Oak Ridge Today

DOE prepares to ‘recompete’ TRU Waste Processing Center contract

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Transuranic Waste Processing Center

The Transuranic Waste Processing Center is in west Oak Ridge, south of Bethel Valley Road off Highway 95. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge Office)

The U.S. Department of Energy is preparing to “recompete” the contract to manage the Transuranic Waste Processing Center off Highway 95 in west Oak Ridge.

The facility is currently managed by a contractor, Wastren Advantage Inc., and the work is overseen by officials at DOE’s Oak Ridge Office.

DOE has issued a “sources sought notice” to begin performing market research to gauge whether there are small businesses capable of performing the work, the Oak Ridge Office said in the August issue of “Public Involvement News.” [Read more…]

David Allen named to top safety position at DOE’s Oak Ridge Office

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David R. Allen

David R. Allen

David Allen has been named assistant manager for Safety and Technical Services at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.

In this federal senior executive service position, Allen will report directly to the ORO manager and will be responsible for managing the performance of technical support in the areas of environment, safety and health, or ES&H; quality assurance; and engineering provided to multiple DOE site offices nationwide under the control of the department’s Office of Science Integrated Support Center. [Read more…]

Registration open for Oak Ridge Emergency Management Forum

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Online registration is open to the public for the U.S. Department of Energy’s DOE Oak Ridge Office and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency’s 10th Oak Ridge Emergency Management Forum that will be held Sept. 26 at the New Hope Center.

This year’s forum theme, “Back to Basics: Partnerships in Emergency Management,” will feature general session speaker Richard Serino, deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He will speak on current innovations in emergency management partnerships. [Read more…]

DOE asks for more information on $2 million CROET grant

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The U.S. Department of Energy has requested additional information as it tries to close out a $2 million grant awarded 16 years ago to a nonprofit organization that owns, develops, and manages former DOE property.

The grant was issued in 1997 as part of a larger grant that the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee requested from DOE, said Lawrence Young, CROET president and chief executive officer. Most of the money was used for a high-risk loan program for small businesses. The purpose was to create jobs and promote economic development in East Tennessee, said Mike Koentop, spokesman for the DOE Oak Ridge Office. [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…]

Sunday alarm at waste processing center triggered by smoke from heater

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Transuranic Waste Processing Center

A Sunday night alarm at the TRU Waste Processing Center in west Oak Ridge was triggered by smoke from a heater when the power went out during a thunderstorm and a ventilation system shut off. (Photo courtesy DOE Oak Ridge Office)

It was initially believed to be triggered by a small fire, but federal officials now say the Sunday night alarm at a waste processing center in west Oak Ridge was set off by smoke.

A ventilation system shut off when the power went out during a thunderstorm between 5 and 6 p.m. Sunday, and that caused a heater at the Transuranic Waste Processing Center to overheat, said Laura Wilkerson, federal project director in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]

No contamination, no injuries in small fire at waste processing center

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Note: This story was updated at 9:03 a.m.

No radiological or hazardous materials were released and no one was injured in a small fire at a waste processing center late Sunday night, federal officials said.

An alert was declared at about 11:45 p.m. Sunday after a fire alarm and sprinkler system activated in Room 327 at Building 7880, which is part of the TRU Waste Processing Center, the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office reported on its Facebook page. An “alert” is an event that has occurred at a building on a DOE site in Oak Ridge. [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…]

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…]

SSAB welcomes new student representatives

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ORSSAB Gracie Hall and Julia Riley

Gracie Hall of Oak Ridge High School, left, and Julia Riley of Hardin Valley Academy are the new student representatives to the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board for Fiscal Year 2013-14. (Submitted photo)

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board welcomed two new student representatives at its May meeting. Gracie Hall and Julia Riley will serve on the board through April 2014.

ORSSAB is a federally chartered citizens’ panel that provides recommendations to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. [Read more…]