Oak Ridge Today

Chief engineer for U.S. ITER at ORNL to give project overview on Tuesday

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Brad Nelson

Brad Nelson

The chief engineer for the U.S. ITER Project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will give a project overview on Tuesday.

Brad Nelson is the chief engineer for the U.S. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project. His Tuesday talk will be the first in a series of three presentations on the U.S. ITER project to Friends of ORNL, with Hans Vogel speaking on April 8 and Graeme Murdoch speaking on May 13.

The New Yorker published a story on ITER in its March 3 edition titled “A Star in a Bottle” by Raffi Khatchadourian.

Nelson’s Tuesday presentation during a Friends of ORNL luncheon lecture starts at noon at the University of Tennessee Resource Center in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Spotlight: Y-12 dietician conducts educational tour of local grocery store

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Karen Lacey, Amy Hinkel, and Vickie at Food City

Karen Lacey, LiveWise dietician at the Y-12 National Security Complex, explains how to read the nutrition facts from the label on a loaf of gluten-free bread as Amy Hinkel and her mom Vickie listen. Lacey has been advising Y-12 employees for the past three years on how to make good food choices. She recently led a field trip to Oak Ridge’s Food City to educate employees and their families on making good choices when shopping.

 

Karen Lacey, LiveWise dietician at the Y-12 National Security Complex, recently led a field trip to Oak Ridge’s Food City to educate employees and their families on making good choices when shopping. Lacey has been advising Y-12 employees for the past three years on how to make good food choices. [Read more…]

New Y-12, Pantex contractor website includes employment information

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Jim Haynes

Jim Haynes

The transition website for the new contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Pantex Plant was posted online on Thursday afternoon. The new website for Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC is available at http://www.cnstransition.com.

CNS is the new managing and operating contractor at Y-12 in Oak Ridge and Pantex in Amarillo, Texas. The contract award, worth up to about $23 billion over 10 years, was first announced in January 2013 but delayed by a series of protests. The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied the third and final protest on Thursday, Feb. 27. On Monday, officials at the National Nuclear Security Administration said the transition to the new contractor had started and was expected to last four months.

On Thursday, CNS spokesman Jason Bohne said the company would be adding much more information to the transition website during the next few weeks and months, including more details on the senior management team, proposed organization, messages to employees, and more.

The transition website includes a message from CNS President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Haynes, who has been senior vice president and deputy general manager for the current Y-12 contractor, B&W Y-12. Other members of the CNS leadership team include Michael Jones, transformation; Darrell Graddy, mission support; and Carl Strock, project director for the Uranium Processing Facility. [Read more…]

Vertimass licenses ORNL biofuel-to-hydrocarbon conversion technology

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Vertimass LLC and ORNL Ethanol Fuel

Vertimass LLC has licensed an ORNL technology that converts ethanol into a hydrocarbon blend-stock for use in transportation fuels. ORNL inventors (from left) Chaitanya Narula, Brian Davison, and Martin Keller display the technology with Vertimass chairman William Shopoff.

Vertimass LLC, a California-based start-up company, has licensed an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology that directly converts ethanol into a hydrocarbon blend-stock for use in transportation fuels.

The ORNL technology offers a new pathway to biomass-derived renewable fuels that can lower greenhouse gas emissions and decrease U.S. reliance on foreign sources of oil.

“Vertimass is very pleased to be partnering with ORNL to commercialize this revolutionary technology that can broaden the market for alternative fuels, ” said Vertimass chairman William Shopoff. “We have assembled a team of industry and technology leaders, including Dr. Charles Wyman, our president and CEO, who will take this novel catalyst from the lab to the marketplace. We see this technology as a significant step in moving the United States toward energy independence.”

The technology developed by ORNL’s Chaitanya Narula, Brian Davison and Associate Laboratory Director Martin Keller uses an inexpensive zeolite catalyst to transform ethanol into hydrocarbon blend-stock. The resulting liquid can be blended at various concentrations into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels without negatively affecting engine performance. After mixing with petroleum-derived fuels, the blend-stock does not require modifications to the existing distribution infrastructure. [Read more…]

Krause to discuss mercury at Lunch with the League on March 18

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“Oak Ridge’s Mercury Saga” will be discussed at Lunch with the League on Tuesday, March 18, at 12 p.m.

