Brent Park
President Donald J. Trump on Thursday nominated a national security leader at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to a nuclear nonproliferation job in the U.S. Department of Energy.
Brent K. Park is currently an associate laboratory director at ORNL, where he is responsible for national security programs.
Trump nominated him to be deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation in the Department of Energy. [Read more…]
Chuck Fleischmann
Note: This story was last updated at 1:35 p.m.
U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, said he is okay after a train collided with a large truck in Virginia while carrying Republicans to a retreat on Wednesday morning.
“I was standing up when the accident happened,” Fleischmann said on Twitter. “A little bit shaken up, and praying for all of my fellow colleagues.
“I am ok, and working with doctors that have arrived.”
An Amtrak spokesman said the train hit a vehicle on the tracks at 11:20 a.m. in Crozet, Virginia, northwest of Charlottesville, according to The New York Times. There were no immediate reports of injuries to passengers, crew members, lawmakers, or their staff, but one person reportedly died in the train crash and another was seriously injured. [Read more…]
National Park Service employees are pictured above at the American Museum of Science and Energy. (Submitted photo)
The three-day federal government shutdown ended Monday, and staff at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, resumed regular operations, officials said.
Congress passed a short-term spending bill on Monday that will fund the government through February 8, and President Donald Trump signed it Monday night.
On Tuesday, the National Park Service said employees of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park are “happy to be back at work, serving the American people and welcoming visitors to their national parks.”
The Park Service said it appreciated the support of local partners who “stepped up to offer support and continue to serve our visitors over the last few days,” and the NPS thanked the following partners: [Read more…]
During the federal government shutdown, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park location at the American Museum of Science and Energy on South Tulane Avenue will remain open to the public and continue to provide visitor services, but there will be no visitor services provided by the National Park Service. (Submitted photo)
The federal government shut down this weekend after federal funding expired Friday, and an official outlined the impacts to the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, on Sunday.
During the shutdown, there will be no visitor services provided by the National Park Service at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, including public information, said Kris Kirby, superintendent of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Denver. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Because of the federal government shutdown, National Park Service social media and websites are not being monitored or updated and may not reflect current conditions, Kirby said. All park programs have been canceled.
Kirby said national parks will remain as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and procedures.
“During this time, the following locations will remain open to the public and continue to provide visitor services,” Kirby said: [Read more…]
The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
With some apparent exceptions, employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge will continue working even after the federal government shut down after federal funding expired Friday.
Y-12 posted an announcement after the federal government shut down early Saturday. The announcement said workers at Y-12 and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, are expected to report to work on their next scheduled work day unless they have previously approved leave or have been given formal notice by their management to not report to work.
A few other federal organizations and federal contractors didn’t immediately appear to have posted notices as of early Saturday afternoon, about 12 hours after the shutdown began. Those include Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [Read more…]
Jeff Smith of Knoxville, deputy director for operations at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, takes the oath and is sworn in by U.S. District Judge Pamela Reeves as the newest member of the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2018. Smith was nominated by President Donald Trump on Sept. 21, 2017, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 21. (Photo courtesy TVA)
Jeff W. Smith of Knoxville, deputy director for operations at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, assumed his role as a member of the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors after taking the oath of office in a ceremony in Knoxville on Thursday. His term will expire on May 18, 2022.
Smith was nominated by President Donald Trump on September 21, 2017, and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 21. He was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Pamela L. Reeves of the Eastern District of Tennessee.
“During my time at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, I’ve seen first-hand the increasing pace of change in energy technology, and how it directly affects people’s lives,” Smith said in a TVA press release. “As a board member, I look forward to helping TVA adapt to these changes and continue its mission of service to the people of the Tennessee Valley.” [Read more…]
Image from a Billy Stair presentation on the Oak Ridge Airport project to Roane County officials at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.
A presentation that will provide information about the status of the Oak Ridge General Aviation Airport project has been scheduled for Tuesday evening.
The presentation is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, January 16, in the Robertsville Middle School Library. It’s part of a joint work session between the Oak Ridge City Council and Oak Ridge Board of Education that will begin at 6 p.m.
The airport presentation will be given by Billy Stair, aviation consultant, and Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. In December, Stair gave a presentation about the airport to Roane County officials.
After that meeting, Oak Ridge Today reported that Tennessee officials have appropriated $15 million that could be used for the proposed airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. The appropriation, which is pending approval of the Oak Ridge Airport by the Federal Aviation Administration, would be enough to cover about 33 percent to 38 percent of the current estimated project cost of $40 million to $45 million. [Read more…]
Robertsville Middle School students participating in the NASA Project-Based Learning course visit Marshall to present their CubeSat project to a panel of engineers. Marshall developed curriculum and trained teachers for the elective course while Marshall engineers served as mentors to the students.
