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Federal lawsuit asks for environmental review of new UPF design

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Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, is pictured above during a rally at Alvin K. Bissell Park on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration have violated a federal environmental law, and the civil complaint asks for an environmental review of the new design for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the largest federal construction project in Tennessee since World War II.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia by several public interest organizations—Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, Nuclear Watch of New Mexico, and Natural Resources Defense Council of Washington, D.C.— and four people: Ed Sullivan of Oak Ridge, and Ralph Hutchison, Jack Carl Hoefer, and Linda Ewald, all of Knoxville.

The defendants are Energy Secretary James Richard “Rick” Perry and NNSA Administrator Frank G. Klotz.

The complaint alleges that the NNSA is taking, but failing to consider, grave risks with safety and the potential environmental impacts of the nation’s nuclear weapons program, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.

It says the NNSA has refused to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement, or SEIS, to consider important new information about the serious vulnerability of the new design for UPF, which is supposed to be completed by 2025 for no more than $6.5 billion. [Read more…]

Senate bill also rejects Trump’s science cut, increases funding instead

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Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, talks to reporters after touring Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Hardin Valley Road on Monday, May 22, 2017. Also pictured is U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, center, a Tennessee Republican, and ORNL Director Thom Mason. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, center, a Tennessee Republican, is pictured above with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday, May 22, 2017. Also pictured is former ORNL Director Thom Mason. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

An appropriations bill approved by a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday rejects the Trump administration’s proposal to cut $919 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science in the fiscal year that starts October 1.

Instead of cutting, the Senate bill would actually increase funding for the Office of Science, boosting it to $5.55 billion in fiscal year 2018. That would be again a record funding level in a regular appropriations bill, according to U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican who often advocates for the federal sites in Oak Ridge and chairs the Senate subcommittee.

Like the Senate this week, the House Appropriations Committee last week also rejected President Donald Trump’s request to cut DOE’s Office of Science.

Unlike the Senate bill, though, the House bill would keep funding flat at $5.39 billion, the same as in the current fiscal year. That level of funding was also a record in a regular appropriations bill, Alexander said in May.

The Office of Science is the nation’s largest supporter of research in the physical sciences.

The president’s budget request, submitted to Congress on May 23, would cut Office of Science funding by about 17 percent, dropping it to $4.47 billion.

Keeping Office of Science funding flat, or even increasing it, could be important to several of the federal sites in Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an Office of Science lab, and the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, or OSTI, is an Office of Science unit. [Read more…]

House bill keeps DOE Office of Science spending flat, increases NNSA funding

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by ORNL

 

Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

A House bill approved Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s proposed funding cut of about $900 million for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

Instead of cutting, the House Appropriations Committee bill would keep spending flat for the Office of Science, holding it at $5.39 billion in the next fiscal year, the same as in the current fiscal year.

That could be good news for DOE Office of Science laboratories and offices here, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, or OSTI.

Separately, the House bill recommends a funding increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration. That’s something that the Trump administration had also proposed. The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within DOE, and its activities include nuclear weapons work, nuclear nonproliferation efforts, and naval reactors. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is an NNSA site.

“Issues of national and economic security are continually on the forefront of the minds of all Americans,” said U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge. “Last week, the House Appropriations Committee, on which I serve, approved the Fiscal Year 2018 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. I was proud to help direct additional funding towards the national security programs at Y-12.

“Additionally, funding levels included in this legislation will allow for cleanup of high risk excess facilities at Y-12. This is the first step in a long process, and I want to assure my constituents that I will continue fighting to ensure that Y-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and environmental management activities get the funding needed to continue their critical missions.” [Read more…]

Readers ask about layoffs at ORNL, UPF

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by ORNL

 

Oak Ridge Today readers have recently asked about layoffs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

In mid-June, ORNL said there had been about 10 employees who were laid off recently. They were from ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate.

“The layoffs were part of the normal course of business at the lab,” ORNL communications media manager Morgan McCorkle said in a statement. “We are constantly adjusting the size of the workforce to ensure efficient operations.”

On Thursday, McCorkle said there haven’t been any additional ORNL staff layoffs since then. ORNL has a staff of 4,750, including scientists and engineers in more than 100 disciplines.

Oak Ridge Today has also received a question from a reader about layoffs reported on the Uranium Processing Facility project, or UPF, at Y-12. [Read more…]

NNSA: Y-12 funding would be up 25 percent under president’s budget request

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Y-12 Aerial Photo June 2012

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2012. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4:20 p.m.

