Oak Ridge Today

National Park Service, DOE have three meetings on Manhattan Project Park

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Oak-Ridge-Group-Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Signing-Nov-10-2015

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shortly after they signed a memorandum of agreement and created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The signing ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 10, 2015. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung)

 

First meeting on Monday, February 1

The National Park Service and the U.S. Department of Energy will have three public meetings in early February to solicit input on planning for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The meetings will be held at the three sites associated with the park: Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. The public is encouraged to come to the meetings and meet with representatives of the NPS and the DOE to share their thoughts about the key stories and interpretive ideas related to the park.

Locally, there will be a public meeting held on Monday, February 1, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. (Eastern time) at Oak Ridge High School (in the Food Court) at 1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge small business wins DOD chemical, biological defense contract

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Omega-Technical-Services-Logo

Omega Consultants Incorporated has been awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Army’s Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense, or JPEO-CBD, under the Department of Defense.

There were 17 companies selected for this Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity, or IDIQ, contract consisting of 10 small business awards and seven large business awards. The contract ceiling is $900 million throughout the period of performance.

Omega was the only Tennessee business selected as a prime contractor for this contract award. Omega is also a subcontractor for the Camber Corporation team that received a large business award. The contract award is for three years, with an option for three additional years. JPEO-CBD is the Joint Services single focal point for research, development, acquisition, fielding, and life-cycle support of chemical and biological defense equipment and medical countermeasures. [Read more…]

Rescheduled: Learn about volunteering in the Manhattan Project National Park on Tuesday

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You can learn more about volunteering for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, during a meeting at the Midtown Community Center from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016. National Park Service employees are pictured above. (Submitted photo)

 

You can learn more about volunteering for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, during a meeting at the Midtown Community Center on Tuesday.

The meeting was rescheduled from this past Thursday to this coming Tuesday (January 26) because of snow last week.

The information session on volunteer opportunities will be hosted by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park-Oak Ridge. It’s scheduled from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge.

The new park, which also includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, was formally established on November 10, 2015, in a signing ceremony in Washington, D.C. The signing ceremony featured U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. [Read more…]

ORNL supports new projects to develop advanced nuclear technologies

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Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory will support two new DOE-funded projects to explore, develop, and demonstrate advanced nuclear reactor technologies.

The projects announced January 15 will allow industry-led teams with participants from universities and national laboratories to further nuclear energy technology, and will enable companies to further develop their advanced reactor designs with potential for demonstration in the mid-2030s. Initially, DOE’s investment will be $6 million for each project and both companies will provide cost-share. The possible multi-year cost-share value for this research is up to $80 million.

A project led by Southern Company Services, a subsidiary of Southern Company, focuses on molten chloride fast reactors, or MCFRs. The effort includes ORNL, TerraPower, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Vanderbilt University. [Read more…]

Council to receive briefing on Manhattan Project park from Park Service on Tuesday

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Niki Nicholas

The Oak Ridge City Council will receive a briefing on the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday.

The briefing by Niki Nicholas, superintendent of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, will be during a Tuesday evening work session on January 21. It will follow a special 6 p.m. City Council meeting for boards and commissions elections in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. (See the work session agenda here. See the special meeting agenda here.)

There will also be an orientation session next week for those interested in volunteering for the new park, which includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. That orientation session starts at 10 a.m. Thursday, January 21, at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road. [Read more…]

Learn about volunteering in the Manhattan Project National Park on Thursday

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National-Park-Service-Employees

You can learn more about volunteering for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, during a meeting at the Midtown Community Center from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. National Park Service employees are pictured above. (Submitted photo)

 

You can learn more about volunteering for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, during a meeting at the Midtown Community Center on Thursday.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park-Oak Ridge will host a volunteer opportunities information session starting at 10 a.m. Thursday. It’s scheduled to last until 12 p.m.

The new park, which also includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, was formally established on November 10, 2015, in a signing ceremony in Washington, D.C. The signing ceremony featured U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. [Read more…]

Radionuclide levels dropping at Rarity Ridge Treatment Plant, but sludge shipments continue for now

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Ken-Glass-Rarity-Ridge-Wasterwater-Treatment-Plan-Jan-4-2016

Ken Glass, Oak Ridge Public Works environmental compliance officer, said levels of technetium 99 in the wastewater system in west Oak Ridge are dropping, but it’s not clear how long UCOR might have to ship sludge from the Rarity Ridge Wastewater Treatment Plant to an out-of-state landfill. Above, Glass stands near a chlorine contact tank at the treatment plant on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:55 a.m.

The radioactive nuclide that was first detected in the city’s wastewater lines more than two years ago near the demolition project at the former K-25 Building doesn’t affect drinking water, and it’s not believed to pose any threat to residents or municipal employees, officials said this month.

The levels of the radionuclide, technetium 99, are dropping at several measuring spots in the sewer system in west Oak Ridge, but it’s not clear how long UCOR, the federal government’s cleanup contractor, might have to ship sludge from the Rarity Ridge Wastewater Treatment Plant to an out-of-state landfill.

Officials said UCOR has already hauled away about 80,000 gallons of sludge using a 5,000-gallon tanker truck about once every one or two months since 2014. The sludge, which is about 3 percent to 4 percent solid, comes from a part of the plant known as a digester, and the shipments vary depending upon how much is processed at the plant each month.

