Tennessee Valley Summit returns to Oak Ridge; energy, manufacturing on agenda

Third District Rep. Chuck Fleischmann has announced the Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit will be held the last week of May and return to the site where it started 18 years ago—Oak Ridge. The exact dates are being determined based on the schedules of several anticipated national speakers, including U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Senior decision-makers representing academia, government, and industry from Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina will convene in the New Hope Center at Oak Ridge’s Y-12 National Security Complex for the two-day meeting. Fleischmann will serve as host and be joined by of members of the TVC congressional delegation.

“For almost two decades, the TVC Summits have convened people to focus on leveraging our region’s federal assets to generate private sector economic development,” Fleischmann said. “By working together, our Valley has competed for and attracted important energy, research, space, and national security missions that are important to our country. We will bring top-notch speakers from Congress, the administration, state and local Government and the private sector to join us in Oak Ridge this May to continue these important discussions.”

Fleischmann indicated the focus areas of the 2013 Summit will include energy, advanced manufacturing, workforce development, innovation, and entrepreneurism, and state and local elected representatives from throughout the region are expected to participate.

With Oak Ridge, the home of U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration facilities, discussion topics will include:

• the nation’s new Uranium Processing Facility at the NNSA’s Y-12 site;
• the new federal contractor responsible for the Uranium Processing Facility and managing the Y-12 and Pantex, Texas, production plants;
• advances at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in super-computing, advanced manufacturing, and materials research;
• DOE’s selection of Oak Ridge as the home of the nation’s first small modular nuclear reactor, or SMR, project;
• the latest developments with NASA’s Space Launch System Program, managed by Huntsville, Ala.’s Marshall Space Flight Center; and
• collaborative opportunities in Huntsville, Oak Ridge, and other Corridor member partners to promote advance manufacturing programs.

Since the first Summit in Oak Ridge in 1995, the TVC has helped link the science and technology assets in the Tennessee Valley into a nationally recognized regional economic development effort. The mission of the TVC is to sustain the region’s existing federal missions, to compete for new missions, and to leverage public/private relationships for high-quality job growth.

For more information about the Tennessee Valley Corridor, please visit www.TennValleyCorridor.org, and follow the Corridor at www.facebook.com/TennesseeValleyCorridor. For more information about the May Summit or to become a sponsor, please contact Jennifer Wiggins at jwiggins@akinscrisp.com.