Oak Ridge Today

Y-12 finishes first production unit for B61-12 bomb

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Employees at Y-12 National Security Complex recently completed the first production unit of the B61-12. This refurbishment will extend the life of this strategic weapon for 20 years. (Submitted photo)

Employees at Y-12 National Security Complex recently completed the first production unit of the B61-12. This refurbishment will extend the life of this strategic weapon for 20 years. (Submitted photo)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:45 a.m. Jan. 22.

Canned subassembly certified four months ahead of schedule

The Y-12 National Security Complex on Monday said it has completed a major milestone in efforts to refurbish components for a strategic nuclear weapons system that is vital to the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

The first production unit for a bomb called the B61-12 was certified at Y-12 on December 6, 2018.

The work is part of the B61 Life Extension Program, or LEP. The B61 is a nuclear bomb that can be carried on several types of military aircraft. The B61 LEP will extend the life of this strategic weapon for 20 years, said Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, which manages and operates Y-12 for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

B61 bombs are the oldest nuclear weapons in the nation’s active stockpile. They have been in service almost 50 years, and critical components of the bombs are reaching the end of their operational lives. The B61 was first “fielded” in 1968, and current modifications were fielded between 1979 and 1991, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. [Read more…]

Government shutdown not affecting DOE cleanup work

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The partial shutdown of the federal government is not affecting the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup program in Oak Ridge, a spokesperson said Friday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides federal oversight of the work, and EPA is one of the federal departments and agencies affected by the partial government shutdown.

But on Friday, Ben Williams, spokesperson for the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, said the shutdown is not affecting the office’s cleanup work at this time. [Read more…]

Council approves plan for apartments at former AMSE site

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission will consider a rezoning and planned unit development on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018, that would allow apartments to be built on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.

The Oak Ridge City Council approved a rezoning and planned unit development on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, that would allow apartments to be built on the former American Museum of Science and Energy property on South Tulane Avenue.

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved a plan that would allow apartments at the former American Museum of Science and Energy site on South Tulane Avenue.

The apartment proposal requires a rezoning and the approval of a plan for a planned unit development, or PUD.

They were approved in a 5-1-1 vote in the first of two readings on Monday. The second and final reading will presumably be in February.

Voting for the plan were Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch and City Council members Kelly Callison, Jim Dodson, Derrick Hammond, and Ellen Smith. [Read more…]

Federal shutdown does not affect state oversight of Oak Ridge cleanup program

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The partial shutdown of the federal government does not affect state oversight of the federal cleanup program in Oak Ridge, a state official said Thursday.

At this time, the federal shutdown has no impact on the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said Kim Schofinski, TDEC deputy communications director. That means state oversight of the Oak Ridge cleanup program is not currently affected. The Oak Ridge sites include East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex. [Read more…]

Monday: AC Operations Committee to discuss proposed DOE landfill

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Anderson County Operations Committee will discuss the proposed U.S. Department of Energy landfill in a meeting this evening (Monday, January 14).

The meeting will start at 6 p.m. at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

The proposed landfill is known as the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, or EMDF. It would be in Bear Creek Valley west of the Y-12 National Security Complex. [Read more…]

K-25 Equipment Building & Viewing Tower: Design complete, construction funding available

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

An outside view showing the K-25 History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

An image published in October 2017 shows the K-25 History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. It wasn’t immediately clear Friday evening, Jan. 11, 2019, if the design has changed. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

 

The design is complete and funding is available for the construction of an Equipment Building and Viewing Tower that will help commemorate the history of the K-25 Building, once the world’s largest building under one roof.

K-25 was built in Oak Ridge during World War II to help enrich uranium for the Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons. During the war, Oak Ridge enriched the uranium for “Little Boy,” the first atomic bomb used in wartime. “Little Boy” was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of World War II.

After the war, the four-story, 44-acre K-25 Building and four other large buildings at the K-25 site continued to use a process known as gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Officials say the K-25 site, which is in west Oak Ridge, helped win the Cold War.

After decades of use, the K-25 site was shut down in the mid-1980s, and as part of a cleanup effort in recent years, the five large gaseous diffusion buildings have been demolished. But the history of the K-25 building and the site will live on in a History Center on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4, which is next to K-25’s concrete slab, and at the Equipment Building and Viewing Tower, which will be just west of the History Center.

The History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower will be on the south side of the former K-25 Building. The site is now known as Heritage Center or East Tennessee Technology Park. [Read more…]

Government shutdown affects National Park Service in Oak Ridge

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The partial government shutdown that started three weeks ago has affected the National Park Service in Oak Ridge. There are no National Park Service staff members or volunteers working at the Park Service desk at the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, as pictured above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The partial government shutdown that started three weeks ago has affected the National Park Service in Oak Ridge. There are no National Park Service staff members or volunteers working at the Park Service desk at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, as pictured above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The partial government shutdown that started three weeks ago has affected the National Park Service in Oak Ridge.

