Oak Ridge Today

Council to discuss DOE funding, support tonight

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council has a special meeting tonight to discuss U.S. Department of Energy support and funding. (File photo/August 2013)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council will discuss U.S. Department of Energy funding and support during a special meeting tonight. It’s described at least in part as an “information-gathering session.”

The special meeting was called by City Council members Trina Baughn and Charlie Hensley. Hensley, in particular, has raised questions about whether DOE is paying its fair share to the city.

Here’s the language outlining tonight’s discussion:

“to discuss and possibly take action on a plan to engage DOE officials with regards to their obligations to the City of Oak Ridge and its citizenry. Let it [the special meeting request] include formally requesting, in writing, a DOE Community Assistance Review as allowed within AECA 1955, PL 84-221, DOE Order 2100.12A, and other supporting legislation, including those self-sufficiency plans dating from 1980 through a Council Resolution and other joint local government collaborative action to include a specific date for a response.”

[Read more…]

Brown to remain as UPF procurement manager

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Rich Brown will remain procurement manager for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, UPF Project Director Brian Reilly said last week.

Here is an announcement that Reilly sent to the UPF team on Tuesday, October 7: [Read more…]

Spotlight: Weapons lab directors visit Y-12

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Weapons Lab Directors Visit Y-12

From left above are Assembly/Disassembly Operations Manager Reed Mullins, Y-12 Site Manager Bill Tindal, LLNL Director William Goldstein, LANL Director Charles McMillan, SNL Director Paul Hommert, and NNSA Production Office Manager Steve Erhart. (Photo courtesy CNS)

 

Laboratory directors from Sandia National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory recently visited the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The group toured facilities at the site, including production buildings and Y-12’s Nuclear Detection and Sensor Testing Center, a press release said.

Pictured above are employees at Y-12; lab directors from SNL, LLNL, and LANL; and the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office.

Y-12 to hold emergency management exercise Wednesday

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New Hope Center

New Hope Center

New Hope Center to be closed to public until noon

Emergency response personnel from the State of Tennessee and the Y-12 National Security Complex—along with other federal, state and local emergency management personnel—will conduct an emergency management exercise on Wednesday, October 15, at Y-12’s New Hope Center.

Because of the activities associated with the exercise, New Hope Center, located on Scarboro Road, will be closed to the public from 8 a.m. to noon the day of the exercise, and so will East Portal Road from Scarboro Road up to and including Portal 13.

The exercise should be completed by late morning or early afternoon, a press release said. [Read more…]

Y-12 employees recognized for excellence in nuclear weapons program

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NNSA Defense Programs Award of Excellence Penny Cunningham

Defense Programs 2013 Award of Excellence recipient Penny Cunningham, left, receives congratulations from Jim Haynes, CNS president and chief executive officer; Tim Driscoll, NNSA uranium program manager, and Mark Padilla, NNSA Production Office’s assistant manager for programs and projects. Thirteen teams at Y-12 received DP Awards of Excellence for 2013 at an annual ceremony held recently at the New Hope Center. (Photos courtesy CNS)

 

Thirteen teams at the Y-12 National Security Complex received Defense Programs Awards of Excellence from the National Nuclear Security Administration at an annual ceremony held recently at the New Hope Center.

A total of 209 recipients were recognized, with several participating on more than one team. In total, 235 awards were presented for significant achievements in 2013.

NNSA’s newly appointed Uranium Program Manager Tim Driscoll gave the keynote address.

“I’m here today as a patriot, a citizen, a father, a friend to some of you, and as a customer,” Driscoll said. ”These awards are a testament to the good work that goes on here every day at every level. They’re a testament to the loyalty and dedication of all those involved.”

Mark Padilla, the NNSA Production Office’s assistant manager for programs and projects, and Jim Haynes, CNS president and chief executive officer, joined Driscoll in presenting the awards. [Read more…]

The ABCs of giving—Y-12 donates school supplies to ADFAC

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Y-12 School Supplies Donated to ADFAC

CNS Security Police Officer John Fellers, left, and Y-12 Site Manager Bill Tindal deliver school supplies to the Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties office. (Submitted photo)

 

Y‑12 National Security Complex employees donated more than $2,000 and numerous school supplies to ensure students in need are starting the school year with what they need. Working with Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, or ADFAC, employees donated money along with some 144 wide-ruled notebooks, 132 packs of crayons, 111 packs of pencils, 80 packs of paper, and 66 packs of glue sticks.

“Employees once again shared their giving spirit with those in our communities,” Y‑12 United Way Chair Yvonne Bishop said.

While the event precedes the site’s formal United Way campaign kickoff, Bishop said site employees always are ready to respond. ADFAC volunteers use the donations to provide backpacks and school supplies to fulfill more than 7,000 requests for assistance. [Read more…]

Demolition of Building 9744 completed at Y-12

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Y-12 Building 9744 Demolition

The Y-12 National Security Complex completed the demolition of Building 9744 this week. The facility was a deteriorated, former utilities and maintenance facility taking up more than 9,000 square feet in Y-12’s high-security area. Despite challenges, the CNS demolition team was able to bring down the facility nearly two months ahead of schedule. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

 

The Y-12 National Security Complex recently celebrated another improvement in its site infrastructure with the demolition of Building 9744, a former utilities and maintenance facility occupying more than 9,000 square feet in Y-12’s Protected Area.

