Oak Ridge Today

Transition to new contractor under way at Y-12, Pantex

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Y-12 National Security Complex Aerial View

The transition to a new contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex, pictured above, and Pantex Plant in Texas is already under way and could be completed in four months.

Note: This story was last updated at 10:22 a.m. March 4.

The transition to a new contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant in Texas is already under way and could be completed in four months, federal officials said Monday.

The transition to Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC of Reston, Va., had originally been scheduled to be complete by May 2013, but it was delayed by three rounds of protests. The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied the third and possibly final protest by Nuclear Production Partners LLC, or NP2, of Lynchburg, Va., on Thursday.

On Monday, the National Nuclear Security Administration said CNS will start managing and operating the weapons production plants at Y-12 and Pantex at the end of the four-month transition period. [Read more…]

DOE awards contract to small business for mercury project at Y-12

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Y-12 Water Treatment Plant Announcement

In May 2013, state and federal officials announce a plant to treat mercury-contaminated water at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Pictured from left are Mark Whitney, Robert Martineau, Lamar Alexander, Dave Huizenga, and Stan Meiburg.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or EM, awarded the task order to Strata-G in Knoxville on Wednesday. The company will collect data and perform characterization at Outfall 200 at Y-12.

The task order is the first project in a five-year, multi-phase contract estimated at $15 million, DOE said in a press release Friday. The contract uses a bidding process among three small businesses for various characterization projects at EM’s cleanup sites in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

GAO denies third protest of $22 billion contract to manage Y-12, Pantex

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Y-12 National Security Complex Aerial View

Federal officials have denied the third protest by one of the two teams that unsuccessfully bid on a $22 billion contract to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, pictured above, and Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.

Note: This story was updated at 6:45 p.m.

Federal officials have denied the third protest by one of the two teams that unsuccessfully bid on a $22 billion contract to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.

In the protest, Nuclear Production Partners LLC of Lynchburg, Va., had challenged a November decision by the National Nuclear Security Administration to reaffirm its earlier decision, announced in January 2013, to award the consolidated contract to Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC of Reston, Va.

On Thursday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office announced that it had denied the third protest. It’s the final GAO protest, but the case could be appealed to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.

Statistically, that’s not likely; the GAO hears 2,500 protests per year, and the court has about 84. But there is a large amount of money at stake with this contract.

The GAO had upheld one part of an earlier NP2 protest and denied or dismissed three elements of a second. [Read more…]

UT hosts top nuclear engineering students, who meet Oak Ridge reps

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KNOXVILLE—Some of the best and brightest undergraduate students from around the United States gathered at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville recently for the chance to meet top experts in the field of nuclear engineering, including representatives from federal sites in Oak Ridge.

“This area really is the birthplace of a lot of activities related to nuclear engineering,” said Wesley Hines, head of UT’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, which sponsors the annual event. “Some of these kids don’t realize all of the nuclear-related opportunities that exist here until they do this program. What we hope to achieve is to let people see all that is possible, all that is already in place when they come here.”

The sessions gave prospective graduate students a chance to mingle with some of the biggest names in nuclear research and energy, including from the Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the UCOR facilities at the East Tennessee Technology Park, and Tennessee Valley Authority, as well as with UT faculty and students.  [Read more…]

U.S. attorney: Y-12 security compromises will be vigorously prosecuted

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Bill Killian

William C. “Bill” Killian

U.S. Attorney William C. “Bill” Killian commended the sentences given to the three Y-12 protesters on Tuesday, and he said he hoped it would send a strong message.

“The Y-12 National Security Complex plays a critical role in our country’s national defense,” Killian said in a Wednesday statement. “People cannot take the law into their own hands and unlawfully intrude upon sensitive government facilities. Those who violate the law and compromise the security of the Y-12 National Security Complex will be vigorously prosecuted.”

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists were convicted of sabotage in May 2013 for breaking into Y-12 on July 28, 2012, cutting through high-security fences, and splashing blood and spray-painting slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. The fortress-like HEUMF stores most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium. [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters: Nun sentenced to three years, men receive five

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Bill Quigley, Michele Naar-Obed, and Chris Irwin

Defense attorney Bill Quigley, left; Michele Naar-Obed, wife of Y-12 protester Greg Boertje-Obed; and defense attorney Chris Irwin, center right, after a sentencing hearing in Knoxville on Tuesday.

Note: This story was last updated at 10:20 a.m. Feb. 19.

KNOXVILLE—The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July 2012 and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on a uranium storage building were sentenced to three to five years in prison on Tuesday.

Megan Rice, an 84-year old Catholic nun who last lived in Washington, D.C., received the shortest sentence. She was sentenced to 35 months, or just under three years. Rice is the oldest of the three anti-nuclear weapons activists. She also has the least extensive criminal history, Judge Amul R. Thapar said during a 4.5-hour sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Tuesday afternoon.

The other two protesters, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli, both were sentenced to 62 months, or a little more than five years. They have more extensive prior records. Boertje-Obed is a 58-year-old house painter from Duluth, Minn., and Walli is a 64-year-old Catholic worker and Vietnam veteran from Washington, D.C. Thapar said Boertje-Obed has 40 arrests and more than 20 convictions, and he has previously served time in prison. So has Walli. He was released on Jan. 5, 2012—about six months before the break-in—after an eight-month federal sentence for an earlier trespassing incident at Y-12.