(Photo credit: NASA/Oak Ridge Schools)
NASA has recognized the satellite work of Robertsville Middle School on the home page of its website. The project is part of an effort by NASA to encourage learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM.
The partnership that was recognized involves Robertsville Middle School and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and work on a small one-unit cube satellite, or 1U CubeSat.
Patrick Hull, technical assistant for the Structural and Mechanical Design Branch of the Engineering Directorate at Marshall, helped with this collaboration, which is in the community where he grew up. He partnered with Robertsville Middle School STEM teacher Todd Livesay. They created a project that had students design and 3-D print a small one-unit cube satellite, or 1U CubeSat.
Once completed, the students presented their project at Marshall in front of Hull and a panel of fellow engineers.
For the 2017 class mission, students chose a cause that is near to their hearts, NASA said. In 2016, wildfires ravaged communities in Gatlinburg, in the mountains about 1.5 hours southeast of Oak Ridge, taking the lives of 14 residents and leaving more than 2,500 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. To help Gatlinburg and other communities affected by the wildfires, the Robertsville students set out to develop a CubeSat capable of deploying a camera and radio in space to observe and communicate the regrowth pattern of vegetation after a widespread fire. This information can be used to help communities regrow after destruction, NASA said. [Read more…]
Photo courtesy National Park Service
The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will have a National Parks World War II Film Festival on Saturday, January 13, at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.
During the festival, the National Park Service will present films from national park sites that commemorate events and issues related to World War II, a press release said.
“National parks tell the stories of America’s World War II experience—from Pearl Harbor to the war’s atomic end,” the press release said. “The range of our nation’s national parks show how a resilient America mobilized its people to triumph over tyranny, explore places where technological and social barriers collapsed, confront the war’s darker legacies, and stand atop soils where American blood was shed, coastlines defended, and valor was memorialized forever. Across the nation, national park sites help tell the story of our nation during World War II and help us ensure President Truman’s promise that ‘America will never forget their sacrifices’ will always hold true.” [Read more…]
The National Park Service, U.S. Department of Energy, and Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will have an open house celebration at the Children’s Museum from 3-6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2017, to celebrate the Manhattan Project National Historical Park’s newest location for providing information about the park. (Photo by Manhattan Project National Historical Park)
Note: This story was updated at 4:30 p.m.
The National Park Service, U.S. Department of Energy, and Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will have an open house celebration at the Children’s Museum from 3-6 p.m. Wednesday, January 24, to celebrate the Manhattan Project National Historical Park’s newest location for providing information about the park. Admission to the museum will be free during this event, a press release said.
This celebration will also feature a Parks in Focus photography exhibit that will be a tribute to Ed Westcott, the press release said. The exhibit will feature photographs taken by third- and fourth-grade girls from Girls Inc. of Oak Ridge using the Parks in Focus program curriculum, with inspiration from the black-and-white photography of Westcott. The Udall Foundation, based in Tucson, Arizona, created the Parks in Focus program to connect youth from under-served communities to nature through photography, environmental education, outdoor recreation, and creative expressions. This year-long program has been connecting youth of Oak Ridge to the rich history of the Manhattan Project through the lens of a camera, the press release said. [Read more…]
Photo courtesy Federal Aviation Administration
Note: This story was last updated at 4:10 p.m.
The Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Department of Energy have agreed to restrict drone flights over Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and five other federal sites.
It is the first time the FAA has placed specific airspace restrictions for unmanned aircraft, or “drones,” over DOE sites.
Under the new rules, no drones can be operated within the restricted areas from the ground (surface) up to an altitude of 400 feet. The airspace restrictions take effect Friday, December 29.
Here are the seven sites that are affected: [Read more…]
Jeff Smith
Note: This story was updated at 5:40 p.m.
Jeff Smith, deputy lab director for operations at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been confirmed to the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors.
The confirmations—there were a total of four to the TVA Board, including Smith—were announced by U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander in a press release Friday.
Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, has said that Smith is an “outstanding choice” to serve on the board of the nation’s largest public utility.
Alexander introduced Smith at his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in November, the press release said. Alexander said that Smith will make an excellent TVA board member because of his “expertise in nuclear energy, his background in management of a large facility, and his understanding of large construction projects.” [Read more…]
