Oak Ridge Today

DOE summer bus tours end Aug. 30

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DOE Public Bus Tour

This year’s public bus tours of the U.S. Department of Energy’s facilities in Oak Ridge end on Aug. 30. (Photo courtesy DOE/Lynn Freeny)

The public bus tours of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge facilities end Aug. 30. It’s the last day of the 2013 season.

The tours include stops at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and East Tennessee Technology Park, and they provide historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 65 years.

So far this season, 1,148 visitors from 43 states have participated in the summer tour, a press release said. [Read more…]

ETTP water tower to be demolished in August

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ETTP Water Tower

The water tower, the tallest structure at the East Tennessee Technology Park, will be demolished in early August. It’s been part of the skyline at the former K-25 site for more than 50 years. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge Office)

The water tower, the tallest structure at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge, will be demolished in early August, officials said.

The checkerboard water tower has been part of the skyline at ETTP, the former K-25 site, for more than 50 years.

The 382-foot-tall structure is officially called the K-1206-F Fire Water Tower, and it has a capacity of 400,000 gallons. It serviced the site’s fire protection system until a few weeks ago. The structure has become deteriorated over the years, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office said in the August issue of “Public Involvement News.”

“The tower will be brought down through a controlled explosive demolition by UCOR and its subcontracting partners—Veterans Contracting Solutions LLC and Controlled Demolition Inc.,” DOE said. [Read more…]

FBI investigating report of possible trespassing at ETTP

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East Tennessee Technology Park

The East Tennessee Technology Park is pictured above as it looked before most of the U-shaped K-25 building, center left, was demolished. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

The FBI is investigating a report of a man possibly trespassing at the East Tennessee Technology Park on Thursday evening, but so far, they said, it doesn’t appear he posed any danger to the former uranium-enriching site.

“I can tell you right now that there is no indication that this incident involves any kind of threat to the facility or to national security,” said Marshall Stone, supervisory special agent in the Knoxville office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [Read more…]

General manager resigns from new DOE security contractor

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Greg McDowell

Greg McDowell

The general manager of the new federal security contractor in Oak Ridge has resigned for personal reasons, the company said in a Friday statement.

Greg McDowell, general manager of National Strategic Protective Services LLC, is a member of the NSPS senior leadership team, and he was instrumental in the successful transition of the U.S. Department of Energy security contract from WSI Oak Ridge to NSPS in March, the statement said. [Read more…]

K-33 demolition project recognized for cost savings

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K-33 Demolition

Workers demolished the K-33 building five months early and almost $8 million under budget. (Submitted photo)

The project to demolish a building in west Oak Ridge that was once used to enrich uranium was one of two this year to receive a Secretary’s Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The DOE Oak Ridge Office reported that the K-33 building at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, was demolished five months early and almost $8 million under budget. K-33 was built in 1954 for uranium enrichment operations, and the two-story, 32-acre building was one of the largest buildings in the world. [Read more…]

IMPACT Services cleanup scheduled to end Friday

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IMPACT Services Waste

The last of more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste at the former IMPACT Services site at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge was scheduled be shipped out today.

It’s considered a success story—a one-year, $1.2 million state project to ship out more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste from a company that has declared bankruptcy—and it’s scheduled to end Friday, officials said last week. The last waste, stored in an open-air shed at the site, was scheduled to be shipped out today, but it has been delayed a day or two.

The project began in May 2012 after IMPACT Services Inc., a company that processed low-level radioactive waste, declared bankruptcy. The company had operations on property leased from the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee at the northwest corner of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

In the past year, state and contractor officials said during a tour last week, a total of roughly 1.6 million pounds of waste and equipment has been shipped out, including to other processors and sites in Oak Ridge, Florida, and a landfill in Clive, Utah. The waste has been shipped from the site in 1,200 containers on some 220 truck shipments. [Read more…]

IMPACT Services cleanup coming to end with one million pounds shipped

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IMPACT Services Waste

The last of more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste at the former IMPACT Services site at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge will be shipped out next Thursday.

Considered a success story, the one-year, $1.2 million state project to ship out more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste from the west Oak Ridge site of a company that declared bankruptcy about one year ago will end next week.

Already, about 1.1 million pounds of waste in about 1,200 containers have been shipped off the Heritage Center site, including to other processors and sites in Oak Ridge, Florida, and an EnergySolutions landfill in Clive, Utah, officials said during a Thursday morning tour.

A half-dozen shipments remain between now and Friday, June 28, said Judy Hardt, project manager for SAIC, which is performing the on-site work under a contract with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. [Read more…]

RSI named regional small business subcontractor of the year

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Tom Beehan and Rick Ferguson at RSI Solar Ceremony

Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan, left, and RSI Vice President Rick Ferguson at a May 2012 ceremony for an RSI solar farm at Heritage Center. (Photo courtesy Lynn Freeny/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office)

The U.S. Small Business Administration has named Restoration Services Inc. of Oak Ridge as Subcontractor of the Year in Region IV, which includes eight southeastern states.

RSI was recognized for its hard work, innovative ideas, and dedication to the community, a press release said.

“The SBA is pleased to recognize your achievements and your role in driving our nation’s economic growth,” said John Shoraka of the SBA Office of Government Contracting and Business Development. The SBA announced regional awards as they prepared to celebrate the 50th anniversary of National Small Business Week from June 17-21. [Read more…]

DOE’s public bus tour begins Monday

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2013 Oak Ridge facilities public bus tour begins June 3 and continues through Aug. 30. The tour offers visitors a first-hand look at the DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities and provides historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 70 years.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular destination for tourists visiting the area. Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted more than 29,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour tour allows visitors to see the reservation and learn historical facts and updates on the world-class missions under way in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

House leader’s speech emphasizes research, mixes in politics

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Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor

Note: This story was updated at 12:35 p.m.

In his first visit to Oak Ridge, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor paid tribute to the national security and science work that has occurred here dating back to World War II, called for a continued emphasis on research and discovery, and touched on political topics including the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, unemployment, and the nation’s social safety net.

A Virginia Republican, Cantor said the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Northern Route Approval Act, allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be completed. The bill declares that a presidential permit is not required to approve the section of the pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska, which crosses a national border. [Read more…]

Alexander unveils his four principles for clean, cheap, reliable energy

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

It’s been five years since U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called for a new Manhattan Project for energy independence, and during a Wednesday update, the senator said four “grand principles” should guide America’s energy policy.

The senator said his principles—which include research and development, free market forces, and cheaper, clean energy—would “end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy.” They would instead focus on “doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy,” Alexander said during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Oak Ridge.

The senator called for doubling research funding and ending long-term subsidies for “big oil” and “big wind.” [Read more…]

Transite panels being removed from last part of K-25 Building

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K-25 Transite Removal

More than 2,800 transite panels will be removed from the remainder of the K-25 Building. (Submitted photo)

A federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge is removing exterior panels known as transite panels from the last part of the K-25 Building that is still standing.

K-25 was built to enrich uranium for atomic bombs during World War II and was once the world’s largest building under one roof. It’s been unused for decades and is being torn down.

Most of the mile-long former gaseous diffusion building, located at East Tennessee Technology Park, has been demolished. About two million square feet of the U-shaped building have been removed, according to a Thursday press release from UCOR, the cleanup contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]