“This facility was in danger of collapse and posed a risk to the site’s personnel and operations,” said James McConnell, the National Nuclear Security Administration’s acting associate administrator for infrastructure and operations. “Upon realization of this risk, we were able to secure funding to stabilize the area from both a safety and environmental perspective.

The demolition proved challenging due to the deteriorating facility conditions, precluding the standard approach of entering the facility to abate hazards and remove hazardous waste prior to the structural demolition. Despite structural issues and associated waste disposal concerns, the facility was safely demolished nearly two months ahead of schedule. The demolition team collaborated with several internal and external organizations to accomplish the aggressive schedule in accordance with environmental and safety standards. [Read more…]

Photos: Remembering fallen heroes of Sept. 11, 2001

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Sept. 11, 2014 Ceremony with Firefighter at Y-12

Y-12 photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security

 

Area firefighters, police officers, Oak Ridge school students and staff, and others came together on Thursday to remember and honor the fallen heroes of September 11, 2001. There were ceremonies at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge High School.

The firefighters were at Y-12 this week for their annual Fire Officer Conference, held in conjunction with Safety Fest.

The ceremony at Oak Ridge High School included students and staff, and the Oak Ridge police and fire departments. [Read more…]

Medal of Honor recipients honored at Y-12

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Medal of Honor Recipients at Y-12 National Security Complex

Medal of Honor recipients Herschel “Woody” Williams (USMC, WWII, Iwo Jima); Ron Rosser (US Army, Ponggilli, Korea); and Wesley Fox (USMC, Quang Tri, Vietnam) were welcomed by CNS President Jim Haynes (far left) and NNSA Production Office Manager Steve Erhart (far right) at the Medal of Honor Town Hall Forum held at Y-12’s New Hope Center on Friday. (Photo courtesy CNS)

 

Three Medal of Honor recipients were honored at the Y-12 National Security Complex during a Town Hall Forum on Friday, part of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s annual convention held in Knoxville last week.

The Medal of Honor recipients honored at Y-12 were Herschel “Woody” Williams (U.S. Marine Corps, Iwo Jima, World War II), Ron Rosser (U.S. Army, Ponggilli, Korea) and Wesley Fox (USMC, Quang Tri, Vietnam). They were welcomed at Y-12’s New Hope Center by CNS President Jim Haynes and Steve Erhart, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office.

The three recipients discussed their experiences and answered questions from the public. Williams and Rosser also toured the Y-12 National Security complex with Haynes and Y-12 Historian Ray Smith. The group visited 9731, Y-12’s pilot plant during the Manhattan Project, and the south ridge of the site.

Many of the honorees also visited area schools, where Tennessee leads the nation in adopting the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation’s Character Development Program. To learn more about the program, go to http://www.mohknoxville.com/character-development/.

See also this story from the Medal of Honor Town Hall at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Safety Fest TN: ORAU, CNS experts to discuss effective safety communications

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Free seminar draws upon lessons learned at Uranium Processing Facility Project

Health and safety experts from Oak Ridge Associated Universities and a communications specialist from Consolidated Nuclear Security, the new contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex, will discuss effective safety communications during Safety Fest TN in Oak Ridge this week.

The ORAU experts are David Duncan and Jeffrey Miller, and the CNS communications specialist is Kathryn King.

Their seminar, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 9, informs organizations on how to improve the effectiveness of safety communications by first examining how communication breakdowns contributed to well-known safety catastrophes, like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an ORAU press release said. They will also present detailed instructions on how to develop an effective safety communications plan, methods for implementing and monitoring the plan, and techniques for measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of safety communications.

“Successful case studies will be presented including experiences from the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Uranium Processing Facility Project, where the effectiveness of safety communications has dramatically improved over a three-year period after implementing these methods,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Y-12 hosts Medal of Honor recipients at Town Hall Forum

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The Medal of Honor Knoxville Convention Committee has chosen the Y-12 National Security Complex to host a community event Friday, September 12, at 10 a.m., during this year’s convention.

Several Medal of Honor recipients will participate in a Town Hall Forum at Y-12’s New Hope Center located at 602 Scarboro Road.

The forum will be moderated by Hallerin Hilton Hill from WOKI’s Newstalk 98.7.The community is invited to attend, listen to recipients tell their stories, and answer questions from the audience.

Currently scheduled recipients for this Town Hall Forum include men who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. [Read more…]

Expanded Safety Fest set for September

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Safety Fest TN

Making Tennesseans safer at work

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Virtually any company will tell you that worker safety is job one.

In Oak Ridge, there’s an event every year to help make sure the words get turned into action. For the third consecutive year, the Oak Ridge Business Safety Partnership, partnering with a number of organizations, will host Safety Fest TN, a week of safety classes, safety seminars, a Safety Expo, and a community Safety Forum—all free of charge to anyone who registers. The event is scheduled for September 8-12 and is based at the New Hope Center at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

“We appreciate Consolidated Nuclear Security working with us to accommodate Safety Fest TN and for sponsoring the community brunch on September 8,” said Jenny Freeman, chair of the ORBSP planning committee, which is responsible for organizing the event.

Classes will also be held at five other locations, including Centro Hispano in Knoxville, where courses will be offered in Spanish. The addition of Spanish language classes is a new and important outreach. [Read more…]