Oak Ridge Today

Honors: DOE employee listed among area’s rising leaders

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Heather Cloar of U.S Department of Energy

Heather Cloar, a U.S. Department of Energy employee in Oak Ridge, was named as a member of this year’s 40 Under 40.

By Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management

Earlier this year, the Greater Knoxville Business Journal compiled a list of East Tennessee’s top rising business and community leaders under the age of 40. The 2014 listing featured Heather Cloar, a contracting officer with the Energy Department in Oak Ridge.

Specifically, Heather, an Energy Department employee since 2002, is the federal official responsible for administering the $2.2 billion environmental cleanup contract with URS-CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR. She is responsible for reviewing and approving all contract actions and guaranteeing that the contract remains aligned with EM’s priorities. She also certifies that the contractor’s work is performed in a cost-efficient manner to ensure the best value for American taxpayers. As a testament to her watchful oversight and frequent interaction with contractor leadership, UCOR completed the department’s largest-ever demolition project one year ahead of schedule and approximately $300 million under the current budget.

“Heather is making sure we are getting the best deal for the taxpayers under the contract and making sure the contract stays on schedule,” said Karen Shears, chief of the special acquisitions branch for DOE’s procurement and contracts division. “She’s got excellent judgment and great leadership skills, which is something you need because you interact with so many stakeholders.” [Read more…]

DOE Oak Ridge Office signs DOD National Guard and Reserve support statement

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DOE DOD Statement Signing

DOE-ORO Manager Larry Kelly, accompanied by retired Maj. Gen. Jack D’Araujo, ESGR Tennessee Area Chair, recently signs a Statement of Support with the Department of Defense Committee for Employer Support of Guard and Reserve (ESGR) affirming ORO’s support for its employees that serve in the National Guard and Reserve.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office Manager Larry Kelly has signed a Statement of Support with the Department of Defense Committee for Employer Support of Guard and Reserve, or ESGR. The statement affirms ORO’s support for its employees that serve in the National Guard and Reserve.

ORO Manager Larry Kelly, along with retired Maj. Gen. Jack D’Araujo, ESGR Tennessee area chair, and retired Brig. Gen. Jim Mungenast, vice chair for Tennessee’s DOD Committee for the ESGR organization, participated in the signing. [Read more…]

Nashville marketing director to keynote DOE workshop

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Jason Oschwald

Jason Oschwald

A Nashville marketing director for an entertainment company will give the keynote speech at a March 13 workshop.

The 2014 Oak Ridge Women’s Workshop is co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Federal Women’s Program and the Federally Employed Women Oak Ridge Chapter.

This year’s workshop theme is “Mastering the Three-Ring Circus—Envision, Overcome, and Empower!” The workshop will be held at the Pollard Technology Conference Center in Oak Ridge from 8 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Thursday, March 13. [Read more…]

DOE awards contract to small business for mercury project at Y-12

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Y-12 Water Treatment Plant Announcement

In May 2013, state and federal officials announce a plant to treat mercury-contaminated water at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Pictured from left are Mark Whitney, Robert Martineau, Lamar Alexander, Dave Huizenga, and Stan Meiburg.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or EM, awarded the task order to Strata-G in Knoxville on Wednesday. The company will collect data and perform characterization at Outfall 200 at Y-12.

The task order is the first project in a five-year, multi-phase contract estimated at $15 million, DOE said in a press release Friday. The contract uses a bidding process among three small businesses for various characterization projects at EM’s cleanup sites in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Gov. Haslam supports national preservation award for Alexander Inn

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Alexander Inn Groundbreaking

Local, state, and federal officials join volunteers and nonprofit and business executives for a groundbreaking ceremony at the historic Alexander Inn in November.

Gov. Bill Haslam is supporting a nomination for a national historic preservation award for a project converting the Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge into an assisted living center.

Knox Heritage and East Tennessee Preservation Alliance have nominated the hotel for the 2014 The National Trust/Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Award for Federal Partnerships in Historic Preservation.

In a Feb. 25 letter, Haslam said he supports the nomination. The letter was sent to Stephanie Meeks at the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C.

The Alexander Inn was built during World War II, when Oak Ridge raced to help build the world’s first atomic weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. Guests who once stayed at the two-story hotel included Gen. Leslie Groves, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. [Read more…]

2014 Blacks in Government scholarship luncheon Thursday

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In celebration of Black History Month, the Oak Ridge Chapter of Blacks in Government (BIG) is sponsoring the 20th Annual BIG Scholarship Luncheon from 11-1 p.m. Thursday at the Oak Ridge Civic Center.