Carolyn Krause will speak on the events leading up to mercury contamination in Oak Ridge, the role of the media in making the contamination public, the response of the scientific community to the pollution event, and its influence on decisions about the cleanup. She will talk about the role of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a world center of expertise on mercury in the environment since the 1970s. [Read more…]

Consolidated Nuclear Security resuming contract transition at Pantex, Y-12

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Y-12 National Security Complex Aerial View

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above.

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC has been authorized by the National Nuclear Security Administration to resume its transition to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, the company announced Thursday.

The announcement comes one week after the U.S. Government Accountability Office denied the third and possibly final protest by one of the two teams that unsuccessfully bid on the $22 billion contract to manage the two nuclear weapons plants. The protests had been filed by Nuclear Production Partners LLC, a team led by The Babcock and Wilcox Co., which is currently the lead contractor at Y-12 and Pantex.

The decision to award the consolidated contract to CNS, first announced in January 2013, has now been upheld by the NNSA and GAO, the company said. The five-year contract with the NNSA includes options that could allow the contract to be extended for up to five more years, based upon performance.

“The CNS team submitted a very strong and credible solution for managing and operating the Pantex and Y-12 sites, and we are eager to begin implementing our proposal together with the dedicated employees of Pantex and Y-12,” said Jim Haynes, CNS chief executive officer. “We look forward to partnering with the communities of Amarillo and Oak Ridge.” [Read more…]

NNSA budget request includes slight spending increase for UPF

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Uranium Processing Facility

Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)

The budget request announced this week for the National Nuclear Security Administration includes a slight increase in spending for the proposed multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The $335 million request for UPF in Fiscal Year 2015, which starts Oct. 1, is up slightly from $326 million in FY14. That’s roughly a 2.8 percent increase.

The UPF project, which has an official cost estimate of up to $6.5 billion, is part of a broader effort to modernize Y-12, including its production facilities. The 811-acre plant was built during World War II to help enrich uranium for the world’s first atomic weapons.

But questions have been raised about rising cost projections and a redesign of the UPF. In February 2013, the NNSA said the redesign could add $539 million to the project cost and extend its schedule.

During a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, NNSA Acting Administrator Bruce Held said the agency wants to get workers out of Building 9212 at Y-12 by 2025. [Read more…]

Postdocs wanted for energy efficiency, renewable energy research awards

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Applications being accepted through the end of April

Oak Ridge Associated Universities and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy are taking applications for the EERE Postdoctoral Research Awards, an opportunity for recent Ph.D. recipients to conduct applied research at universities, national laboratories, and other research facilities. Applications are being accepted here until April 30.

The EERE Postdoctoral Research Awards aim to support scientific leaders in energy efficiency and renewable energy by attracting the best scientists and engineers to pursue breakthrough technologies in a postdoctoral research program. EERE research participants will have access to unique education and training opportunities, top scientists in their field, and state-of-the-art projects and equipment. [Read more…]

ORISE report shows nuclear engineering graduation rates on the rise in 2013

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Number of graduate degrees expected to remain consistent but undergraduate degrees could see decrease starting in 2015; UT among Top 3 degree-granting programs

The number of college students graduating with majors in nuclear engineering continues to increase, according to a report by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which surveyed 32 U.S. universities with nuclear engineering programs. The report, titled “Nuclear Engineering Enrollments and Degrees Survey, 2013 Data,” includes degrees granted between Sept. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2013.

Graduate, undergraduate nuclear engineering degrees increased from last year [Read more…]

Transition to new contractor under way at Y-12, Pantex

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Y-12 National Security Complex Aerial View

The transition to a new contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex, pictured above, and Pantex Plant in Texas is already under way and could be completed in four months.

Note: This story was last updated at 10:22 a.m. March 4.

The transition to a new contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant in Texas is already under way and could be completed in four months, federal officials said Monday.

The transition to Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC of Reston, Va., had originally been scheduled to be complete by May 2013, but it was delayed by three rounds of protests. The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied the third and possibly final protest by Nuclear Production Partners LLC, or NP2, of Lynchburg, Va., on Thursday.

On Monday, the National Nuclear Security Administration said CNS will start managing and operating the weapons production plants at Y-12 and Pantex at the end of the four-month transition period. [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…]