Oak Ridge Today

K9 officers from Clinton, Knox, Loudon help relocate canine officers possibly in path of Hurricane Irma

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Detective Sergeant Bob Suarez, CPD K9 trainer, and K9 handlers from Knox and Loudon County are helping Miami authorities relocate 35 K9s that are possibly in the path of Hurricane Irma. The Tennessee crew is pictured here on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, loading the dogs and getting ready to head north. This van, a bus, and a truck are being used for the transport. The K9s will be safely sheltered in Tennessee until the storm passes by. (Photo courtesy Clinton Police Department on Facebook)

Detective Sergeant Bob Suarez, CPD K9 trainer, and K9 handlers from Knox and Loudon County are helping Miami authorities relocate 35 K9s that are possibly in the path of Hurricane Irma. The Tennessee crew is pictured loading the dogs and getting ready to head north. This van, a bus, and a truck are being used for the transport. The K9s will be safely sheltered in Tennessee until the storm passes by. (Photo courtesy Clinton Police Department on Facebook)

 

A K9 trainer from the Clinton Police Department and K9 handlers from Knox and Loudon counties are helping authorities in Miami relocate 35 K9s that could be in the path of Hurricane Irma, the Clinton Police Department said this week.

CPD Detective Sergeant Bob Suarez, a K9 trainer, left for Florida on Wednesday night, the Police Department said.

A van, a bus, and a truck are being used to take the dogs north. The K9s will be safely sheltered in Tennessee, the Volunteer State, until the storm passes by, the Clinton Police Department said. [Read more…]

ORNL helps emergency responders with hurricanes Harvey, Irma

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The map above is part of the LandScan system that has been used by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help readiness, response, and recovery crews during Hurricane Harvey, which hit most heavily in Texas. This map shows population counts in the Houston area, with red areas having the highest counts and yellow areas lower counts and gray areas none. The map has a flooding overlay, where red is more flooding and green is less. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The map above is part of the LandScan USA system that has been used by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to help readiness, response, and recovery crews during Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas on Friday, Aug. 25, 2017. This map shows population counts in the Houston area, with red areas having the highest counts and yellow areas lower counts and gray areas none. The map has a flooding overlay, where red shows more flooding and green shows less. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Data collection systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are being used to help emergency responders and recovery crews with two deadly hurricanes, Harvey and Irma.

The data collection systems are LandScan USA and EAGLE-I. Information from the systems is being used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, among other agencies. The two systems give information on electric customer outages and population counts, and they are being used in daily briefings, according to ORNL staff members.

The first system, LandScan USA, shows population counts with a resolution of about 90 meters. The system can show color-coded maps with population counts ranging for high to low, and it includes daytime and nighttime populations.

Flood maps can be overlaid on the population count maps to help determine the best places for rescuers to respond, said Amy Rose, ORNL team lead in Population Distribution and Dynamics. Rose displayed that map and overlay during an interview in the EVEREST visualization laboratory at ORNL on Tuesday.

Houston, which experienced heavy flooding, didn’t evacuate before Hurricane Harvey, a category 4 storm that came ashore just northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas, on Friday night, August 25. [Read more…]

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You don’t have to subscribe to read our stories, but your contribution will help us cover local news for you. We are a local independently owned small business. We could use your help.

We currently offer three subscription levels: $5, $10, or $25 per month. We accept payments through PayPal. You can also send check payments to our P.O. box. Please visit our subscription page for information on these options. [Read more…]

Updated: Runaway juvenile located

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Kendrick Cranmore

Kendrick Cranmore

This story was updated at 7 p.m.

A juvenile reported as a runaway on Wednesday has been located, authorities said.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said Kendrick Cranmore has been located and returned to his mother.

“Our thanks to the Loudon Police Department for their assistance,” the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday evening.

A white 2004 Toyota Tacoma pickup that was taken from his mother’s home had been located early Wednesday morning in Monroe County on Orr Road near the Loudon County line, and Cranmore was believed to be in the area of Anderson, Loudon, or Monroe County, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said earlier Wednesday.

Updated: X-energy, Centrus Energy to develop fuel for advanced nuclear reactors

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Larry Cutlip, left, Centrus Energy vice president of field operations, and Pete Pappano, X Energy vice president of fuel production, announce a collaboration on fuel for advanced nuclear reactors at the Nuclear Suppliers Workshop at Pollard Technology Conference Center on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Larry Cutlip, left, Centrus Energy vice president of field operations, and Pete Pappano, X Energy vice president of fuel production, announce a collaboration on fuel for advanced nuclear reactors at the Nuclear Suppliers Workshop at Pollard Technology Conference Center on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

This story was last updated at 5:30 a.m. Sept. 7.

