A mobile application for a science website developed by a federal office in Oak Ridge has been named one of the ten best federal apps by Government Computer News.
The Science.gov Mobile application was also recently named to InformationWeek’s Ten Handy Mobile Apps From Uncle Sam.
The application was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
The Y-12 National Security Complex has received awards for its publications from an East Tennessee public relations group and a technical communications organization.
Y-12 received nine awards—including four first-place honors—during the annual V Awards gala held by the Volunteer Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, a B&W Y-12 press release said.
Lamar Alexander
The Manhattan Project is one of the most significant events in American history, and according to some historians, it is the single most significant event of the 20th Century.
In 2004, I joined Sen. Jeff Bingaman as a cosponsor of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Study Act, which directed the Department of Interior to conduct a study of the Manhattan Project sites to determine the feasibility of including the sites in the National Park System.
In 2011, Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Department of the Interior, recommended the creation of a Manhattan Project National Historical Park with units at Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Los Alamos, N.M., and Hanford, Wash. According to Secretary Salazar, “The Manhattan Project ushered in the Atomic Age, changed the role of the United States in the world community, and set the stage for the Cold War.”
This image represents the nuclear landscape, with different isotopes, including dark blue stable isotopes, lighter blue unstable isotopes, and gray bound isotopes. (Image by Andy Sproles at Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
A supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been used to calculate the number of isotopes allowed by the laws of physics.
A team of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Tennessee researchers used the Jaguar supercomputer to determine that there are about 7,000 possible combinations of protons and neutrons allowed in bound nuclei with up to 120 protons.
The team’s results are presented in the June 28 issue of the journal Nature.
Most of these nuclei have not been observed experimentally, an ORNL press release said.
“They are bound, meaning they do not spit out protons or neutrons,” team leader Witek Nazarewicz explained in the release. “But they are radioactive—they are short-lived—because there are other processes, such as beta decay, that can give rise to transmutations.”
Duke University’s Robert Calderbank, left, and Haiyun Gao discuss a graduate education agreement with Ian Anderson of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy of Duke University)
Duke University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have signed an agreement to develop a graduate student education program.
The agreement was signed at Duke on Monday by Robert Calderbank, dean of natural sciences at Duke’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences; Haiyun Gao, chair of Duke’s department of physics; and Ian Anderson, director of ORNL’s Graduate and University Partnerships.
“The program combines the resources of a leading research university and the research capabilities of a major national laboratory to provide expanded opportunities for graduate students in energy-related science and engineering,” Anderson said.
Twenty-one countries participated in a first-time nuclear security workshop at the Y-12 National Security Complex this week.
The World Institute for Nuclear Security workshop has focused on the best security practices for nuclear power plants and other major nuclear facilities, a National Nuclear Security Administration press release said.
The U.S. Department of Energy has recognized Restoration Services Inc. of Oak Ridge as its woman-owned small business of the year, a press release said.
The award recognizes the exceptional performance throughout DOE sites of a woman-owned small business that directly contributes to the accomplishments of core DOE mission objectives and requirements, the press release said.
President Staci Ferguson accepted the award at the DOE Small Business Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C.
Two nonprofit organizations have released the testimony they are submitting to Congress this week for hearings on a Manhattan Project national park that would include Oak Ridge.
Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan will testify at a Senate hearing at 3 p.m. today on behalf of the nonprofit Energy Communities Alliance. His testimony is available here.
The nonprofit Atomic Heritage Foundation has also released its testimony to the Senate and House, where Y-12 National Security Complex D. Ray Smith will testify at 10 a.m. Thursday.
The House testimony is available here, and the Senate testimony is available here.
Congressional hearings on bills to set up a Manhattan Project park that includes Oak Ridge can be watched online Wednesday and Thursday.
A Senate hearing on the bills that starts at 3 p.m. Wednesday can be watched live at http://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/live-webcast, the nonprofit Atomic Heritage Foundation said in a press release.
A House hearing that starts at 10 a.m. Thursday can be watched at http://naturalresources.house.gov/Live/.
Mayor Tom Beehan will testify before a U.S. Senate subcommittee on Wednesday, advocating for a Manhattan Project national historical park that would include Oak Ridge.
Beehan will represent Oak Ridge and two other Manhattan Project cities—Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M.—as well as the nonprofit Energy Communities Alliance.
He will testify before the National Parks Subcommittee on a bill filed by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat. That bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, would set up a national park for Oak Ridge, Hanford, and Los Alamos.
Tom Wantland, new director of ORAU’s Environment, Safety and Health program.
Oak Ridge Associated Universities has a new Environment, Safety and Health program director.
Tom Wantland has been promoted to the position, an ORAU press release said.
Wantland, who has been serving as ORAU’s manager of safety and environmental management, will now oversee the daily operations of the ESH program and assume the role of ORAU’s corporate safety director.
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received nine more R&D 100 awards, bringing their total to 173.
The awards, presented by R&D Magazine, recognize the top 100 innovations of the year and are sometimes referred to as the “Academy Awards of Science,” according to an ORNL press release.
