The Anderson County Emory Valley Volunteer Dental Clinic in Oak Ridge will conduct a special tooth extraction clinic for adults only (age 19 and older) on Friday, March 6, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Extractions are $20 (cash only) per tooth, a press release said. To qualify for the extraction clinic, you must be an Anderson County resident who does not have dental insurance.
[Read more…]
Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been chosen as the site of an experimental facility to test materials that would withstand the harsh conditions of the plasmas created in fusion devices, which, researchers hope, could eventually provide carbon-free energy to people around the world.
The proposed facility, the Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment facility, or MPEX, has an estimated cost range between $87 million and $175 million. It would be in an existing facility in an area at ORNL known as the Energy Systems Test Complex.
Fusion devices would use the same reactions that power the sun. Temperatures inside a fusion reactor could reach millions of degrees.
Scientists are studying materials that could withstand the conditions inside fusion reactors by exposing them to prototypical plasma conditions. Plasma, the heated matter created in a fusion device, has high-energy neutrons, electrons, and ions. MPEX would study materials that face the plasma. Finding materials capable of withstanding the harsh environment remains a major hurdle to using fusion to produce energy.
A critical decision for the MPEX facility was completed in early February by the U.S. Department of Energy. ORNL is a DOE Office of Science lab. The critical decision, CD-1, is the second step in the five-step process that DOE uses to manage projects. The CD-1 decision included an alternative selection and a cost range.
[Read more…]
Submitted
Come for an afternoon of music and a great way to end February, Black History, and Interfaith Harmony Month in Oak Ridge!
Multiple community organizations join to make this free concert available. The greater Oak Ridge community welcomes Eric Dozier to the Historic Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge on Saturday February 29, from 4 to 6 p.m. Light refreshments will be served and a Q&A with the artist will follow. The program is free to the public, and donations will be accepted.
From the small rural town of Bakewell, Tennessee, where he was born, Dozier has brought his love of music to the world. He has traveled throughout the United States and Canada, and toured internationally since the age of 12. It was a critical encounter in the Czech Republic, a far cry from Bakewell, that prompted him to pursue his calling. This led him to recognize the true power of music to heal hearts. Of himself he says: “I am a cultural activist, anti-racism educator, and itinerant blues preacher leveraging the power of music to promote healing, justice, and racial reconciliation.”
Eric Dozier is a music educator, cultural activist, and recording artist who uses music to engage communities in dialogue about racism. Encouraging people in finding and lending their voice to the ever-emerging story of humanity lies at the heart of his work. He is committed to “Uniting the World One Song at a Time.” A graduate of Duke University and Duke Divinity School, Dozier is currently pursuing a doctorate researching the effects of Black Gospel Music on communities outside of the Black Church.
[Read more…]
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is involved in early research and using the Summit supercomputer to better understand components of the new coronavirus, which was first reported in China but is now being reported in a growing number of countries across the world, including the United States.
The early research at ORNL uses computational modeling and data analysis techniques on Summit, the world’s most powerful supercomputer. Results are not published yet, ORNL said Friday afternoon.
Oak Ridge Today has requested more information about the lab’s research, including who the work is for and what parts of the virus are being researched, but that information wasn’t immediately available.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it is closely monitoring the outbreak of respiratory illnesses caused by the new coronavirus, and there are ongoing investigations to learn more.
[Read more…]The immediate risk of the coronavirus in the United States is believed to be low, but Oak Ridge Schools, Anderson County Schools, and the Anderson County Health Department are providing information to help respond to the emerging public health threat.
“Oak Ridge Schools is committed to keeping our students and staff safe and are currently working to determine the appropriate steps to address the potential coronavirus outbreak,” the school system said in a message sent to staff members on Friday afternoon. “We are communicating with the Anderson County Health Department to attain the latest information and recommendations from federal, state, and local authorities.”
Oak Ridge Schools said it will use that information to create a plan to keep students and staff safe.
“Staff, students, and parents will receive information regarding a coronavirus plan should the implementation of such action become necessary,” the message said.
