Oak Ridge Today

Updated: TVA ends blackouts in Oak Ridge

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Note: This story was updated at 3 p.m.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has terminated rolling blackouts in Oak Ridge.

“Everything is now going back to normal,” City of Oak Ridge spokesperson Lauren Gray said.

The mandatory rolling blackouts that affected electricity across the region and in the City of Oak Ridge were to help TVA meet the power demand today (Friday, December 23), a press release said.

The blackouts were expected to affect about 2 percent of Oak Ridge Electric Department customers and last for about 30 minutes, the press release said. The blackouts were expected across the Tennessee Valley.

They were being conducted because of the low temperatures and to meet high power demand, according to the press release, which came from the City of Oak Ridge.

Information was not available about which 2 percent of customers were affected, although there were measures in place to ensure hospitals, fire departments, and other similar operations are not without power, Gray said.

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NRC will prepare environmental statement for nuclear fuel facility

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TRISO-X has proposed a nuclear fuel fabrication facility on 110 acres at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge. (Photo from TRISO-X environmental report to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Friday that it will prepare an environmental impact statement for a proposed nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge that could help power advanced reactors for electrical and chemical use, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The project could partially benefit from last year’s federal infrastructure law, specifically about $1.1 billion appropriated for a clean energy supply.

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Lawsuit filed by terminated employee who refused COVID-19 vaccine

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The Howard H. Baker Jr. United States Courthouse is pictured above in Knoxville on Jan. 19, 2020. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A lawsuit was filed this year against a federal contractor in Oak Ridge that terminated an employee after she refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

In her lawsuit, the former employee argued that it is illegal under state law to compel her to provide proof of vaccination if she objects to the vaccine.

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New supervisor named for Manhattan Project National Park

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Wendy Berhman

A new supervisor has been named for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge.

The selection of Wendy Berhman as the new superintendent was announced by National Park Service Acting Regional Director Kate Hammond.

Berhman succeeds Kris Kirby, who served in the position for six years before accepting a position as associate state director for the Bureau of Land Management Wyoming State Office, the NPS said.

Besides Oak Ridge, the three-site national park includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. The three sites were part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. The park was established in 2015, and it is administered through a collaborative partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Oak Ridge designated World War II Heritage City

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Y-12 Calutron Girls
Women enriching uranium in calutrons at Y-12 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. (Photo by Manhattan Project photographer Ed Westcott)

The City of Oak Ridge has been designated a World War II Heritage City, the only city in Tennessee to receive that designation.

The National Park Service has notified the city of the designation, Oak Ridge said in a press release Tuesday.

“The American World War II Heritage Cities Program honors the contributions of local towns, cities, (and) counties, and commemorates the stories of the men, women, and children whose bravery and sacrifices shaped the U.S. home front during World War II, and still impact our nation today,” the press release said. “Only one American World War II Heritage City can be designated in each state or territory. Oak Ridge played a critical role in history and has been designated Tennessee’s American World War II Heritage City through the program. ”

Oak Ridge was a key production site during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons, before Germany could. Among other work, Oak Ridge enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime and had the first reactor to make plutonium-239. A plutonium sample was sent to scientific facilities at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and more of that isotope, the fuel used in the second bomb, was produced at Hanford, Washington.

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Learn about secrecy, spies on Dec. 17

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The Oak Ridge Turnpike Gatehouse is pictured above on the west end of town. (Submitted photo)

You can learn about secrecy, security, and spies during the Manhattan Project in World War II in Oak Ridge on Saturday, December 17.

This National Park Service program is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. December 17 at the Oak Ridge Turnpike gatehouse on the west end of town.

“The program is accessible to all visitors and will give insight to what life was like in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project with heightened security, need for secrecy, and worry of spies,” the NPS said in a newsletter.

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Early Oak Ridge to be discussed during NPS hike

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A photo by Ed Westcott of Cedar Hill Elementary School in Oak Ridge in 1945. (Photo credit: U.S. Department of Energy/Westcott)

Early Oak Ridge, including its school system, shopping centers, and housing, will be discussed during a hike with National Park Service rangers on Saturday, December 10.

The hike is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. December 10 at Cedar Hill Park, the former location of Cedar Hill Elementary School.

“Along the hike, we’ll discuss the early school system of Oak Ridge, early shopping centers, and housing in the Clinton Engineer Works (a name for Oak Ridge during World War II),” the NPS said.

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SMRs, other nuclear reactors possible at Clinch River site

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Small modular reactors and other types of new nuclear reactors could be considered for power generation at the Clinch River Nuclear Site in west Oak Ridge.

The Tennessee Valley Authority announced its preferred alternative for the 935-acre site in the Federal Register in October.

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Pre-World War II settlements to be discussed during Saturday hike

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Canning was a part of life in agricultural East Tennessee before World War II. (Photo credit: Tennessee Valley Authority)

During a hike on Saturday, the National Park Service will discuss settlements in the area before World War II and the drastic changes to the area during the war.

The hike is scheduled on North Boundary Greenway. It will start at the East Quarry Road Trailhead at 2 p.m. Saturday, November 26.

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Test reactor would help with decarbonization, supporters say

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Kairos Power has proposed a Hermes test reactor at the Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. A model of the test reactor is pictured at a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission meeting in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated at 11:20 a.m. Dec. 1.

A nuclear test reactor proposed in west Oak Ridge could help as the United States tries to lower carbon dioxide emissions and reduce the effects of climate change, supporters said during a public meeting last week.

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NRC seeks public comment about test reactor

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Kairos Hermes test reactor (Image via Nuclear Regulatory Commission)

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment and will have a public meeting and online seminar Wednesday about issuing a construction permit for a proposed test reactor in Oak Ridge.

The NRC has issued a draft environmental impact statement for the construction permit for a Kairos Hermes Test Reactor. The nuclear reactor would not produce electricity, but it would test Kairos Power’s fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor technology, according to the NRC.

Completed in September, the draft environmental impact statement includes the NRC staff’s preliminary analysis of the environmental impacts of issuing a construction permit to Kairos.

“After weighing the environmental, economic, technical, and other benefits against environmental and other costs, the NRC staff’s preliminary recommendation, unless safety issues mandate otherwise, is that the operating license be issued as requested,” the NRC said in a notice published in the Federal Register.

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Forum today about overturning of Roe v Wade

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Four Oak Ridge and Tennessee organizations are having a forum today (Tuesday, November 1) about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion in 1973.

This summer, almost 50 years later, Roe was overturned by the court in a 5-4 vote.

“The over-turn of Roe v. Wade destroyed 50 years of legal precedents—and along with the trigger ban law of the state of Tennessee—placed the health, lives, livelihood, and families of Tennessee women in serious jeopardy,” a press release said. “The physicians and health care providers who have met the needs of these women for decades could now face felony charges. No exceptions are allowed under the law.”

The forum today will feature five female experts, including professors of nursing and medicine, a criminal defense attorney and nonprofit founder, a state senator, and a family nurse practitioner, the press release said.

They will “continue the conversation on the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the trigger ban in Tennessee,” the press release said.

The five women are:

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