The U.S. Government Accountability Office will likely use one decision to rule on both protests of the consolidated contract to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, an official said Thursday.
The five-year contract was awarded to Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, on Jan. 8. But two bidding teams filed protests. [Read more…]
Ramamoorthy Ramesh
Note: This story was updated at 3:40 p.m.
A new deputy director has been named at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Ramamoorthy Ramesh of the University of California in Berkeley will start as the lab’s deputy director for science and technology on June 1, ORNL Director Thom Mason announced in an e-mail to staff on Thursday.
Ramesh will replace Thomas Zacharia, who left in August to take a science and education foundation based in Doha, Qatar. [Read more…]
Workers and volunteers celebrate renovations at the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter during an open house Monday.
The Oak Ridge Animal Shelter has a new exam room and a renovated surgery room.
It also has new paint, hospital-grade flooring, and a more inviting lobby area with a lower front desk and an animal adoption room.
The renovations, which included cleaning and electrical work, started in January. Except for the flooring, the work was done by the Oak Ridge municipal staff.
City workers and animal rescue volunteers celebrated with an open house Monday. They said the shelter seems more pleasant and inviting now, and the animals seem less stressed. [Read more…]
About 1,200 hourly union workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex, pictured above, will vote Friday on a 14-month contract extension and a 2.5 percent wage increase. (Submitted photo)
Hourly union workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex will vote Friday on whether to accept a 14-month contract extension and a 2.5 percent wage increase, an official said.
There would be no changes to worker benefits, said Steve Jones, president of the Atomic Trades and Labor Council.
If approved, the 14-month contract extension would become effective April 22 and last through June 20, 2014. It would apply to roughly 1,200 union members at Y-12. It would not affect ATLC members at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [Read more…]
A coalition including the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance has asked a federal judge to order the removal of a temporary fence that encloses an area at the entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex that has been used for protests and vigils for years.
A new fence erected this week at the Y-12 National Security Complex allegedly violates their First Amendment rights, and a coalition that includes the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance wants the federal government to remove it before an annual spring demonstration on Saturday.
In a complaint filed Wednesday, the coalition also asks the U.S. District Court in Knoxville to deny the government from ever blocking a small area near the plant’s main entrance. That area includes a grassy field and small parking lot near the green Y-12 sign at the intersection of Bear Creek and Scarboro roads, and it has been used for protests and vigils for about 25 years.
The National Nuclear Security Administration announced plans to erect the fence along Scarboro Road last week, citing three trespassing incidents involving five people in the past year, including the July 28 security breach. Workers started setting up a temporary version of the fence on Monday. [Read more…]
Recent reports by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth highlight Tennessee’s success as the best in the nation in reducing reliance on confinement as a response to juvenile crime, a press release said.
Community Mediation Centers throughout Tennessee have been a quiet part of this, the release said. The first program in the state, Community Mediation Services of Anderson County, has for 27 years been working with juveniles and families to help them find their own solutions to their issues through mediation. [Read more…]
Roane State Community College’s Music Department will host an alumni concert on Saturday, April 6, from 7-9 p.m. in the O’Brien Theatre on the Roane County campus in Harriman.
Admission is free.
The concert will feature alumni from Concert Choir, Celebration Singers, Jazz Band, and Bluegrass Band. As this year’s virtual choir project, the Music Department will debut an original composition, “Diversity, Similarity,” by Roane State professor Geol Greenlee with lyrics by student Chris Arnold. [Read more…]
A fire apparently caused by cigarette smoking caused minimal damage to a second-floor Tara Hills apartment on Wednesday afternoon.
A fire apparently caused by cigarette smoking caused minimal damage to a second-floor Tara Hills apartment on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
No one was home when firefighters arrived at about 1 p.m. Wednesday, said Josh Waldo, Oak Ridge Fire Department assistant fire chief.
The fire caused an estimated $1,000 in damages, mostly to the building’s exterior, Waldo said.
Firefighters found an ashtray on the porch. They removed exterior paneling after they spotted smoke behind it.
A car caught fire on Hillside Road near Hunter Circle on Saturday morning. (Photos by Tom Scott)
A car caught fire on Hillside Road at about 11:43 a.m. Saturday.
The car’s owner was driving west on Hillside Road near Hunter Circle when smoke started coming out from under the dash after she turned off her heater, an Oak Ridge Fire Department report said. She unlatched the hood and her passenger disconnected the battery, but the car, owned by Louise Long of Oliver Springs, had already started to burn.
By the time firefighters arrived, the passenger compartment was on fire, the report said. They were able to extinguish it with a water hose. [Read more…]
The proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above. (Submitted image)
Many business leaders and public officials consider it a great opportunity.
The proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex could cost up to $6.5 billion and employ up to 1,500 workers during the peak construction period. It’s been called the largest federal capital project in Tennessee since the Manhattan Project, and construction could last another decade.
On Monday, Tennessee officials announced they will help companies that are already in the state and interested in working on the project, and recruit out-of-state businesses, particularly in the nuclear industry. Those new companies will be encouraged to stay in the state, said Bill Hagerty, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. [Read more…]
Before the school board offered him the Oak Ridge Schools superintendent job on Monday, Bruce Borchers, right, speaks to Carol Smallridge, left, and interim Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bob Smallridge, second from right. Also pictured is Borchers’ son Jack.
The Oak Ridge school board has offered the superintendent’s job to Bruce Borchers, who is now superintendent of the Rockwood School District in Eureka, Mo.
The position, which has a salary range of about $175,000, is still subject to contract negotiations.
Board members approved the offer in a 5-0 vote during a short special meeting on Monday at Riverside Grille in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
After several recent trespassing incidents, workers put up a new temporary fence at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Monday. An Oak Ridge peace group objects to the fence because it encloses an area traditionally used for protests.
Workers started erecting a temporary fence at the Y-12 National Security Complex on Monday, enclosing an area that has traditionally been used for protests by an Oak Ridge nonprofit group.
Federal officials said they are installing the fence along Scarboro Road after three trespassing incidents involving five people in the past year. In one of those incidents, three anti-nuclear weapons activists penetrated a high-security area and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.
On Thursday, the National Nuclear Security Administration said recent events have shown a greater threat of trespassing, and the response costs are increasing. [Read more…]
