Oak Ridge Today

Candidate forums this week

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There are two forums this week in Oak Ridge featuring candidates in the Tennessee primary election and Anderson County and Roane County general elections in August.

The forums have been organized by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, and the public is invited.

Early voting begins in both counties on Friday, July 12.

The Anderson County forum is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 9. It will take place at the Oak Ridge Campus of Roane State Community College in Room 107 in the Goff Building.

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Manhattan Project Park: Walk through Wheat

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Photo courtesy National Park Service

You can walk through Wheat with a National Park Service ranger on Saturday, July 13, and learn more about the history of this community before the Manhattan Project.

Wheat was in an area that is now west Oak Ridge, and it was one of the communities displaced by the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

The free July 13 walk is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

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Crews preparing for first demolition of uranium enrichment building at Y-12

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A U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management crew member works to install one of three bridges to support the relocation of utilities away from the Alpha-2 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Each bridge weighs over 2,000 pounds. (Photo courtesy DOE OREM)

From U.S. Department of Energy “EM Update” email newsletter

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management crews at Oak Ridge are moving closer toward completing the first-ever demolition of a former uranium enrichment facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex as crews reroute utilities around the structure.

Workers are slated to begin demolition on the Alpha-2 building this fall. Initiating teardown of the facility is an EM priority for 2024.

The 325,000-square-foot Manhattan Project-era facility is one of nine uranium enrichment process buildings constructed at Y-12. Its removal by the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor UCOR will eliminate a high-risk excess contaminated facility, enable modernization, and clear land to support national security missions.

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Roane State celebrates construction milestone for new health science campus in west Knoxville 

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Roane State Community College and its nonprofit Foundation hosted a ceremony on July 2, 2024, commemorating a major milestone in the construction of the college’s new Knox Regional Health Science Education Center in West Knoxville, when construction crews hoisted and installed the final piece of steel for the facility’s frame. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

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Roane State Community College and its nonprofit Foundation hosted a ceremony on July 2, 2024, commemorating a major milestone in the construction of the college’s new Knox Regional Health Science Education Center in west Knoxville.

Construction crews hoisted and installed the final piece of steel for the facility’s frame as part of the event. Project supporters and members of the community were invited to watch the “topping off” ceremony. Many of those in attendance signed their names to the beam prior to it being lifted into place at the top of the structure.

“This moment is symbolic as we move ever closer to opening the doors of this new campus, a facility which will help the college fulfill its mission of strengthening lives through the power of higher education and building thriving communities,” said Scott Niermann, Roane State Foundation’s executive director.

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ORAU announces Jenni Hoff as new acting director for NIOSH project along with Chris Tornes as acting deputy director

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OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Jenni Hoff, Ph.D., assumed the duties of acting project director for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on the Energy Employee’s Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). Hoff replaced Kate Kimpan, who retired after 18 years as project director, effective June 8.

Since 2002, ORAU has served as the prime contractor to NIOSH on the EEOICPA. This Act, passed by the US Congress in 2000, created a compensation program based on radiation exposure dose reconstruction, for workers in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex who were diagnosed with cancer.
The ORAU Team (ORAU in tandem with their teaming partners MJW Technical Services and NV5/Dade Moeller) has spent the past 22 years working for NIOSH and their Division of Compensation Analysis and Support to process claims for ill workers and their survivors.

ORAU has named Hoff, currently deputy project director, as the acting project director.

“ORAU is excited for Jenni Hoff to take on this new position since she has been on the NIOSH project since May 2003 in various leadership roles with increasing responsibility, and she is incredibly knowledgeable about every aspect of the program,” said ORAU President and CEO Andy Page.

Hoff received her undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Tennessee.

Taking over the vacated deputy director position in an acting capacity will be Chris Tornes, who brings more than 20 years of experience serving on the project. Tornes received his undergraduate degree in nuclear engineering and master’s degree in health physics from the University of Cincinnati.

ORAU provides innovative scientific and technical solutions to advance national priorities in science, education, security and health. Through specialized teams of experts, unique laboratory capabilities and access to a consortium of more than 150 colleges and universities, ORAU works with federal, state, local and commercial customers to advance national priorities and serve the public interest. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and federal contractor, ORAU manages the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education for the U.S. Department of Energy. Learn more about ORAU at www.orau.org.

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Oak Ridge announces Independence Day concert, fireworks

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Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge

The City of Oak Ridge is sponsoring its annual fireworks show to celebrate Independence Day. The display will be held in Alvin K. Bissell Park on July 4, and it is scheduled to begin at dark, around 9:45 p.m.