Keynote speaker Derrick Johnson will speak on the 2014 Black History Month theme “Civil Rights in America.”

Johnson serves as state president for the Mississippi State Conference NAACP, and executive director of One Voice, Inc. He recently served as a Mel King Community Fellow with Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has a Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas, and a bachelor’s degree from Tougaloo College in Jackson, Miss. Johnson serves on the NAACP national board of directors, the boards of the Mississippi ACLU and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, and on the Advisory Council of the Mississippi Economic Policy Center. Additionally, he was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court as a commissioner to the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission. [Read more…]

Controlled burns on Oak Ridge Reservation through April

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office will have a series of controlled burns of grassland areas on parts of the Oak Ridge Reservation during February, March, and April.

The prescribed burning at the East Tennessee Technology Park and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory was scheduled to start this week.

Weather permitting, the controlled burns are scheduled to take place on: [Read more…]

RSI names new president, will succeed company founder

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Paul Clay and RSI

Paul Clay has been named president of Restoration Services Inc., or RSI.

Restoration Services Inc., or RSI, has named a new president.

Paul Clay will succeed company founder and outgoing president Staci Ferguson, a press release said. Ferguson will continue as vice president of corporate relations.

RSI is a small employee-owned environmental and project management services company that has its headquarters in Oak Ridge. Its clients include the U.S. Department of Energy, Tennessee Valley Authority, and UCOR, DOE’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge.

Clay joined RSI in 2008 as director of environment, safety, health, and quality, the press release said. Before joining RSI, he worked for Jacobs Engineering Group, where he was vice president and deputy general manager for the Bechtel Jacobs Company LLC joint venture in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Weather: Closings, delays for Friday

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Anderson County Schools will be closed Friday because of the weather. The Central Office will follow the inclement weather procedure.

Oak Ridge Schools will open two hours late to allow any ice that forms overnight to melt. The schools will not serve breakfast Friday morning, so parents should make sure their children eat before coming to school.

A 10 a.m. starting time has been authorized for employees of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Environmental Management Site Office, Oak Ridge Nuclear Energy Site Office, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, and Oak Ridge DOE Inspector General, with unscheduled leave (previously referred to as liberal leave) authorized if needed.

Normal hours are in effect for Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site Office employees, with unscheduled leave (previously referred to as liberal leave) authorized if needed.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

DOE Oak Ridge Office opens late Wednesday

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Joe L. Evins Federal Building

Joe L. Evins Federal Building

Due to road conditions, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office will not open until 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29.

After that, an unscheduled leave policy (previously known as liberal leave) is in effect for employees. For the latest updates, employees can call (865) 576-9398.

DOE-ORO employees teach Woodland students the fun of math, science

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DOE Environmental Management at Woodland STEM Night

Employees from the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management took part in Woodland Elementary’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) night on Thursday. (Photos by DOE/Lynn Freeny)

Employees from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management participated in Woodland Elementary’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, or STEM, night on Thursday. Employees volunteered to help students from kindergarten through fourth grade forge a love for math and science and realize the possibilities these disciplines offer.

“It’s rewarding any time you can participate in the education process,” said Jay Mullis, director of the Engineering, Safety, and Quality Division with DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. “These kids are in the stage when learning is new and fun, and it’s the perfect opportunity to lay a great foundation and appreciation of the sciences.”

The event involved numerous local sponsors and community groups that helped design and share fun, educational activities for students at Woodland Elementary in Oak Ridge. Kids had the opportunity to learn through robots, Legos, gummy bear catapults, astronomy, spaghetti and marshmallow tower-building competitions, and math code busters. Specifically, Environmental Management employees taught participants how to create their own lava lamps. [Read more…]

DOE commits to three-year, $4.5 million groundwater study in Oak Ridge

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Daniel Goode and SSAB Groundwater Strategy Presentation

Daniel J. Goode, a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, briefs members of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on a new groundwater strategy for the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to spend $4.5 million during the next three years to study groundwater contamination on the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The reservation includes three federal sites—East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex—that have been involved in missions ranging from scientific research to uranium enrichment to nuclear weapons work. That work has sometimes included the use of hazardous substances such as mercury and technetium-99, a slow-decaying radioactive metal.

The $4.5 million in funding will help implement a new groundwater strategy developed by DOE with help from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The strategy, which was presented to the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board in November, will help guide future cleanup decisions, said Sue Cange, deputy manager for environmental management in DOE’s Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]