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Sen. Alexander calls Perry a ‘very effective’ energy secretary

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, on Friday called Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who is resigning later this year, a “very effective” energy secretary.

“Rick Perry has used his considerable executive and political skills to become a very effective energy secretary, solving some tough problems that saved taxpayers money and created more dollars that allowed record funding for national laboratories and supercomputing,” Alexander said in a brief statement. “He has served the country well.”

[Read more…]

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Cleanup workers start processing U-233 powder at ORNL

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Oak Ridge U-233 Glovebox Installation Oct 2019
Workers at Oak Ridge install new gloveboxes to begin processing a portion of uranium-233 a year ahead of schedule. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

Workers have begun processing a powder form of uranium-233 a year ahead of schedule as part of a larger environmental management, or cleanup, project to process and dispose of the remaining inventory of the nuclear material stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

It’s the highest priority cleanup project at ORNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory.

Isotek is the contractor responsible for processing and disposing of the uranium-233 inventory at ORNL. The work eliminates the need to use Building 3019, which is the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world, for storage of the material, according to DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM.

In the 1970s and 1980s, nuclear facilities sent liquid uranium-233 to ORNL, and the site converted it into an oxide form, known as Oak Ridge Oxide, which is more stable for storage, OREM said in an “EM Update” newsletter published Tuesday. Some of the material was shipped to facilities for use as fuel in reactors. However, most of it was stored at ORNL until workers were able to dispose of it.

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Roane State hosts launch of ‘Dream It. Do It.’ competition

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Roane State Dream It Do It Oct. 14 2019
Roane State Community College hosts the 5th annual ‘Dream It. Do It.” competition launch at the Clinton Higher Education and Training facility on Oct. 14, 2019. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Roane State hosted the launch of the fifth annual “Dream It. Do It.” competition last week at the community college’s mechatronics campus in Clinton, and it is also providing judges for the months-long events.

Now in its fifth year, the unique student competition highlighting manufacturing careers is sponsored by Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, the contractor that operates the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, and the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce.

The event is held each October as part of the National Manufacturing Day celebration.

Chamber President Rick Meredith during the competition kickoff expressed appreciation for the college’s assistance. Gordon Williams, director of the mechatronics program in the Clinton Higher Education and Training facility, showed the students the various types of equipment used in mechatronics.

[Read more…]
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ORAU Employees Club to host parking lot Trunk or Treat on Oct. 31

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The ORAU Employees Club will host a free Trunk or Treat event for the community on Thursday, October 31, from 7 to 9 p.m. ORAU employee volunteers will be handing out candy to trick or treaters at the ORAU main campus parking lot, located at 100 ORAU Way, a press release said.

“This is the first year we’ve done an event like this. Our Employees Club members are embracing Trunk or Treat, and we hope a lot of families bring their children to participate,” said Krista Seaton, the ORAU employee who is organizing the event.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry resigning

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Rick Perry

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will resign sometime later this year.

The resignation was announced in a letter from Perry to President Donald Trump on Thursday. The U.S. Department of Energy provided a brief statement about Perry’s resignation in a press release on Thursday and included a copy of his resignation letter.

The Thursday letter didn’t give a specific date for Perry’s resignation, except to say that he plans to “resign at a date later this year.”

“The secretary is immensely grateful to President Trump and the American people for this opportunity to serve and looks forward to continuing to support the president’s agenda after he returns home to Texas later this year,” the DOE statement said.

During a visit to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in May, Perry dismissed a news story that he planned to leave DOE, and he suggested the story was the product of a “rumor factory.”

[Read more…]

Volunteers to learn karesansui raking techniques for Friendship Bell Garden

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Gene Patterson, center, of CNS Y-12, watches as volunteers rake designs in the karesansui garden at the International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

 

Volunteers who are designing and maintaining the new Japanese dry landscape garden at the International Friendship Bell Peace Pavilion received special rakes for the garden earlier this summer from Consolidated Nuclear Security, the contractor for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

CNS-Y12 presented the volunteers with rakes featuring stainless steel blades, made by craftspeople at Y-12 especially for the karesansui garden, which features patterns in fine gravel raked around boulders or stones, a press release said.

“We believe these are the first stainless steel rakes to be used in these traditional karesansui gardens, a centuries-old garden tradition,” said Pat Postma, co-chair of the International Friendship Bell Citizens Advisory Committee. “The rakes have traditionally been made from wood, but I find the weight of the stainless steel rakes makes deeper furrows and longer-lasting designs. CNS and Y-12 continued Oak Ridge’s tradition of innovation by creating these rakes with stainless steel blades. We are glad that CNS offered to make these for us.” [Read more…]

Centrus finishes preparing centrifuge testing building for demolition

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The “footprint,” the area where the K-25 Building used to be in west Oak Ridge, is pictured above at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. The white K-1600 Building is pictured in the middle of the “footprint.” The brick building in the foreground is Oak Ridge Fire Station No. 4. (File photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

Centrus Energy Corporation on Wednesday said it has successfully completed a $15 million project to decontaminate and decommission a building at the East Tennessee Technology Park that has been used to test and demonstrate centrifuges that could be used to enrich uranium.

The building is K-1600, which is in the middle of the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge.

Centrus said it finished the work budget and on time, within a year. The work was to occur between October 1, 2018, and September 30, 2019.

