Oak Ridge Today

Youth Advisory Board planning job fair for teens

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The Oak Ridge Youth Advisory Board is planning a job fair for teenagers on Wednesday, September 12. It’s scheduled from 1:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. in the Oak Ridge High School Café.

The event will introduce students to possible job opportunities and provide them with information on resume writing and interviewing skills. The event will also serve as an excellent opportunity for vendors to meet potential employees, a press release said.

Vendors that have already signed up include: Big Ed’s Pizza, Kroger, ASAP, RecruitWise, the Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge, and the City of Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department. Additional vendors are expected. [Read more…]

Nuclear safety board announces appointment of two inspectors, mostly at Y-12

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Aerial: While the skyline is continuing to change, Y-12’s focus remains the same—securing America’s future.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in this submitted photo.

 

A federal safety board has announced the appointment of two Oak Ridge resident inspectors, primarily at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and a major board reform has been announced.

The appointment of the first inspector, Matthew Duncan, was effective August 20. The appointment of the second, Brandon Weathers, is effective in December.

The two will serve as Oak Ridge resident inspectors for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, an independent federal agency responsible for safety oversight at U.S. Department of Energy defense nuclear facilities.

In Oak Ridge, the DNFSB reports often focus on activities at Y-12, but they can also include work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. ORNL is a DOE Office of Science lab, and Y-12 is a National Nuclear Security Administration site. The NNSA is a DOE agency. [Read more…]

Rocky Top woman charged with homicide in death of 83-year-old

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Christy Viola Comer

Christy Viola Comer

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:20 p.m. September 3.

A Rocky Top woman has been arrested and charged with homicide in the death of an 83-year-old man, state authorities said.

Christy Viola Comer, 37, was arrested by special agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, with help from several local law enforcement agencies, a TBI press release said.

On Friday morning, authorities found the body of J.C. Copeland outside of his home in the 600 block of Jacksboro Avenue in Rocky Top. TBI agents started investigating at the request of Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark and with help from the Rocky Top Police Department, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force. [Read more…]

TVA seeks public comments on dry ash storage at Bull Run

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority is accepting public comments on proposed changes to plans for converting from wet to dry handling and storage of coal ash and other materials at its Bull Run Fossil Plant near Claxton, across the Clinch River from Oak Ridge.

The proposed changes are detailed in a draft supplemental environmental assessment posted at www.tva.gov/nepa, a press release said. This supplemental assessment will look at proposed environmental impacts of a revised plan to close and partially remove wet ash impoundments on site at Bull Run.

“TVA plans to repurpose the stilling impoundment and a portion of the fly ash impoundment for use as process water basins,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Explore Oak Ridge president resigns

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Marc DeRose

Marc DeRose

Marc DeRose, president of Explore Oak Ridge, announced Thursday that he plans to resign from the position next month to pursue other career goals.

DeRose served as president of Explore Oak Ridge, the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, for four years, a press release said. He plans to remain in the position until September 30 to assist in the search and transition to a new president.

“I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to serve Oak Ridge as president of Explore Oak Ridge,” DeRose said in a press release. “The team at Explore Oak Ridge, the board of directors, and our partners at the City of Oak Ridge were a critical part of every success Explore Oak Ridge experienced over the past several years. I’m confident that I’ll be leaving the organization in exceptional hands. The decision to leave Explore Oak Ridge was difficult and required a lot of consideration by my family and me.” [Read more…]

Tennessee Avenue road reconstruction update

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Submitted

The Oak Ridge Public Works Department is providing a revised update on the Tennessee Avenue reconstruction project. Temporary closure of the Tyler Road intersection with West Tennessee Avenue will now begin on Tuesday, September 4, 2018, after the Labor Day weekend. (It was originally planned to begin this week.)

As the Public Works Department announced last week, phase one of the project will need to be extended just past Tyler Road, instead of Michigan Avenue. Adams and Sons Inc., the city’s contractor for the project, has advised that the intersection will remain closed for approximately one week. Traffic will be directed around the affected area.

Once the waterline replacement portion is complete, the intersection will be re-opened. After the water main installation is completed, reconstruction of the roadway will commence. [Read more…]

Center for Oak Ridge Oral History seeks new interviews

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Oak Ridge Public Library

The Oak Ridge Public Library is pictured above.

The Oak Ridge Public Library is seeking new interviews as part of the Center for Oak Ridge Oral History project. More than 800 oral history entries have already been logged, but additional stories are needed from those who experienced Oak Ridge as children.