The Oak Ridge Community Band will perform prior to the fireworks, a press release said. The concert is free, but donations are accepted by the band to help cover the cost of equipment and other expenses. The music is expected to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Anyone planning to attend is advised to bring a lawn chair or blanket for outdoor seating. A safety zone will be established by the Oak Ridge Fire Department, the press release said. Please sit only in the designated areas. The walking trail and most of A.K. Bissell Park will be closed for safety reasons during the fireworks show and set up.

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First Oak Ridge Outdoor Festival is Saturday

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The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department and Explore Oak Ridge are teaming up to host the first-ever Oak Ridge Outdoor Festival on Saturday.

The free event will be a day of fun activities at Oak Ridge parks, including disc golf, pickleball, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking and plein-air art, a press release said.

The festival is set for Saturday, June 22, from 9 a.m. to noon. There will be two sessions offered, so attendees could participate in two sessions. The first is from 9 to 10:15 a.m. and the second is from 10:45 a.m. to noon.

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ORFD to unveil Safe Haven Baby Box

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The Oak Ridge Fire Department will unveil a new Safe Haven Baby Box on Wednesday, June 12. It will be a place where mothers can safely and anonymously drop off their newborn babies during a crisis, a media advisory said.

The baby box has been installed in honor of Baby Wyatt, a newborn whose body was found wrapped in an oversized T-shirt along the banks of Melton Hill Lake on March 26, 2020, the advisory said. His identity remains unknown.

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Trout Unlimited has Kids Fish Free Day June 8

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The Clinch River Chapter of Trout Unlimited will have a Kids Fish Free Day on the Clinch River in Norris on Saturday, June 8.

It’s open to all children ages 3-16, and admission is free, a press release said. Registration is necessary so that organizers can plan for food. Visit the Chapter’s website http://crctu.org/ and scroll down on the home page to the KFFD registration form.

Children will be fishing, tying flies, riding in boats, eating hot dogs, and signing up for door prizes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 8. The event will be at the Miller Island boat access on the Clinch River in Norris. [Read more…]

K-25 cleanup shifting to groundwater

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An aerial view of the East Tennessee Technology Park shows the Main Plant Area left of Poplar Creek and the K-31 and K-33 Area at right. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

Crews are expected to finish remediating soil, reversing or stopping environmental damage at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge this year, and federal cleanup managers are shifting their focus to groundwater. It’s the final phase of cleanup at the former uranium enrichment site.

Now also referred to as Heritage Center and East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the K-25 site produced fuel for nuclear weapons and reactors starting in the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II and continuing through the Cold War. The site has been shut down for almost four decades, and a massive cleanup project has been under way for many years.

The groundwater work can begin with the recent signing of two records of decision between the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. That’s according to “EM Update,” an electronic newsletter published by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.

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K-25 site has first reunion

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Jim Young was the oldest retiree in attendance at the recent K-25 site reunion. The 101-year-old started working at the K-25 site as a security guard in May 1944. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

From “EM Update” newsletter

Long vacant parking lots at the former K-25 site at Oak Ridge were full again on a recent Saturday afternoon as retired employees gathered for a first-ever reunion.

“There are some folks here that I have not seen since I retired,” said Bob Merriman, who began working at the K-25 site in 1963. “It’s amazing to be able to visit with them and to see them still doing well.”

What started as a plan to host a small picnic quickly turned into much more.

“I said we’ll have it down here at Turtle Park in Oak Ridge, but I think I’m going to open it up to all K-25 workers,” said Pam Toon, an event organizer who started work at the site in 1987. “When I did, massive amounts of people signed up.”

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UCOR awards $45,000 in STEM education mini-grants

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Dyllis Springs kindergarten students build problem-solving, creativity, and spatial skills with Lego projects. (Photo courtesy UCOR)

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Drones, a manufacturing simulator lab, and hands on meteorology are among the classroom projects that United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) will fund through its 2024 mini-grants. UCOR awarded $45,000 in mini-grants to fund 41 projects for East Tennessee K-12 teachers in 29 schools. The grants support projects in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as related classes.

With this year’s awards, UCOR has given a total of $395,000 to fund STEM and STEM-related projects since 2012.

“STEM education is an important part of both our community outreach and our workforce development program. It’s exciting to read the grant proposals and see all of the projects teachers are doing to expose students to future STEM careers,” said UCOR Community and Education Outreach Coordinator Shannon Potter.

This year’s mini-grants went to elementary, middle, junior high, and high schools and included projects such as:

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