“I’m pleased our team was able to deliver the results the department expected on a very short timetable,” said Centrus President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel B. Poneman.

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Centrus a $15 million work authorization on September 27, 2018, to prepare K-1600 for demolition.

[Read more…]

UT-Battelle provides scholarships for Roane State Middle College students

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ORNL UT-Battelle Roane State Middle College Scholarship

From left, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thomas Zacharia is joined by Roane State Middle College students Layla Malenovsky of Kingston and Anthony Ciccarelli of Kingston, along with Roane State President Chris Whaley, for the presentation of the $34,000 UT-Battelle Scholarship for Roane State Middle College students. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

Twelve Roane County students participating in Roane State Community College’s Middle College have received $34,000 in annual scholarships thanks to UT-Battelle, a press release said. The scholarships were made possible through a gift to the Roane State Foundation.

Roane State’s Middle College program allows high school students to take college classes in their junior and senior years and then graduate with their associate degrees and their diplomas. Middle College graduates are then able to complete their bachelor’s degrees just two years after finishing high school.

Middle College students pay for tuition through a combination of out-of-pocket funds, use of state grants, and other private scholarships, the press release said. The UT-Battelle Scholarship was established in fall 2015, and it is awarded to Middle College students from Roane County. The scholarship is administered by the Roane State Foundation. [Read more…]

ORAU names Laura Kopp business development manager

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Laura Kopp (Submitted photo)

 

Laura Kopp, former alliance manager for MITRE Corporation (a new ORAU strategic partner), has been named business development and capture manager for ORAU.

In her new role, Kopp will share her extensive expertise in identifying and capturing new large-scale business opportunities; identifying emerging markets, growth opportunities, and new contract vehicles that will help enable growth; and leveraging and growing existing networks to help align new ORAU partners with complementary capabilities, strong federal sponsor relationships, and aligned goals, a press release said.

Initially, Kopp will focus on growing ORAU’s footprint within health and life sciences by targeting new business opportunities, the press release said. She also will serve as the business development liaison for ORAU’s University Partnerships Office. [Read more…]

Judge voids UPF decision, requires more seismic hazard analysis

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Y-12 Uranium Processing Facility
Structural steel installation is under way on the eastern half of the Main Process Building of the Uranium Processing Facility, the Y-12 National Security Complex said Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2019. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

Note This story was last updated at 9:38 a.m. Sept. 25.

A federal judge in Knoxville on Tuesday said a critical decision made in 2016 for enriched uranium operations at the Y-12 National Security Complex, including for the $6.5 billion Uranium Processing Facility, violated a national environmental law, and she ordered the decision vacated, or set aside.

The UPF is already under construction, and Wedenesday morning, the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees work at Y-12, said construction will continue.

The 104-page opinion and order was filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Pamela L. Reeves.

One of the plaintiffs said the decision to vacate the amended record of decision published in the Federal Register in 2016 means the NNSA no longer has the legal authority to continue construction work at UPF.

But the NNSA said it was pleased that the court’s memorandum opinion rejected almost all of the plaintiff’s claims regarding National Environmental Policy Act violations related to UPF construction.

“However, with the court agreeing that there was inadequate consideration of new information concerning seismic hazards at Y-12, NNSA will review the seismic analysis while conferring with the Department of Justice on the possibility of appeal,” the NNSA said. “In the meantime, construction of UPF will proceed.”

Besides the amended record of decision, Reeves said supplement analyses prepared in 2016 and 2018 also violated the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, and she said they were to be set aside as well.

[Read more…]

ORAU sponsors U.S. student researchers to attend Heidelberg Laureate Forum in Germany

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Part of the ORAU campus in central Oak Ridge is pictured above on May 29, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

ORAU will again sponsor young researchers in the fields of mathematics and computer science to attend the Seventh Heidelberg Laureate Forum from September 22-27 in Heidelberg, Germany.

The Heidelberg Laureate Forum is a gathering of laureates of some of the most prestigious prizes in mathematics and computer science, namely the Abel Prize and Fields Medal as well as the Turing Award and Nevanlinna Prize. Held annually for a week in Heidelberg, Germany, the Heidelberg Laureate Forum brings these laureates at the apex of their careers together with 200 high-achieving graduate student and postdoctoral counterparts from around the world, a press release said.

The forum gives early career researchers an opportunity for interaction that is typically not available within the normal university environment or in their home university department, whereby the laureates provided formal plenary lectures and led small group discussions with topics driven by a combination of prepared presentations by the laureates as well as student questions, the press release said. [Read more…]

Roane State hosts specialized training for Y-12 employees

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PETE_training roane state

Industrial hygiene processes was one of the topics covered as part of a training partnership between Roane State and Y-12. (Photo by Roane State)

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Longstanding and varied partnerships between Roane State Community College and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge entered a new phase this summer, and it may lead to a five-year funding opportunity for the community college.

Using an initial $41,000 in funding from the National Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE), Roane State has been hosting and coordinating specialized training for non-bargaining unit workers at Y-12. The funding from PETE came from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/Department of Energy (NIEHS/DOE) Nuclear Worker Training Program, which provides hazardous-related health and safety training to DOE workers and contractors.

PETE is a nonprofit formed to support training programs at community and technical colleges. [Read more…]

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