The Tennessee Valley Authority and Babcock and Wilcox announced Wednesday a major step in their joint effort to build and test the nation’s first small modular reactor at TVA’s Clinch River Site in Oak Ridge.
TVA and B&W signed a contract Feb. 7 that formalizes the process toward the eventual submittal and Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of a licensing application for a B&W mPower small modular reactor, or SMR, nuclear plant at Clinch River.
Information from WYSH Radio
The Anderson County Beer Board met Tuesday night for a show-cause hearing on the controversial beer permit issued to the Silver Dollar Saloon on Clinton Highway in Claxton and unanimously voted to revoke the bar’s beer permit after numerous irregularities and inconsistencies were found on the application for the permit.
The bar was granted a beer license thanks to a loophole in state laws last year, despite the fact that it is within about 300 feet of a church.
The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce Business Retail Development Council is hosting the second in a series of “Buy Local Mob Scenes” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at ACE Hardware in Clinton.
The purpose of the “Buy Local” Mob is to help the community learn about Chamber members’ products and services.
Keith Joy
The Tennessee Veterans Business Association awarded the 2013 “Veterans Work” Award to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Keith Joy, ORNL Small Business Programs director.
The award was presented during a recent banquet at the Knoxville Convention Center.
The annual award honors a company that works with and hires veterans. ORNL works to consistently meet or exceed its small business goals for veteran-owned small businesses, as well as those in all socioeconomic categories, a press release said.
An aerial view of the Oak Ridge Mall, which has been renamed the Oak Ridge City Center and is pictured at center in the photo above.
A North Carolina company has signed a contract to purchase the Oak Ridge Mall.
Crosland Southeast, a development and investment company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., signed a contract in late January to buy the mostly empty mall from Oak Ridge City Center LLC, according to a Wednesday morning press release from the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.
“We feel the Oak Ridge market is under-served in terms of retail and feel very positive about the retailers we believe we can bring to this new center,” Crosland Southeast partner Tim Sittema said in a Wednesday morning press release from the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.
A sale price for the roughly 60-acre site in the heart of Oak Ridge has not yet been disclosed, but it would become public after the deal closes.
“In my book, this is one of the most exciting days I’ve had here in a decade at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce,” said Parker Hardy, president of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. “This is a big deal.”
Changes to the city’s electronic sign ordinance that were proposed late last year were publicly opposed by several business owners, and they ended up being pulled from a December meeting of the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission.
Now, the city has scheduled a public hearing on the existing sign regulations, which were adopted in 2003, a city press release said.
The changes proposed last year would have governed message display times and brightness of electronic signs. They would have required that electronic sign messages be static and shown for at least 10 seconds, and they would have set a maximum light intensity for the signs. The city staff said drivers and residents have complained about the electronic reader board signs.
Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce President Parker Hardy cooks hot dogs at a Primetime business-to-business exposition in October 2011.
The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce will have its spring Primetime networking event on April 18.
Held twice a year, Primetime is the Chamber’s top networking event of the year, a press release said. It allows Chamber members to meet and talk to each other and also allows members of the public to come by and see what area businesses have to offer.
This spring’s Primetime event is titled “Under the Big Top,” and it will have a circus theme, the press release said.
Oak Ridge Dog Park Layout Draft (Image submitted by city staff)
Radio Systems Corp. has agreed to give Oak Ridge $100,000 through Legacy Parks to help build a dog park, a Friday afternoon press release said.
“At Radio Systems, we are always looking for ways we can give back to our community,” said Randy Boyd, founder and chief executive officer of Radio Systems Corp., maker of the PetSafe Brand. “We’ve seen the incredibly positive impact dog parks have made on communities, and we are excited to continue this effort in East Tennessee. We know Oak Ridgers and their dogs will enjoy a PetSafe dog park.”
The press release said PetSafe will partner with Oak Ridge to build the dog park within Big Turtle Park on the west end of the city.
Damaged by smoke in November, the Magic Wok restaurant, which has been closed for several months, has passed all city inspections but still needs one from the county.
Several months after it was damaged by smoke, the Magic Wok restaurant has passed all city inspections, and the diner now needs an inspection from the Anderson County Health Department, Oak Ridge Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo said Thursday.
The landmark Oak Ridge diner on Tyler Road passed a fire inspection Thursday morning, Waldo said.
The Magic Wok has been closed since it was damaged by smoke in November after food was left cooking on a stove unattended. Firefighters didn’t see any flames that night, but they found smoke and high temperatures.
KNOXVILLE—The U.S. and Tennessee economies continue to dig their way out from the Great Recession, but they will be digging at a slower pace this year than last.
The debate over the nation’s debt ceiling, the looming risk of sequestration of federal spending, and the payroll tax increase contribute to the slowdown in predicted gains, according to the forecast in the 2013 Economic Report to the Governor of the State of Tennessee, released today.
The study, prepared by the Center for Business and Economic Research, or CBER, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, predicts the trajectory of the state and national economies by examining many economic and fiscal factors and trends.
The Roane Chamber’s 2012 Youth Leadership Academy graduates are pictured above. Back row, from left to right, Keaton Shillings, Benjamin Bruner, Ethan Barnett, Aaron Woody, Andrew Layne, Josh Lively, Ryan Hamby; and front row, from left to right, Academy Instructor Sarah Hooper, Victoria Cox, Kaylee Burton, Skye Irish, Holly Aslinger, and Katy Cundiff. (Submitted photo)
KINGSTON—The Roane County Chamber of Commerce is looking for rising high school juniors to participate in this summer’s Roane County Youth Leadership Academy.
Students from the five Roane County high schools and home school are invited to submit their application to attend the academy, which is scheduled for the week of June 3-7. The week-long academy is held at Roane State Community College.
“The Chamber recognizes that our area’s youth hold the key to our future, and the program has been structured to encourage our youth to become leaders in our community,” said Kathy Parks, chair of the Chamber’s Leadership Committee.
John Eschenberg
John Eschenberg, federal project director for the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, will be the featured speaker at the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce’s annual business luncheon this month.
Eschenberg will provide information on the UPF project and its impact on the East Tennessee economy and the nation’s nuclear security, a press release said. The UPF could cost between $4.2 and $6.5 billion.
The luncheon starts at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 22, at the First Baptist Church Family Life Center in Clinton.
