Oak Ridge Today

Picture: Y-12, UT, and Stanley Healthcare work to advance technology

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Y-12, UT, and Stanley Healthcare Sign Agreement

From left, Taylor Eighmy, UT’s vice chancellor for research and engagement; Van Mauney, B&W Y-12 vice president of program management; and Scott McFarland, senior vice president of sales at Stanley Healthcare, sign the formal agreement. (Submitted photo)

Representatives from the Y-12 National Security Complex, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and Stanley Healthcare signed a cooperative research and development agreement on Wednesday during the Tennessee Valley Corridor’s National Technology Summit at Y-12’s New Hope Center in Oak Ridge.

The three entities are sharing their expertise to fast-track commercialization of an intelligent interactive dashboard that can be used to increase efficiency in manufacturing, maintenance, or the service industry. To learn more about the technology and the CRADA, go to the UTK news release at http://www.utk.edu/tntoday/2013/05/29/ut-y12-stanley-healthcare-work-advance-technology/.

DOE’s public bus tour begins Monday

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2013 Oak Ridge facilities public bus tour begins June 3 and continues through Aug. 30. The tour offers visitors a first-hand look at the DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities and provides historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 70 years.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular destination for tourists visiting the area. Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted more than 29,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour tour allows visitors to see the reservation and learn historical facts and updates on the world-class missions under way in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Avisco Inc. receives $12 million Bear Creek Road construction contract for UPF project

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Uranium Processing Facility

Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently announced that it has awarded a $12 million contract to Avisco Inc. of Oak Ridge for road, bridge, and water line work on Bear Creek Road as part of the Uranium Processing Facility project at Y-12 National Security Complex.

The contract is part of the UPF site readiness subproject, a press release said. Avisco will be building about 4,000 feet of two-lane roadway, a bridge, and adjacent potable waterlines in order to prepare the site of the new UPF. Construction will begin in June and is scheduled for completion in September 2014. [Read more…]

UPF: World-class engineering problems to work through, but site work has started

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Uranium Processing Facility

Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)

There are some “world-class engineering problems” to work through, but site preparation work has started on the giant new Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a project official said Thursday.

“We’re finally starting to make some traction,” UPF Federal Project Director John Eschenberg told several hundred people at the two-day Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit at Y-12’s New Hope Center.

Eschenberg said the site prep work could last 18 months, and it will include work on power distribution and underground water lines as well as moving a section of Bear Creek Road to the north. Three contracts have already been awarded to East Tennessee small businesses. [Read more…]

House leader’s speech emphasizes research, mixes in politics

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Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor

Note: This story was updated at 12:35 p.m.

In his first visit to Oak Ridge, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor paid tribute to the national security and science work that has occurred here dating back to World War II, called for a continued emphasis on research and discovery, and touched on political topics including the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, unemployment, and the nation’s social safety net.

A Virginia Republican, Cantor said the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Northern Route Approval Act, allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be completed. The bill declares that a presidential permit is not required to approve the section of the pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska, which crosses a national border. [Read more…]

Alexander unveils his four principles for clean, cheap, reliable energy

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

It’s been five years since U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called for a new Manhattan Project for energy independence, and during a Wednesday update, the senator said four “grand principles” should guide America’s energy policy.

The senator said his principles—which include research and development, free market forces, and cheaper, clean energy—would “end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy.” They would instead focus on “doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy,” Alexander said during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Oak Ridge.

The senator called for doubling research funding and ending long-term subsidies for “big oil” and “big wind.” [Read more…]

UT, Y-12, Stanley Healthcare work to cut down on patient wait times

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KNOXVILLE—Most people have experienced a long wait to see a doctor. Technology being developed through a new collaboration between the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Y-12 National Security Complex, and Stanley Healthcare aims to cut down on wait times.

The three entities are developing an intelligent interactive dashboard that crunches data in real time to help managers determine how best to administer flow.

An official signing of a cooperative research and development agreement was signed during the Tennessee Valley Corridor’s National Technology Summit on Wednesday evening at the Y-12 National Security Complex’s New Hope Center in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Transite panels being removed from last part of K-25 Building

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K-25 Transite Removal

More than 2,800 transite panels will be removed from the remainder of the K-25 Building. (Submitted photo)

A federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge is removing exterior panels known as transite panels from the last part of the K-25 Building that is still standing.

K-25 was built to enrich uranium for atomic bombs during World War II and was once the world’s largest building under one roof. It’s been unused for decades and is being torn down.

Most of the mile-long former gaseous diffusion building, located at East Tennessee Technology Park, has been demolished. About two million square feet of the U-shaped building have been removed, according to a Thursday press release from UCOR, the cleanup contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

ORFD: After Y-12 refuses wet nitric acid package, FedEx driver finds leak

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FedEx Nitric Acid Spill

Workers from a commercial cleanup company place a leaking nitric acid package in a secure container along Administration Road on Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by Tom Scott)

The cardboard container contained one liter of nitric acid, and the delivery had been refused at the Y-12 National Security Complex because the bottom of the package was wet, the FedEx driver told Oak Ridge firefighters.

The delivery driver checked the 11-pound package at his next stop, and he found fluid leaking out of it and immediately called 911, Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said in a Tuesday afternoon statement. [Read more…]

Equipment used in uranium casting falls from Y-12 furnace

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Equipment and materials used in uranium casting operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex fell several feet from a furnace in Building 9212 last month after someone accidentally bumped a control lever, a federal safety board said in a recently released report.

The lever controls the movement of what is known as the stack assembly, which includes a crucible, mold, and uranium “charge.”

The loaded stack assembly had recently been cast, and it fell several feet from the body of an induction furnace to the base of the furnace, where loading and unloading occur, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a report for the week ending April 19. [Read more…]

Halls Middle School students get ‘taste of science’ at Y-12

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Halls Middle School Visits Y-12

Daryl Smith of Y-12, left, demonstrates how a banana freezes when soaked in liquid nitrogen at New Hope Center to Miller Sullivan, center, and Tyler Young of Halls Middle School on Monday. (Submitted photo)

During a visit to the Y-12 National Security Complex on Monday, eighth-graders Miller Sullivan and Tyler Young learned what happens to a banana when it is submerged in liquid nitrogen.

Daryl Smith of Y-12 was one of four engineering, science, and history experts to give nearly 50 Halls Middle School students “a taste of science past and present at Y-12,” a press release said. [Read more…]

Y-12 recognized as a ‘best workplace for commuters’

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Y-12 Best Work Place for Commuters Award

Durand Carmany talks about how the 4/10 work schedule and on-site taxi service help make the Y‑12 National Security Complex one of the best workplaces for commuters as Sara Martin of Smart Trips looks on. (Photo by Scott Fraker/Y-12)

The Y-12 National Security Complex was one of several East Tennessee businesses recently recognized for meeting the National Standard of Excellence awarded by Best Workplaces for Commuters, or BWC.

Other businesses included Green Mountain Coffee, Home Federal Bank, Tomato Head, and Knoxville Utilities Board. They were recently recognized by Smart Trips, Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, and City of Knoxville Deputy Mayor Eddie Mannis. [Read more…]