Oak Ridge Today

House bill keeps DOE Office of Science spending flat, increases NNSA funding

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by ORNL

 

Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

A House bill approved Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s proposed funding cut of about $900 million for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

Instead of cutting, the House Appropriations Committee bill would keep spending flat for the Office of Science, holding it at $5.39 billion in the next fiscal year, the same as in the current fiscal year.

That could be good news for DOE Office of Science laboratories and offices here, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, or OSTI.

Separately, the House bill recommends a funding increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration. That’s something that the Trump administration had also proposed. The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within DOE, and its activities include nuclear weapons work, nuclear nonproliferation efforts, and naval reactors. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is an NNSA site.

“Issues of national and economic security are continually on the forefront of the minds of all Americans,” said U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge. “Last week, the House Appropriations Committee, on which I serve, approved the Fiscal Year 2018 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. I was proud to help direct additional funding towards the national security programs at Y-12.

“Additionally, funding levels included in this legislation will allow for cleanup of high risk excess facilities at Y-12. This is the first step in a long process, and I want to assure my constituents that I will continue fighting to ensure that Y-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and environmental management activities get the funding needed to continue their critical missions.” [Read more…]

Workers finishing cleanup at ETTP electrical switchyard

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CTI workers clean up the K-732 switchyard at the East Tennessee Technology Park. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy)

CTI workers clean up the K-732 switchyard at the East Tennessee Technology Park. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy)

 

This story was originally published in the EM Update on Thursday, July 13, by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. It was contributed by Ben Williams.

The Oak Ridge environmental management program and a small business specializing in environmental consulting, remediation, and deactivation and decommissioning are scheduled to complete field work and cleanup at the East Tennessee Technology Park’s K-732 Switchyard this month.

Workers removed extensive electrical infrastructure and equipment, transported three massive 110-ton condensers, and characterized, excavated, and backfilled three condenser basements and 20 underground vaults. They also remediated the soil and removed and transported nearly 56,000 gallons of oil. A condenser adjusts conditions and voltage on the electric power transmission grid. [Read more…]

President’s budget: DOE cleanup funding could be up, with benefits for Oak Ridge

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Jay Mullis, front center, acting manager of the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, talks about federal site cleanup work in Oak Ridge during a visit by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, on Monday, May 22, 2017. Pictured between Perry and Mullis are U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, both Tennessee Republicans. (Photo by DOE)

Jay Mullis, front center, acting manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, talks about federal site cleanup work in Oak Ridge during a visit by Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, on Monday, May 22, 2017. Pictured between Perry and Mullis are U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, both Tennessee Republicans. (Photo by DOE)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4:30 p.m.

Cleanup funding could be up for the U.S. Department of Energy under the budget request from the Trump administration for fiscal year 2018, and there could be benefits for Oak Ridge, according to budget documents.

President Donald Trump submitted his budget request to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. In that request, the DOE Office of Environmental Management, or EM, asked for $6.5 billion, the largest request in a decade. That would be $290 million above fiscal year 2016.

The funding request for Oak Ridge includes $390 million, or $78 million below fiscal year 2016, to continue deactivation and demolition of remaining facilities at East Tennessee Technology Park, continue preparing Building 2026 to support the processing of the remaining U-233 material at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and to support activities for the Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex.

It’s not clear whether that $390 million in the funding request includes part of the $225 million in funding requested for high-risk excess contaminated facilities at Y-12 and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. It’s also not clear whether the total funding for Oak Ridge cleanup programs would be up or down, compared to previous years. The DOE public affairs office in Washington, D.C., has not responded to about a dozen budget-related inquiries from Oak Ridge Today since May 23.

Among the highlights of the EM request for Oak Ridge, according to budget documents posted online by DOE and an EM press release: [Read more…]

DOE to conduct emergency preparedness exercise June 7

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Emergency responders from the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and East Tennessee Technology Park, along with federal, state, and local emergency management personnel, will conduct an emergency exercise Wednesday, June 7, a press release said.