There are no National Park Service staff members or volunteers working at the Park Service desk at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The Park Service left maps and brochures for visitors to pick up at the museum, but there is no one there to give a certain type of stamp that visitors can use to log visits to national parks.

A sign on the National Park Service desk on Friday said “Closed until further notice,” with a simple sketch of a frowning face underneath it.

Oak Ridge is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Established about three years ago, the park commemorates the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Besides Oak Ridge, the park includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. [Read more…]

NOAA building in Oak Ridge closed due to government shutdown

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The NOAA building on South Illinois Avenue, shown above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, has a sign posted on the front door announcing that it is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The NOAA building on South Illinois Avenue, shown above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, has a sign posted on the front door announcing that it is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building in Oak Ridge is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government, which is now three weeks old and approaching a record length.

NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is one of nine cabinet-level departments affected by the partial government shutdown. The shutdown, which mostly hinges on a dispute between President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress over whether to allocate $5.7 billion in funding for a wall on the border with Mexico, also affects the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the federal judiciary, and other related government programs.

About 380,000 workers were to be sent home and not be paid for their time off during the shutdown, the New York Times reported. Another 420,000 deemed too essential to be furloughed are being forced to work without pay, the newspaper said. After past shutdowns, such workers have been reimbursed later.

It wasn’t immediately clear Friday afternoon how many NOAA workers in Oak Ridge, part of an air research laboratory that has a division here, have been furloughed and how many, if any, are being forced to work without pay. A sign posted on the front door announced that the building is closed due to the shutdown. [Read more…]

ORNL adding three-story office, laboratory building

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is adding a three-story office and laboratory building on its central campus.

It would be the first time a building of this size has been added at ORNL since the Chemical and Materials Science building (Building 4100) was completed in 2011, spokesperson Morgan McCorkle said in a response to questions Thursday.

She said the new building will be located in the central part of the main ORNL campus between buildings 3500 and 3525.

“The facility will offer state-of-the-art laboratory space and offices to support a range of research activities, including growing missions in computing and materials science and development,” McCorkle said. “The space can be adapted to serve the needs of changing scientific programs and priorities.” [Read more…]

Y-12 criticality alarms function properly in tests

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A Nuclear Materials Corporation GA-6 Radiation Detector. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

Nuclear Materials Corporation GA-6 Radiation Detector (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

 

Alarms designed to detect a nuclear criticality accident at the Y-12 National Security Complex have been tested, and the systems functioned appropriately and as required, the plant said in November.

Y-12 has had a criticality accident alarm system since 1945. A criticality accident would occur if there were an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction. It could result in the release of radiation and significant exposures to nearby workers if the area were not immediately evacuated. It’s something that the plant takes steps to avoid. The alarms are designed to alert workers if there is an accident.

A nuclear criticality alarm at the 811-acre plant, which works on nuclear weapons components and stores highly enriched uranium, has been given credit for helping to save lives in a nuclear criticality accident in 1958. In that case, which was the first process criticality accident in the United States, Y-12 employees immediately evacuated when they heard the alarm.

A report published by Consolidated Nuclear Security, a federal contractor, said the basic design and electronic configuration of the older criticality alarm system installed in Y-12’s existing facilities, with the exception of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, date back to 1957. The legacy system has received many upgrades since installation, and detector stations have been removed and relocated as enriched uranium operations have evolved, said the report, titled “Qualification of Y-12 Legacy Criticality Accident Alarm System Detectors.” [Read more…]

Reminder: AC Commission has workshop on proposed DOE waste facility

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Anderson County Commission will hold a workshop today (Monday, January 7), starting at 6 p.m., to discuss the U.S. Department of Energy’s proposed construction and operation of a new hazardous waste disposal facility on the federal reservation in Oak Ridge.

The purpose of the meeting is to allow commissioners, officials, and residents to provide comments before the deadline for public comment on Wednesday January 9, on the proposed Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF). The deadline was pushed back to this month after officials requested more time to look over the information.

David Adler, director of the Quality and Mission Support Division for the DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, will attend Monday’s meeting, according to WYSH Radio in Clinton. [Read more…]

State approves demolition of Biology Complex buildings at Y-12

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Tennessee officials have approved the demolition of two large buildings—buildings 9207 and 9210—at the Biology Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Y-12 announced in December 2018. (Photo courtesy Y-12)

Tennessee officials have approved the demolition of two large buildings—buildings 9207 and 9210—at the Biology Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Y-12 announced in December 2018. (Photo courtesy Y-12)

 

Tennessee officials have approved the demolition of two large buildings at the Biology Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The Biology Complex once housed more people with doctorates than anywhere in the world, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. DOE has said the men and women who worked there radically enhanced the world’s knowledge in biology, including the discovery of the Y chromosome.

Y-12 announced in December that the Tennessee Historical Commission had approved the demolition of the two buildings: Buildings 9207 and 9210. The buildings date back to the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. Oak Ridge was part of that project.

The demolition work at the Biology Complex is being overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. [Read more…]