COROH’s main focus has been the Manhattan Project era of Oak Ridge’s history, from late 1942 to the end of World War II in August 1945. Interviewees are asked about what it was like to live in the “Secret City.” As the project continues, staff and volunteers will be looking to the second generation of Oak Ridgers in order to record their memories as well. [Read more…]

Sprinkler system extinguishes fire at assisted living facility

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Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge

Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge

 

Submitted

On Friday, August 24, at about 12:38 a.m., the Oak Ridge Fire Department responded to a fire alarm caused by water flow from sprinklers at NHC Healthcare on Laboratory Road.

The first unit on scene reported that an employee saw fire coming from a clothes dryer and then saw water flow in the dryer area. The engine company controlled the water from the sprinkler head, closed gas, and disconnected power from all three dryers. No injuries were reported, and no fire damage was noted in or around the dryer. Fire department personnel also mitigated the water from the sprinkler head activation. The facility was back to normal operation within a few hours.

This was the second incident worked by the Oak Ridge Fire Department in just 24 hours that involved the successful use of a life-saving device. [Read more…]

Items from AMSE on Tulane will be for sale

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american-museum-of-science-and-energy-front-2-jan-2-2017-web

The American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge on Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Items from the American Museum of Science and Energy on South Tulane Avenue will be available for sale from September 6-8.

That museum location closed in July as officials move the museum to a renovated building at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall. The new museum is expected to open in October.

The public property sale in September was announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy Integrated Support Center—Oak Ridge and the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation. The sale will take place September 6-8 at 300 South Tulane Avenue, the AMSE facility on Tulane Avenue. [Read more…]

Barker names chief deputy, jail administrator

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Brian Galloway

Brian Galloway

Russell Barker, who will be sworn in as Anderson County sheriff on September 1, has named his chief deputy and jail administrator.

Brian Galloway will serve as chief deputy, and Richard Parker will serve as jail administrator.

Galloway will replace Mark Lucas, who is retiring August 31 after losing to Barker in the race for sheriff in the August 2 general election in Anderson County.

Parker will replace the current jail administrator, Avery Johnson. [Read more…]

AC Chamber president named TN Chamber executive of year

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The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce Executives named Rick Meredith, president of the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber Executive of the Year at an annual meeting in Clarksville on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. The award was presented by Suzie Lusk, associate vice president of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce. (Photo by Anderson County Chamber of Commerce)

The Tennessee Chamber of Commerce Executives named Rick Meredith, president of the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber Executive of the Year at an annual meeting in Clarksville on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018. The award was presented by Suzie Lusk, associate vice president of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce. (Photo by Anderson County Chamber of Commerce)

 

Anderson County Chamber of Commerce President Rick Meredith was named Tennessee Chamber Executive of the Year this month, a press release said.

Meredith, who also serves on the Anderson County Commission, received the honor from the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce Executives at an annual meeting held in Clarksville, Tennessee, on Thursday, August 23, the press release said. TCCE is a statewide chamber professional association that identifies the most effective chamber professional who has made a significant difference in a local Tennessee chamber, the release said. [Read more…]

CNS settles with DOE, NNSA over improper shipment, storage of classified records

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A large ridge top tract of land that features panoramic views and was once proposed as the site of a Target retail development is now for sale. The land, which is also known as The Summit, is on Pine Ridge along South Illinois Avenue between Scarboro Road/Lafayette Drive and Centrifuge Way. It's pictured above on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A large off-site building on Pine Ridge that was once used to store records for the Y-12 National Security Complex. The building is pictured above on Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC has reached a settlement agreement with federal officials over the improper shipment and storage of classified archived records at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration requires CNS, which manages and operates Y-12, to implement corrective actions and pay a $73,000 monetary remedy.

The settlement agreement was entered into on July 23 between CNS, NNSA, and DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments’ Office of Enforcement.

In a July 13 letter, NNSA Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty and Kevin L. Dressman, acting director of the Office of Enforcement, said CNS made a decision in 2016 to vacate an off-site records storage facility on Pine Ridge that had met DOE requirements.

To vacate that building, CNS sent boxes of inactive archived records, dating back to 1943, to one of three U.S. National Archives and Records Administration facilities: unclassified records went to two different federal records centers based on whether the records were textual or non-textual (e.g., films), and classified records, regardless of the medium, were transferred to a federal records center that is authorized to store classified information. [Read more…]