“The public may observe emergency responders simulating response activities and performing environmental monitoring or sampling in the area surrounding the Oak Ridge Reservation,” the press release said. “These activities are part of the exercise.”

The exercise will begin at approximately 8 a.m. Wednesday and conclude around 4:30 p.m.

This event is one of a series of emergency exercises conducted regularly by the DOE facilities in Oak Ridge. The exercises test the ability of emergency personnel to respond quickly and effectively to emergency situations and ensure that the public, site employees, and the environment would be protected in the event of an actual emergency at the facilities.

USW, UCOR offer hazardous waste response training to local high school students

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Students from three Morgan County high schools receive certificates after completing 40-hour HAZWOPER training. Also pictured are Joseph Miller, Director of the Morgan County Career and Technical Center, and Sarah Seavers, counselor. (Photo by UCOR)

Students from three Morgan County high schools receive certificates after completing 40-hour HAZWOPER training. Also pictured are Joseph Miller, Director of the Morgan County Career and Technical Center, and Sarah Seavers, counselor. (Photo by UCOR)

 

Students from three Morgan County high schools are now trained in hazardous waste emergency response thanks to a 40-hour class offered by the United Steel Workers in partnership with URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, a press release said.

Participants in the class, commonly called HAZWOPER (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response), were from Coalfield High School, Sunbright School, and Wartburg Central High School. Twenty students attended the training, which was held at the Morgan County Career and Technical Center in Wartburg from March 27 to April 3.

“We were very excited to participate with USW and UCOR to offer this hazardous waste training class,” said  Joseph Miller, director of the center. “As a result of this training, our students have earned a credential that will allow them to more easily transition from school to the work force.” [Read more…]

General Assembly approves bill that would establish CROET as ETTP manager

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The East Tennessee Technology Park, now known as Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge, is pictured above in this aerial photo from 2015. The large building that extends from left to right at left-center is the former K-27 Building, where demolition work was completed in August 2016. (Photo courtesy CROET)

The East Tennessee Technology Park, now known as Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge, is pictured above in this aerial photo from 2015. The large building that extends from left to right at left-center is the former K-27 Building, where demolition work was completed in August 2016. (Photo courtesy CROET)

 

The Tennessee General Assembly has approved legislation that would establish the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, or CROET, as the manager of the 1,300-acre East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The legislation was sponsored by Tennessee Senator Ken Yager and Representative Kent Calfee, both Kingston Republicans. It has been sent to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam for his signature.

East Tennessee Technology Park, or ETTP, is also known as Heritage Center and the former K-25 site. It once housed the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which was built during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons, before Germany could.

The ETTP site, once used to enrich uranium, is slowly being cleaned up. K-25 operations ended in 1985, and the site was permanently shut down in 1987. Now, it is being slowly converted into a large industrial park. Proponents hope it will become one of East Tennessee’s prime locations for new industry, the press release said.

CROET President Lawrence Young said the state legislation “is the latest step in efforts by the Department of Energy and CROET to reindustrialize the former K-25 site and help diversify the region’s economy.” [Read more…]

DOE’s public bus tour began in March, continues through November

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DOE Public Bus Tour

A U.S. Department of Energy public bus tour in August 2012. (File DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)

 

Visitors see Oak Ridge’s past and present

The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2017 Oak Ridge facilities public bus tour began March 3 and continues through November 27. 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, a press release said.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular destination for tourists visiting the area, the release said. Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted more than 40,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour tour allows visitors to see the Oak Ridge Reservation and learn historical facts and updates on the world-class missions underway in Oak Ridge.

The bus tour itinerary includes: [Read more…]

DOE finishes demolishing another building at ETTP

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Building K-731 at East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge, is pictured above during demolition. (Photo by DOE)

Building K-731 at East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge, is pictured above during demolition. (Photo by DOE)

 

The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its cleanup contractor have finished demolishing another building at East Tennessee Technology Park, or ETTP, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

The work is part of an effort to advance toward Vision 2020, a goal to complete cleanup at ETTP by 2020 and continue transferring the remaining land to private industry, benefiting the regional economy, the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, or EM, said in a story published February 28.

