technologies CEO and founder Mike Carroll and director of strategic development and acquisition Chris Van Beke met Y-12 chemist and inventor Ron Simandl in his Y-12 laboratory to see the SIMWyPES production process along with a sampling of its numerous applications. From left, Simandl shows Van Beke and Carroll two of a variety of items enhanced with SIMWyPES technology. (Submitted photo)

A Knoxville engineering resources firm recently became the newest licensee of technology developed at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a press release said.

MK Technologies Corporation is now the exclusive commercial patent licensee of SIMWyPES, a method of enhancing cleaning items so they leave dry surfaces ultraclean.

The environmentally friendly method of removing contamination on a nanoscale level incorporates a highly effective nontoxic proprietary treatment that transfers no residue to cleaned surfaces. A variety of items including cloths, swabs, polishers, filters, and sponges can be treated. The company plans to start production in 2013.

Y-12 senior chemist Ron Simandl had the lead in inventing this technology, which was originally developed to remove residual amounts of unwanted particulates from dry, solid surfaces. Engineered to permeate the cleaning medium suited to the job at hand, it can be employed to remove submicron particles in a wide range of manufacturing industries in which surface cleanliness and air purification are critical.

The method also has a wide range of household applications, several of which are of particular interest to the licensee. Specific uses around the home include removing brake dust and dry road dirt from alloy wheels, preparing surfaces for painting, filtering air flow, dry-mopping floors, and dusting.

Simandl, a 35-year Y-12 employee, holds 11 U.S. patents. Two of his inventions have won R&D 100 awards, one of which was for this newly licensed technology.

The coveted R&D 100 awards, considered “Oscars of Invention,” are given annually to the world’s top 100 innovations as determined by R&D Magazine. SIMWyPES earned the award in 2008.

Regarding the method’s development, Simandl noted that “the trick was finding the right combination of ingredients.”

MK Technologies CEO and founder Mike Carroll said: “This technology is synergistic with our existing products that improve safety in industrial processes and safely remediate and handle toxic materials. We also plan to use it to create more effective filters for use in medical facilities to help prevent the spread of infection and in public spaces to help contain the spread of diseases or biological agents. We are especially excited about uses that benefit the everyday consumer. This technology will help make personal environments safer and will make cleaning activities more effective. Its versatility is impressive.”