Oak Ridge Today

DOE works with transuranic waste while NM facility shut down

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TRU Waste Processing Center

The TRU Waste Processing Center southwest of Oak Ridge National Laboratory off State Route 95 is pictured above. (Photo courtesy TWPC/WAI)

 

Worker Handles Remote TRU Waste

A worker manipulates RH waste at the TRU Waste Processing Center. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board)

In February 2014, two incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, in New Mexico caused the shutdown of the only facility in the U.S. that permanently disposes of transuranic waste, or TRU waste. That waste is disposed in shafts, or drifts, about a half-mile below ground in an ancient salt bed. Some of that waste has come from Oak Ridge.

After months of investigations into the cause of a truck fire and a radiological release two weeks later, the U.S. Department of Energy released a recovery plan at the end of September that outlines the steps necessary to resume limited waste operations in the first quarter of 2016.

“Key elements of the recovery plan include strengthening safety programs, regulatory compliance, decontamination of the underground, increasing ventilation, mine stability and underground habitability, and additional workforce retraining,” according to a statement on WIPP’s website. [Read more…]

Site Specific Advisory Board elects officers for FY 2015

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Dave Hemelright

Dave Hemelright

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board elected its Fiscal Year 2015 officers during its September board meeting. Re-elected for second terms are Dave Hemelright, chair, and Lisa Hagy, secretary. Jan Lyons was elected vice-chair. Their terms of service are October 2014 through September 2015.

Hemelright was the vice chair for FY 2013 and served as acting chair for a time when the previous chair’s term of service ended in July 2013. He also has served on the Finance and Process, Environmental Management and Stewardship, Public Outreach, and Executive committees.

Hemelright, who lives in Lenoir City, is the K-12 facilities specialist for Kaatz, Binkley, Jones, and Morris Architects Inc., specializing in Tennessee public school planning, design, and construction. He has 20 years of construction management experience in commercial, retail, and food service construction, and 10 years in maintenance management for retail and K–12 public schools. He currently serves on the board of the Tennessee School Plant Management Association and has served on the Loudon County Planning Commission. [Read more…]

DOE responds to SSAB’s waste disposal recommendation

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Submitted

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has responded to a recommendation made earlier this year by the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board.

In May, the federally appointed citizens’ panel recommended that DOE continue to plan for additional on-site waste disposal capacity on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, or ORR, for low-level radioactive and chemically hazardous waste.

DOE currently operates the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, or EMWMF, a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Bear Creek Valley near the Y-12 National Security Complex. When the facility began accepting waste in 2002, it was expected to handle all projected low-level waste from cleanup operations on the ORR. However, with the amount of demolition and work left to complete, EM requires additional disposal capacity onsite.

DOE has conducted a study to develop, screen, and evaluate alternatives for an additional waste disposal facility, with a working name of EM Disposal Facility, or EMDF. ORSSAB’s recommendation encouraged the agency to continue working toward adding disposal capacity and proposed recommendations for a new facility.

The ORSSAB encouraged DOE to minimize the need for additional on-site capacity when possible. In its response, DOE said it was examining the final cover design of the EMWMF to allow for extended capacity. The waste acceptance criteria for other so-called “sanitary landfills” on Chestnut Ridge are being evaluated for possible modifications to allow a wider variety of waste. [Read more…]

Site Specific Advisory Board elects new officers

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Dave Hemelright

Dave Hemelright

Bruce Hicks

Bruce Hicks

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board elected new officers during its September board meeting. The officers will serve in Fiscal Year 2014.

Dave Hemelright, Bruce Hicks, and Lisa Hagy will serve as chair, vice chair, and secretary respectively. The new officers presided over their first meeting Oct. 9 at the U.S. Department of Energy Information Center at 1 Science.gov Way in Oak Ridge.

Hemelright was the vice chair for FY 2013 and had been acting chair since his predecessor, David Martin, completed his term of service in July. He also served on the Finance and Process, Environmental Management, Public Outreach, and Stewardship committees. [Read more…]

Advisory board member stays busy with many activities

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Fay Martin With Trophies

Fay Martin displays her award for winning the singles title for women 55 in the 1996 Tennessee State Tennis Open. In the background are just a few of the numerous trophies she has won over the years. (Submitted photo)

Fay Martin is a very busy person. She’s an athlete. She’s a writer. She’s an artist. She’s involved in the community. The multitude of trophies, awards, certificates, and samples of her work proves that she has been doing all of these things for a long time.

She is also a member of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board, a federally appointed citizens’ panel that provides independent advice and recommendations to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management, or EM, program to clean up portions of the Oak Ridge Reservation. With all she does why would she want to be a member of ORSSAB? “I want to remain involved; to continue to be a helping hand on the board,” she says, “and I think DOE listens to what the board says through the recommendations it makes.” Fay is the vice chair of the board’s Stewardship Committee. [Read more…]

Four SSAB members finish terms, recognized 
for service

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SSAB Members Recognized

Tom Valunas, Chuck Jensen, and David Martin (left to right) were recognized for their service to the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board by Susan Cange, the board’s deputy designated federal officer, at the June meeting. Not pictured is Jan Hart, who was unable to attend. (Submitted photo)

Four members of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board were recognized for their service at the June meeting as they completed their terms on the board. Two of them, Chuck Jensen and David Martin, completed three two-year terms and finished their work on the board as the current secretary and chair, respectively. Jan Hart and Tom Valunas each served one term and decided not to apply for second terms.

ORSSAB is a federally appointed citizens’ panel that provides independent advice and recommendations to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management, or EM, program to clean up portions of the Oak Ridge Reservation. [Read more…]