The latest progress involves the removal of Building K-731. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM, and cleanup contractor URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, began demolishing Building K-731 on August 30, moments after taking down the final pieces of Building K-27 and fulfilling Vision 2016. That was Oak Ridge’s ambitious goal to be the world’s first to successfully remove all of its former uranium enrichment facilities by the end of 2016. [Read more…]

Alexander to chair subcommittee that oversees funding for ORNL, Y-12, DOE cleanup work

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Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

The Senate Appropriations Committee announced Wednesday that U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, will serve as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development for the 115th Congress.

That subcommittee oversees funding for national priorities such as energy research, nuclear weapons modernization, and waterways infrastructure that are funded through the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a press release said. It also oversees funding for Tennessee priorities, including the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 National Security Complex, cleanup in Oak Ridge, and Chickamauga Lock. [Read more…]

Learn about the construction of Oak Ridge through Westcott photos

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Ed Westcott and Ray Smith

Ed Westcott, right, was the only official photographer in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project in World War II, a top-secret project to build the world’s first atomic bomb. Westcott is pictured above with D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian and newspaper history columnist. (Photo courtesy D. Ray Smith)

 

A Tuesday program will focus on the construction of the city that is now Oak Ridge through Ed Westcott photographs.

The program is titled “The Building of the Atomic City—the Ed Wescott Photographs.” It will be presented by Emily Hunnicutt, Ed Westcott’s daughter, and Don Hunnicutt, Westcott’s son-in-law.

Westcott was the official photographer for the federal government in the city, which was once known as Clinton Engineer Works, during World War II. Oak Ridge was built as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a program to build the world’s first atomic bombs, before Germany could.

The Tuesday program is at noon at the University of Tennessee Resource Center at 1201 Oak Ridge Turnpike. It includes a lunch, and it’s sponsored by Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, or FORNL. This meeting is open to the public. [Read more…]

UCOR, DOE cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, earns 94 percent of award fee

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ucor-k-27-building-fall-2016

UCOR workers take down the final portion of Building K-27, achieving Vision 2016, a DOE goal to remove all of the former uranium enrichment buildings at the East Tennessee Technology Park by the end of 2016. K-27 was the fifth and final gaseous diffusion building to be demolished at the site. Successful demolitions of the four other buildings were completed from 2006 to 2015. (U.S. Department of Energy photo)

 

UCOR, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, received about $3.4 million for its performance from April through September 2016, or 94 percent of the total award fee available, federal officials said.

The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM, recently issued the six-month fee determination scorecard for UCOR, or URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, after completing its evaluation.

“Contractor award fee evaluations determine what will be paid based on performance against stated objectives in accordance with annual award fee plans,” the DOE Office of Environmental Management, or EM, said in the EM Update electronic newsletter on December 29. “EM releases information relating to contractor fee payments to further transparency.”

According to UCOR’s scorecard, the company received an overall rating of “very good” for project management and “high confidence” for cost and schedule based on cost and schedule indexes, the newsletter said. [Read more…]

Report: Medical isotope company plans to build manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge

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heritage-center

A building at the entrance of Heritage Center is pictured above. (Photo by CROET)

Note: This story was updated at 8:45 a.m. Oct. 10.

A Florida newspaper reported on Wednesday that a medical isotope company will build a manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, rather than relocating to a city in north Florida.

Coquí RadioPharmaceutical had planned to build a $250 million manufacturing facility in Alachua, which is near Gainesville, with 164 jobs paying an average of $75,000, the Gainesville Sun reported.

But the company announced Wednesday that it will instead build its facility in Oak Ridge, lured by a gift of 170 acres from the U.S. Department of Energy and the opportunity to work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a DOE lab, the newspaper said.

On Saturday, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said he is aware of the company, and it is working with the state of Tennessee. [Read more…]