Two companies that have operations or employees in Oak Ridge are exploring a collaboration for the possible production of fuel for advanced nuclear reactors.

The two companies, X Energy LLC and Centrus Energy Corporation, announced Wednesday that they have signed a memorandum of understanding for the potential collaboration.

They are expected to put together a business plan for the fuel fabrication business. It’s not clear how long that might take, said Jeremy Derryberry, Centrus Energy senior communications manager.

But the companies are working toward the development of a fuel fabrication facility that could possibly be in Oak Ridge, where Centrus, formerly known as USEC, has had operations for about 15 years.

“We really think that Oak Ridge can be a nexus for the advanced reactor industry in the U.S. going forward,” Derryberry said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
[Read more…]

Woman escapes, pets evacuated after lightning strikes home, sparking fire

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A woman escaped and pets were evacuated after lightning struck a home on Albion Road in east Oak Ridge on Tuesday morning, Sept. 5, 2017, likely destroying the residence, authorities said. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A woman escaped and pets were evacuated after lightning struck a home on Albion Road in east Oak Ridge on Tuesday morning, Sept. 5, 2017, likely destroying the residence, authorities said. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A woman escaped and pets were evacuated after lightning struck a home in east Oak Ridge on Tuesday morning, sparking a fire and likely destroying the residence, authorities said.

The lightning strike was reported at 105 Albion Road at 9:39 a.m. Tuesday. The home is just north of Emory Valley Road and just west of Melton Lake Drive.

The lighting strike occurred roughly in the center of the home, and it started an attic fire that spread across the house.

The female resident was watching television and she felt it, said Gary Williamson, Oak Ridge Fire Department engineer and investigator. She got out of her chair to investigate and saw smoke coming out of outlets and vents. The woman, who was reported to be okay, went to a neighbor’s house.

Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley arrived quickly and reported that the fire was already through the roof, Williamson said. [Read more…]

GAO: DOE has more than 80 percent of U.S. government’s environmental liabilities

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Workers clean 5,700 feet of piping on Alpha-4’s west side at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy)

Workers clean 5,700 feet of piping on Alpha 4’s west side at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. Alpha 4 was built in 1944. It was used first for enriching uranium as part of the Manhattan Project and later for thermonuclear weapons production. It was shut down in 1987 and will be demolished. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 3:20 p.m. September 4.

The U.S. Department of Energy is responsible for more than 80 percent of the U.S. government’s estimated $450 billion in environmental liabilities, a federal agency said in a report published this year.

The agency, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, added the government’s environmental liabilities to a high-risk list of federal programs and operations in a report published in February.

Total environmental liabilities for the federal government are estimated at $447 billion. DOE is responsible for about $372 billion of them, or 83 percent, according to a fiscal year 2016 estimate, the GAO said.

Most of DOE’s environmental liability is related to nuclear waste cleanup, the GAO said. Fifty percent of it is at two cleanup sites: the Hanford Site in Washington state and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

The GAO—an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress—said DOE’s total reported environmental liability has generally increased since 2000. It’s roughly doubled from a low of $176 billion in fiscal year 1997 to the higher estimate of $372 billion in fiscal year 2016.

“In the last six years alone, EM (environmental management) has spent $35 billion, primarily to treat and dispose of nuclear and hazardous waste and construct capital projects to treat the waste, while EM’s portion of the environmental liability has grown over this same time period by over $90 billion, from $163 billion to $257 billion,” the GAO said.

In the past few fiscal years, DOE environmental management has spent about $6 billion per year. The budget request submitted to Congress by President Donald Trump in May asked for $6.5 billion for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, the largest request in a decade.

Oak Ridge has a DOE environmental management program. It received more than $400 million in funding per fiscal year between 2013 and 2016. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has major cleanup projects at the East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex. Cleanup work depends upon funding, but it could continue into the mid-2040s. Although they might be in various stages, projects that are under way now include finishing demolition work at ETTP by 2020, disposing of uranium-233 at ORNL, addressing high-risk excess facilities at ORNL and Y-12, building a Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12, and shipping transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. [Read more…]

Federal board recommends five cleanup priorities for Oak Ridge Reservation

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The fiscal year 2017 Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is pictured above. (Photo by SSAB)

The fiscal year 2017 Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is pictured above. (Photo by SSAB)

 

A federal board has recommended five cleanup priorities for the Oak Ridge Reservation: offsite groundwater monitoring, future waste disposal capacity, the disposal of excess facilities, mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek, and remaining debris at the East Tennessee Technology Park.

The recommendations were made by the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board. That’s a federally appointed citizens’ panel that provides independent advice and recommendations to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

The recommendations are for the fiscal year 2019 environmental management budget, which begins October 1, 2018.

