Oak Ridge Today

Mayor to testify to Congress: Manhattan Project park would honor most significant event of last century

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Tom Beehan

Tom Beehan

A new national historical park that could include Oak Ridge would honor the history of the Manhattan Project, the most significant event of the 20th Century, Mayor Tom Beehan will tell a U.S. House subcommittee in testimony this morning.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret U.S. program to build the world’s first atomic weapons. The three Manhattan Project sites that could be included in the new park are Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, N.M., and Hanford, Wash.

Despite what some detractors might say, the proposed park is not about weapons, Beehan wrote in prepared testimony.

“I believe this historical park is about scientific and engineering accomplishments at a time when our country was defending itself, both during World War II and the Cold War,” he said. [Read more…]

ORNL’s awake imaging device moves diagnostics field forward

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A technology being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory promises to provide clear images of the brains of children, the elderly, and people with Parkinson’s and other diseases without the use of uncomfortable or intrusive restraints.

Awake imaging provides motion compensation reconstruction, which removes blur caused by motion, allowing physicians to get a transparent picture of the functioning brain without anesthetics that can mask conditions and alter test results. The use of anesthetics, patient restraints, or both is not ideal because they can trigger brain activities that may alter the normal brain functions being studied. [Read more…]

Titan repairs complete, ORNL preparing for second round of supercomputer testing

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Jeff Nichols and Titan at ORNL

Jeff Nichols, associate director for computing and computational sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in front of Titan, the world’s fastest supercomputer. (Photos courtesy of ORNL)

Connectors in the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been repaired, and workers are preparing the world’s fastest machine for a second round of acceptance testing, an official said Monday.

That testing could allow the $100 million machine to be put into full production mode by the end of this month or early May, said Jeff Nichols, ORNL associate lab director for computing and computational sciences.

Titan won’t be available to researchers for a short period while the lab re-runs acceptance tests. [Read more…]

ORNL names new deputy director for science, technology

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Ramamoorthy Ramesh

Ramamoorthy Ramesh

Note: This story was updated at 3:40 p.m.

A new deputy director has been named at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Ramamoorthy Ramesh of the University of California in Berkeley will start as the lab’s deputy director for science and technology on June 1, ORNL Director Thom Mason announced in an e-mail to staff on Thursday.

Ramesh will replace Thomas Zacharia, who left in August to take a science and education foundation based in Doha, Qatar. [Read more…]

ORNL researchers receive professional society honors

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Carol Wood

Carol Wood

A.C. Buchanan

A.C. Buchanan III

Three researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received appointments and honors from their respective professional societies.

ORNL’s Carol Wood has been elected to a four-year term on the board of directors of the American Board of Toxicology. She is a senior research staff member in the Environmental Sciences Division at ORNL.

Wood was elected from more than 40 nominees. Ernest McConnell, president of ToxPath Inc., a former board member who served as president of the ABT board from 1987 to 1988, nominated her for the award. [Read more…]

Local FIRST robotics teams dominate regionals, advance to national competition

Posted at
By 2 Comments

First Robotics Competition

From left, Oak Ridge High School’s Andreas Franco feeds discs into the team’s robot as Tag Groff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory mentor Mark Buckner, and Amelia DiAngelo manage the controls. (Photo by Jason Richards/ORNL)

Frisbee-flinging robots took over the Knoxville Convention Center last weekend, as thousands of high school students, mentors, and volunteers gathered for the third annual FIRST robotics Smoky Mountains regional competition.

Local teams Hardin Valley Academy, Oak Ridge High School, and Halls High School netted the championship title in a nail-biting finale at the regional event, qualifying them to compete in the national finals held April 24-27 in St. Louis. A team from Roane County High School, which won the Rookie All Star award, is also bound for nationals. The four high schools are among 14 teams sponsored by UT-Battelle, the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The FIRST robotics competition gives high school teams six weeks to design, build, and program a complex robot that can meet the intense demands of the year’s game. Throwing discs and climbing pyramids were among the challenges of the 2013 game, called Ultimate Ascent. [Read more…]

ORNL recognizes small business subcontractors and supporters

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory honored seven small businesses and their supporters at its annual small business awards ceremony on March 22. The winning firms were nominated by ORNL staff in recognition of the companies’ exceptional service during the 2012 fiscal year.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and John Hale, deputy director of DOE’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization in the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, were guest speakers at the breakfast event. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge carbon fiber plant could lower cost of strong, lightweight material

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Carbon Fiber Technology Facility

Gary R. Lownsdale of Plasan Carbon Composites, right, talks to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, center, near a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 hood at the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility on Tuesday as federal, University of Tennessee, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials listen.

A unique manufacturing plant in west Oak Ridge that started operating about six weeks ago can make 25 tons of carbon fiber each year. It’s material that could be used for prototype parts in products ranging from cars and airplanes to wind turbine blades and natural gas tanks.

The $35 million Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Horizon Center Business Park is designed to “scale up” laboratory research on low-cost carbon fiber, make enough material to help industrial partners build prototype carbon-fiber composite parts, and develop a skilled manufacturing workforce.

Carbon fiber is strong and lightweight, but it is also expensive and that has limited its use.

Officials hope to use the 42,000-square-foot Carbon Fiber Technology Facility to change that. They want to make producing carbon fiber as cost-efficient as manufacturing steel or aluminum. [Read more…]

DOE, ORNL to celebrate carbon fiber facility, announce manufacturing initiative

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will celebrate a unique carbon fiber facility on Tuesday morning.

DOE will also announce a new U.S. manufacturing initiative during the ceremony at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Horizon Center Business Park in west Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

NSPS now provides security services at DOE sites in Oak Ridge

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

National Strategic Protective Services LLC announced Monday morning that it now provides guard services at U.S. Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge.

NSPS won the protective force services work under a five-year, $182 million contract announced in January. The company will guard the East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Joe L. Evins Federal Building, and part of the Oak Ridge Reservation. [Read more…]

After 13 years guarding federal facilities, WSI leaves Oak Ridge

Posted at
By 2 Comments

WSI Oak Ridge

Friday was the last day for many employees at security company WSI Oak Ridge, which lost its contracts to protect federal facilities after the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

After 13 years of protecting federal facilities, WSI Oak Ridge has left the Secret City.

Friday was the last day for many employees at WSI, and the contract ended Sunday, spokeswoman Courtney Henry said.

Formerly known as Wackenhut Services Inc., the company once provided up to 1,000 security police officers and support staff at federal facilities that included East Tennessee Technology Park, the Joe L. Evins Federal Building, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex.

But WSI lost its contract to guard Y-12, a National Nuclear Security Administration site, after the July 28 security breach, and it did not win a separate contract to protect local U.S. Department of Energy sites, including ETTP, ORNL, the Federal Building, and the rest of the Oak Ridge Reservation. That contract was awarded to National Strategic Protective Services LLC, or NSPS. [Read more…]

Manufacturing tech, forest monitoring system win tech transfer awards

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Technologies from Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among winners of 2013 national and regional Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards.

ORNL’s awards, which recognize outstanding work in transferring a federal laboratory-developed technology to the commercial marketplace, were in the Excellence in Technology Transfer and Interagency Partnerships categories. [Read more…]