The school system said it will communicate with students, staff, and parents about the importance of consistently practicing these recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
[Read more…]
Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Corporal Kim Lay was named the National L.E.A.D (Law Enforcement Against Drugs) Instructor of the Year on Tuesday at the National L.E.A.D Conference in New Jersey, a press release said.
In addition to her national award, Lay was named Instructor of the Year for the state of Tennessee. She received notice of the state award prior to attending the conference, but she was surprised when the L.E.A.D president called her name for the prestigious national award, the press relief said.
“Words cannot express how honored I am to receive these awards,” Lay said. “The L.E.A.D program has changed many lives, and I am grateful to play a small part in the process.”
[Read more…]
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will present his annual “State of the City” during Lunch with the League on Tuesday.
The meeting will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 3, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Watson has served as Oak Ridge city manager since August 2010. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration and city management from the University of Kansas. In 2019, he received his doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
[Read more…]
The former American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn and his brother Ryan are minority partners in the project to build apartments at the former American Museum of Science and Energy site.
Rick Chinn, a developer, said this month that the project will bring much-needed apartments to the city, allowing more people who work in Oak Ridge to live here. The apartments are being built as RealtyLink, a South Carolina developer, plans to build more new stores across South Tulane Avenue at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.
Now called Main Street Lofts, the apartment project has included an agreement to reduce property taxes and the transfer of what had been federal property from the U.S. Department of Energy to the city and then to a developer. It will include the demolition of the former AMSE building. It is expected to include seven three-story buildings with 226 apartment units on 10 acres.
Rick Chinn and his father, Richard Chinn, a member of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, have been abstaining from votes related to the apartment project for at least a year.
They have not been required to explain their abstentions, but Oak Ridge Today has asked Rick and Richard Chinn why they have been abstaining.
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UCOR, a federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, is accepting applications for education grants between $500 and $1,000.
The grants will support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, projects.
The grant applications are open to public school teachers in eight counties: Anderson (including Oak Ridge and Clinton City schools), Campbell, Knox, Loudon, Morgan, Roane, Scott, and Union.
“Teachers in those counties are welcome to apply, but applications should focus on STEM,” a press release said. “For instance, a music teacher might apply for a grant for a math-related project within the field of music.”
Read more
A new guidebook highlights Oak Ridge’s natural assets.
The “Oak Ridge Natural Assets Guidebook” by Legacy Parks Foundation is a collaborative project created at the request of the City of Oak Ridge, Roane County, and Anderson County civic and business leaders, a press release said. It’s in response to recommendations from the Oak Ridge Blueprint Plan that urged the exploration of both recreational opportunities and enhancement of the area’s natural assets.
“The Guidebook is intended to be a living, working document that will serve as a philosophical and practical set of guidelines for how to maximize the area’s natural assets so that they provide a sustainable foundation to engage residents, promote wellness, attract tourism, and increase economic development,” said Carol Evans, executive director of Legacy Parks Foundation.
The Guidebook identifies natural assets and related opportunities on public land in Oak Ridge, including U.S. Department of Energy land, but it does not consider future uses of that land for mission-related or growth purposes, Evans said.
[Read more…]
The new K-25 History Center will be hosting “Mud, a Photographic Exhibition of Life in the Secret City.” The exhibit will open on Thursday, February 27, and it will be available for viewing through the month of March.
There will be a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the K-25 History Center at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 27.
During World War II, Oak Ridge was a quickly built as a secret government town of 70,000 workers who lived in a camp-like environment of barbed wire, security checkpoints, and code words, a press release said. Workers were fingerprinted, interviewed, assigned a job, and given a clearance badge. Housing was limited and cramped and often unheated.
Oak Ridgers who ventured into Knoxville were easy to spot. The quickly constructed secret city was blanketed in a thick layer of mud. As a result, its residents’ muddy shoes were a dead giveaway as to their origin. “The muddy conditions of Oak Ridge during the war was a commonality that all residents, regardless of occupation, had to contend with,” the press release said.
[Read more…]The application process opens March 1 for the 2020 Community Action Grants from the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club.
The Community Action grants are open to nonprofit groups to help with special projects or initiatives of their organizations, a press release said.
In 2019, the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club awarded a combined total of $20,000 in Community Action Grants to 13 recipient organizations, the press release said. [Read more…]