“ORSSAB has identified five priorities for Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup, and recommends that the FY 2019 Oak Ridge EM program budget request reflect adequate funding to keep these projects going,” the board said. “Also, when additional funds from suitable plus-ups and savings become available, it recommends that these funds be targeted for these projects.”

Here is more information from the SSAB recommendation: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge to announce plans for 75th anniversary celebration on Thursday

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Pictured above is early construction in 1942 on the K-25 plant with one of the original homes in the city that became Oak Ridge. (Photo by Ed Westcott courtesy U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office)

Pictured above is early construction in 1942 on the K-25 plant in the left background with one of the original homes in the city that became Oak Ridge in the right foreground. (Photo by Ed Westcott courtesy U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office)

 

The City of Oak Ridge has formed a committee to help coordinate and circulate information about the city’s 75th Anniversary, which begins in September. Mayor Warren Gooch will lead a news conference on Thursday, August 31, where the city will announce plans for a year-long celebration of this milestone anniversary.

Several events are already on the calendar to help kick off the City’s 75th year. The Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association will present a lecture on September 15 titled “The Legacy of Place” by guest speaker Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City” and “The Last Castle.” The Oak Ridge Fire Department plans to host “Then and Now,” a 1940s-era Fire Prevention Parade along Oak Ridge Turnpike on October 7.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex will celebrate the anniversaries of their respective beginnings as well. The festivities will continue through the end of 2018. Additional events will be announced as they are confirmed, a press release said. [Read more…]

Reminder: Emerald ash borer workshop at UT Arboretum this evening

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An ash tree is pictured above in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

An ash tree is pictured above in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge Tree Board is hosting a workshop focused on the impact of the emerald ash borer in the area. The event, scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, August 29, will provide important information regarding the emerald ash borer for property owners, landscapers, and others involved in the maintenance of green spaces, a press release said.

Ash trees make up a significant percentage of the urban forest in the area and have traditionally been a landscaping staple. Many of these trees in Oak Ridge are already dead or beyond treatment, but a significant number can be saved. At the workshop this evening, experts from around the area will address issues that include the identification of affected ash trees and responses to emerald ash borer infestation, including appropriate treatment. [Read more…]

DOE disposing of uranium-233 waste stored at ORNL

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ORNL CEUSP Waste Shipping

During training, workers removed a type of shipping cask that was expected to be used to transport 403 canisters of uranium-tainted waste from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas. (File photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Environmental Management)

 

This story was updated at 5 p.m. Aug. 30.

They haven’t agreed on a final budget number, but the Trump administration and the U.S. House and Senate have proposed spending between about $33 million and $52 million in the next fiscal year to continue disposing of uranium-233 waste materials that are stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in a building that is the oldest continuously operating nuclear facility in the U.S. Department of Energy complex.

The uranium-233, or U-233, waste is now stored in secure vaults in Building 3019, which was built in the 1940s at ORNL. Removing the waste could allow ORNL to relax its overall security posture, which will reduce costs, eliminate nuclear safety issues, and make the campus more conducive to collaborative science, according to a U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee report published in July.

Some of the waste is from a 1960s research and development test in New York, and it is being shipped to the Nevada National Security Site, a former nuclear weapons proving ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. In interviews this summer, DOE officials in Oak Ridge declined to discuss the amount of that waste that has been shipped to Nevada or to say how long the shipments might continue. But they are making progress, said Jay Mullis, acting manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

Once all of those materials are shipped, the remaining U-233 at ORNL will be treated in “hot cell” facilities across the street from Building 3019, at Building 2026. The DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management owns both buildings.

Mullis said there is other U-233 waste stored in Building 3019, including from glovebox research at ORNL, from reactor plates, and from conglomerate materials. [Read more…]

Man pleads guilty to attempted voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault

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Deshon Marquece Meadow

Deshon Marquece Meadow

An Oak Ridge man accused of pointing a handgun at a group of people and pulling the trigger multiple times in April 2015 pleaded guilty on Thursday to a reduced charge of attempted voluntary manslaughter and six counts of aggravated assault, according to Anderson County court records.

Deshon Marquece Meadow, 22, was pointing a handgun at a group of people, including victim Traiquan Graves, when Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Tim Nguyen responded to a report of shots fired on Utica Circle on April 6, 2015, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

A witness said she saw Meadow point the handgun in their direction and pull the trigger multiple times, Nguyen said in the affidavits.

“The victim’s fear was evident when he backed up and took cover as the defendant tried to fire the weapon at him,” the affidavits said.

“Under Miranda, the defendant stated: ‘I couldn’t let him do me like that anymore. I went back to my house, got my gun, and pointed at them and told them to back off!'” the affidavits said. [Read more…]