Officials don’t know yet when the shipments might end. The sludge is now being taken to the Perma-Fix Northwest treatment facility in Richland, Washington. The last shipment was this month. [Read more…]

Synthetic material from ORNL used in discovery of new elements 115, 117

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ORNL Berkelium-249

Berkelium-249, contained in the greenish fluid in the tip of the vial, was crucial to the experiment that discovered element 117. It was made in the research reactor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by ORNL)

 

Twenty-two milligrams of a very pure synthetic material produced at Oak Ridge National Laboratory were used in the discovery of two new chemical elements that will help fill out the seventh row of the periodic table.

The synthetic element, berkelium-249, was produced in a project that started with a six-month irradiation of a target material at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at ORNL. The resulting product was separated and processed during a three-month period at the lab’s Radiochemical Engineering Development Center.

The berkelium-249 was then shipped to the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, or JINR, in Dubna, Russia, where it was intensely bombarded, or irradiated, with calcium-48 ions, creating six atoms of element 117, said Jim Roberto, ORNL associate lab director for science and technology partnerships. Berkelium-249, which does not exist in nature, has a 300-day lifetime, so researchers had a short time to do their experiments.

Element 117 is one of four new elements that have been officially verified by the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry. The IUPAC announced the discoveries on December 30. The other three are elements 113, 115, and 118. Element 115 is produced when element 117 decays. [Read more…]

Protomet needs land for expansion, could add 100 jobs, invest $15-$20 million

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Protomet Expansion Groundbreaking

Protomet breaks ground on a $6.25 million expansion in the Bethel Valley Industrial Park in June 2013. Pictured above from left are Operations Director Andrew Jenkins and Engineering Director Matt Reid of Protomet; LeRoy Thompson, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development regional director; Protomet President Jeff Bohanan; Sherry Browder, Oak Ridge Economic Partnership chair; former Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan; and David Wilson, Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board chair. (File photo from June 2013 by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 6:30 p.m.

An Oak Ridge company that is considered a success story and has already expanded once in the past few years is considering expanding again, possibly investing $15-$20 million and adding 100 jobs, officials said Monday.

But Protomet, the company, is landlocked at its eight-acre site at Bethel Valley Industrial Park, so the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board will ask the U.S. Department of Energy to consider transferring or leasing up to 40 acres west of the park that could be used for the expansion.

Protomet broke ground on a $6.25 million expansion of its manufacturing facility in June 2013, allowing the company to more than double its space, consolidate operations with a Blount County facility, and expand production.

The expanded facility was expected to have more than 40,000 square feet and bring more than 30 jobs to Oak Ridge. It was the second multi-million dollar investment at the company’s Oak Ridge site. [Read more…]

Kent named deputy assistant manager for administration for DOE Oak Ridge

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Melanie-Kent

Melanie Kent

Melanie M. Kent was recently named deputy assistant manager for administration in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.

In her new position, Kent will support the assistant manager for administration in developing and executing policies and plans for public relations, real estate and personal property management, multiple activities involving ORO’s management of the 33,000-acre DOE federal reservation in Oak Ridge, and management and operation of some 28 federally-owned facilities, a press release said.

It said Kent brings a wealth of knowledge, skills, and abilities to her new position that will assist managers in the organization to improve the quality and delivery of critical business and technical services provided to clients in Oak Ridge and the DOE’s Office of Science program throughout the United States.

“I am pleased to see Melanie in this role at ORO,” said Don Thress, acting ORO manager. “She is a seasoned manager, whose experience and forward-thinking will be of great value to the administration program.” [Read more…]

ORNL cell-free protein synthesis is potential lifesaver

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Nanoporous-Membrane-December-2015-ORNL

This section of a serpentine channel reactor shows the parallel reactor and feeder channels separated by a nanoporous membrane. At left is a single nanopore viewed from the side; at right is a diagram of metabolite exchange across the membrane. (Image by ORNL)

 

Lives of soldiers and others injured in remote locations could be saved with a cell-free protein synthesis system developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The device, a creation of a team led by Andrea Timm and Scott Retterer of the lab’s Biosciences Division, uses microfabricated bioreactors to help the on-demand production of therapeutic proteins for medicines and biopharmaceuticals. Making these miniature factories cell-free, which eliminates the maintenance of a living system, simplifies the process and lowers cost.

“With this approach, we can produce more protein faster, making our technology ideal for point-of-care use,” Retterer said. “The fact it’s cell-free reduces the infrastructure needed to produce the protein and opens the possibility of creating proteins when and where you need them, bypassing the challenge of keeping the proteins cold during shipment and storage.” [Read more…]

Demolition could start this year on K-27, last of five gaseous diffusion buildings

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K-27-Building-Interior-March-30-2015-2

The interior of the K-27 Building, which once enriched uranium through a process called gaseous diffusion, is pictured above on March 30, 2015. (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)

 

Information from Oak Ridge Today and the January 2016 issue of “Advocate,” a publication of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board

Demolition work could start early this year on the K-27 Building, the last of five gaseous diffusion buildings at the former K-25 site, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park or Heritage Center. The giant buildings were once used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, starting during World War II and continuing through the Cold War.

Deactivation work continues at the K-27 Building, preparing it for demolition. At the beginning of December, deactivation of the building was more than 96 percent complete. Workers continue to remove transite paneling on the building, but that job is 80 percent complete.

Sue Cange, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, has previously said that demolition work could start on the building in early 2016 and be complete by the end of the year.

Demolition work on the former K-31 Building, the fourth of the five buildings to be demolished, was completed in June. [Read more…]