“What do I do when eight months didn’t deter him?” Thapar asked defense attorney Chris Irwin. “It’s getting worse, not better.” [Read more…]

Sentencing for Y-12 protesters now consolidated, starts later Tuesday afternoon

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012, and vandalized a uranium storage building. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

A federal judge has delayed for about an hour the Tuesday afternoon sentencing hearing for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists who cut through high-security fences and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on a uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July 2012.

The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—had originally been scheduled to have separate hearings starting at noon today (Tuesday) and continuing through 4 p.m. But in an order filed Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar said he would consolidate some aspects of the court’s analysis and allow all three defendants to remain in the courtroom during all three sentencing hearings.

The joint sentencing hearing will now start at 1:30 p.m. today (Tuesday) in U.S. District Court in Knoxville.

An earlier consolidated sentencing hearing on Jan. 28 was delayed due to snow. [Read more…]

UT Center for Industrial Services holding nuclear industry supplier courses

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Submitted

The University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services will hold information courses for companies interested in evaluating potential business opportunities in the nuclear field and with the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

These classes are specifically developed to address the most critical issues faced by suppliers interested in doing business with the UPF project as well as other regional nuclear energy developments, estimated to generate more than $50 billion in supplier opportunities. The sessions are ideal for chief executive officers and presidents, general managers, business development managers, quality managers, material and equipment companies, and metal fabricators.

An Advanced Business Decision Seminar will kick off the week of classes on Tuesday, Feb. 25 from 9 a.m. to noon at the New Hope Center in Oak Ridge. The remaining courses are: [Read more…]

NNSA celebrates five years of radiological alarm response training

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Last week was the fifth anniversary of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s Alarm Response Training program for local law enforcement and other critical first responders around the country. In the five years of providing this course, NNSA has trained more than 3,000 on-site radiation safety and security personnel, local law enforcement officers, and other first responders on how to respond to a security incident involving nuclear or radiological materials, a press release said.

“One of the greatest threats to national and global security is the danger of nuclear and radiological terrorism, and the Alarm Response Training program directly addresses this threat,” said NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington. “We recognize that reducing the risk of radiological or nuclear terrorism requires a whole-of-community approach that brings together officials and responders from the federal, state, local, and facility levels. NNSA is able to utilize its unique expertise and technical resources to partner with local communities and other agencies to make our cities safer here and around the world.” [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters to be sentenced in three hearings Tuesday

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The Fruit of Justice is Peace Slogan on HEUMF at Y-12

Three anti-nuclear weapons activists who sneaked into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012, splashed human blood and, quoting Proverbs, sprayed paint on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. The protesters also hammered the building, causing it to chip, and strung up crime scene tape. (Submitted photo)

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists who cut through high-security fences and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the side of a uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July 2012 will be sentenced in three separate hearings in Knoxville on Tuesday.

Their earlier consolidated sentencing hearing on Jan. 28 was delayed due to snow.

U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar has ordered that Michael Walli, a 64-year-old Catholic worker from Washington, D.C., be sentenced at 12 p.m. Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. Walli is facing the longest potential sentence, a range of about seven to nine years, for the damage caused during the unprecedented security breach.

Greg Boertje-Obed, a 58-year-old painter from Duluth, Minn., will be sentenced next, at 2 p.m. His recommended sentence is roughly six to eight years. [Read more…]

Schools, govt. offices, businesses, DOE offices, Y-12 closed Thursday

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Snowman at Blankenship Field

Children build a snowman at Blankenship Field on Thursday morning. From left are Killian Fillmore, Andrew Bivens, Gavin Hensley, and Liam Hensley.

Note: This story was last updated at 10:29 a.m.

Oak Ridge Schools are closed Thursday, and so is the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office is also closed as are the Oak Ridge Environmental Management Site Office, Nuclear Energy Site Office, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site Office, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, and Oak Ridge DOE Inspector General offices. Decisions about reporting instructions for Friday will be made later Thursday or early Friday morning. Employees should check the weather hotline and Facebook later for updates for Friday.

Schools in Clinton and Anderson, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, and Roane counties are also closed. So are Anderson County government offices and courts. And so are many businesses.

City of Oak Ridge offices will open at noon Thursday.

Waste Connections, Inc. will not be picking up refuse or recyclables on Thursday because of the weather conditions.  Thursday’s routes will be picked up on Friday, Feb. 14, and Fridays on Saturday, Feb. 15.  Please have all refuse and recyclables out by 7 a.m. For additional information you can contact Waste Connections Inc. at (865) 482-3656 or visit www.WasteConnectionsTn.com. [Read more…]

Officials say little about Monday hearing on Y-12, Pantex contract

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Y-12 National Security Complex

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above.

Officials said little about the federal hearing held Monday to discuss the consolidated but contested contract to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.

The hearing is related to the protest filed by Nuclear Production Partners LLC, or NP2, which has contested the decision to award the contract to Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC of Reston, Va. Originally announced in January 2013, the contract could be worth up to $22.8 billion over a decade.

The hearing had originally been scheduled for Jan. 29, but it was rescheduled. [Read more…]