Funding for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge would be up about 25 percent under the budget request submitted to Congress in May, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The total funding for Y-12 would be $1.64 billion, the NNSA said. That’s an increase of 25.4 percent over fiscal year 2016.

The budget request for fiscal year 2018, which starts October 1, was submitted by President Donald Trump to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. The NNSA request of $13.9 billion would increase funding by 7.8 percent compared to fiscal year 2017, Administrator Frank G. Klotz said during a teleconference with reporters on May 23.

Trump’s budget request has not yet been approved by Congress, where there has been bipartisan opposition, particularly to the proposed cuts. In Oak Ridge, sites and programs that could be cut include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which would have a funding reduction of $206 million over two years, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, or EERE.

But Y-12, a National Nuclear Security Administration site, could benefit if the president’s budget request were approved by Congress. A House spending bill introduced last week for federal energy and water departments appears to include proposed spending levels for the NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within DOE, that are similar to what the Trump administration has proposed. [Read more…]

While here in May, Secretary Perry made his first visit to UPF

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Pictured above from left are Uranium Processing Facility Federal Project Director Dale Christenson, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Secretary Rick Perry, Rep. Chuck Fleischman, and UPF Project Director Brian Reilly. (Photo by NNSA)

Pictured above from left are Uranium Processing Facility Federal Project Director Dale Christenson, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Secretary Rick Perry, Rep. Chuck Fleischman, and UPF Project Director Brian Reilly. (Photo by NNSA)

 

Note: This story was originally published by the National Nuclear Security Administration on May 24.

While he visited Oak Ridge in May, new Energy Secretary Rick Perry made his first visit to the planned Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, a project that has been described as the single largest government investment in Tennessee since World War II.

Perry visited the UPF project with U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and Representative Chuck Fleischmann, both Tennessee Republicans, and UPF Federal Project Director Dale Christenson and UPF Project Director Brian Reilly.

Christenson and Reilly provided an update on the project’s progress and discussed key upcoming milestones, including achieving 90 percent design by September 2017, the National Nuclear Security Administration said in a post published May 24. Y-12 is an NNSA site. [Read more…]

Feinstein: President’s budget request could lead to 1,600 layoffs at ORNL

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by ORNL

 

Note: This story was updated at 12:20 p.m. June 28.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday said the president’s budget request for the next fiscal year could lead to a 33 percent workforce reduction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. About 1,600 of the lab’s roughly 4,800 employees could be laid off, the senator’s office said.

Feinstein, a Democrat from California, and other members of the Senate Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a Republican who is chair of the subcommittee, had a budget hearing with new Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Wednesday afternoon, June 21.

Across the U.S. Department of Energy, a workforce of 29,000 employees could be reduced by 23 percent at labs such as ORNL that are managed for DOE and not for the National Nuclear Security Administration, Feinstein said. (The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within DOE.) That would be a reduction of 6,700 employees at the non-NNSA, non-weapons labs, the senator said.

“Every non-NNSA lab would see drastic employment cuts under this proposed budget,” said Feinstein, the ranking Democratic member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. “We must change this budget.”

The potential layoffs at DOE labs would be the result of a budget request submitted by President Donald Trump to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. But the president’s budget request has not yet been approved by Congress, and it has run into bipartisan opposition. Some legislators have declared the budget request “dead on arrival,” and others have said they won’t even review some proposed cuts such as a 30 percent funding reduction for the State Department. [Read more…]

President’s budget request includes money for two UPF buildings at Y-12

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The sign at the Scarboro Road entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on December 16, 2014. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:45 p.m.

The budget request released Tuesday by President Donald Trump includes money to start construction of two buildings at the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

Budget highlights for the National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, were released early Tuesday afternoon. Y-12 is an NNSA site.

The budget request would allow the NNSA to start construction of the Main Process Building and the Salvage and Accountability Building at the Uranium Processing Facility, the NNSA said in a press release.

The NNSA, a semi-autonomous U.S. Department of Energy agency, will have a conference call with reporters at 3 p.m. today (Tuesday, May 23) to provide more information.

There has been much attention focused on the potential cuts in the preliminary budget blueprint released in March and the more detailed budget request released Tuesday, including a proposal to reduce spending for DOE’s Office of Science by $900 million. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an Office of Science lab.

But in Oak Ridge, it has seemed possible that NNSA work and environmental management (federal cleanup) programs could benefit under the presidential budget proposals. [Read more…]

CNS introduces hundreds of girls to engineering

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Chloe Roach from Anderson County Career and Technical Center pedals a bike to generate electricity. (Photo by Y-12)

Chloe Roach from Anderson County Career and Technical Center pedals a bike to generate electricity. (Photo by Y-12)

 

Y-12 National Security Complex shows how STEM skills lead to careers

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC recently hosted more than 200 female high school students from 15 area schools as part of Introduce a Girl to Engineering. The goal of the event was to inspire girls to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, a press release said.

This program was conducted in concert with Girl Day, an initiative founded by DiscoverE and expands CNS’ existing relationships with area schools.

Kristin Waldschlager of CNS Educational Outreach said educating the younger generation about STEM-related opportunities is “critical” for Y-12.

“At Y-12, we have a sense of responsibility to make sure we support the development and growth of future scientists and engineers who could be working here,” Waldschlager said in the press release. [Read more…]

CNS small business contracting makes big jump in FY 2016

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The sign at the Scarboro Road entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on December 16, 2014. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC achieved a significant increase in contracting with small businesses during fiscal year 2016, eclipsing its small business contracting goals and awarding more than $276 million at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, and Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The small business dollars awarded represented an increase of more than $36 million over fiscal year 2015 figures, and were 67 percent of all funding awarded, exceeding CNS’ fiscal year 2016 goal of awarding 55 percent of all procurement dollars, a press release said.

CNS uses small businesses in a range of diverse roles, from staff augmentation services to construction support work, the press release said. [Read more…]

Photo: Concrete Batch Plant for UPF at Y-12

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uranium-processing-facility-concrete-batch-plant-september-2016

Construction is almost complete on a batch plant that will provide concrete for the Uranium Processing Facility, or UPF, at the Y-12 National Security Complex. The components for the batch plant arrived at Y-12 in 41 trucks and the plant was assembled onsite. The batch plant will provide concrete for the construction of UPF, a first-of-its-kind facility for enriched uranium operations in support of Y-12 missions. (Photo by Y-12 National Security Complex)

 

Construction is almost complete on a batch plant that will provide concrete for the Uranium Processing Facility, or UPF, at Y-12 National Security Complex.

The components for the concrete batch plant arrived at the Y-12 National Security Complex in 41 trucks, and the plant was assembled onsite. The batch plant will provide concrete for the construction of UPF, a first-of-its-kind facility for enriched uranium operations in support of Y-12 National Security Complex missions. [Read more…]

Last seven days have been great for Oak Ridge, mayor says; read presentation here

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Warren Gooch (2016 file photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This is a lightly edited version of a presentation that Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch gave to the East Tennessee Economic Council on Friday, September 9.

It is a pleasure for me to be here this morning as I begin my 22nd month as mayor and to share my thoughts about the positive direction of our city, and why that is important to you and your companies. First, I want to thank you for supporting Oak Ridge and investing your time and your money here.

My family and I have lived in Oak Ridge for 23 years. But my law firm, Kramer Rayson, has been involved in one way or another with Oak Ridge from its earliest days when our founding partner, Russell Kramer, received a call from an old friend in Washington. (Gooch tells a story about a telephone call with President Roosevelt.)

By any standard, the last seven days have been great for Oak Ridge and have increased the excitement that is being expressed about the momentum of our city.

First, demolition has accelerated at the old mall as construction for Main Street Oak Ridge ushers in a new and exciting era for our community. The tax increment financing (TIF) loan for Main Street had closed, and so has the loan for the new Marriott hotel that is being built. The importance of Main Street Oak Ridge to the image and self-confidence of our city and the economic vitality of Oak Ridge, Anderson, and Roane counties cannot be overstated. The success of Main Street and the continued redevelopment of our center city’s retail, residential, and commercial properties is my number one priority. We must work hard to maintain this momentum and take full advantage of it in the coming months. If we are successful, it will help you recruit the new workers you require for your businesses.

Second, LeMond Composites announced its licensing agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and that the company is coming to Oak Ridge to manufacture innovative, high-volume, low-cost, carbon fiber in the Horizon Center Industrial Park.

Third, the National Park Service named Kris Kirby as the superintendent of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. [Read more…]

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