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Y-12 transitioning back to normal operations with telework

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The Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

The Y-12 National Security Complex began a transition back to normal operations with as much telework as possible on Thursday, April 30.

It’s a staged transition. That means employees are being brought back incrementally, or in stages. That’s according to a response to questions provided by Kathryn King, spokesperson for Consolidated Nuclear Security, the plant’s managing and operating contractor.

A significant number of employees are teleworking, which means they are working remotely, King said.

Y-12 began limited operations on April 6 and transitioned to mission-critical operations on April 14 because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.

“But the prevalence of the virus in the community has steadily decreased as has the number of employees under quarantine because of a potential exposure to COVID-19,” King said.

[Read more…]
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ORNL in limited operations, seeks quotes for PPE, cleaning supplies

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The main entrance at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory remains in limited operations, a spokesperson said Monday.

The lab will remain in that mode “for the immediate future,” ORNL spokesperson Morgan McCorkle said.

“No timelines have been set, and ORNL will continue to adapt its plans to the developing situation,” McCorkle said.

She said the lab will continue to be informed by guidance from the U.S. Department of Energy, the Trump Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state and local authorities.

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For members: ORNL contract extension valued at up to $8 billion

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The five-year non-competitive contract extension at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has an estimated value of up to $8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The DOE Office of Science has explained why it did not have a full, open competition for the extension.

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For members: CNS violated nuclear safety requirements at Y-12, NNSA says

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Y-12 Building 9212

A low-level aerial shot of Building 9212 at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

 

A federal contractor violated nuclear safety requirements at the Y-12 National Security Complex, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The violations are associated with the accumulations of uranium-235 in a glovebox, furnace, and casting line in Building 9212 at Y-12. The equipment is used to recover and process uranium-235, a fissile material that can be used in nuclear weapons and reactors.

The buildup of enriched uranium, discovered after hydraulic lines leaked in a glovebox, exceeded limits established by a safety program meant to help prevent a nuclear chain reaction.

An investigation of the uranium accumulations found weaknesses in five areas, according to the NNSA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy and overseas nuclear weapons work at sites like Y-12. Among the deficiencies were procedural compliances, evaluations of process changes, the analyses of causes, the establishment of roles and responsibilities, and the implementation of a program meant to prevent inadvertent accumulations.

“The National Nuclear Security Administration considers these deficiencies to be of high safety significance,” Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty wrote in an April 6 letter. “Although there were no actual consequences to the public, workers, or the environment, these deficiencies eroded the barriers preventing a nuclear criticality and could, if left uncorrected, adversely impact nuclear and worker safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex.”

The letter was sent to Morgan Smith, president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security. CNS manages and operates Y-12, as well as the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, for the NNSA.

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Clark Center Park will re-open Friday

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Clark Center Park Beach
The beach at Clark Center Park is pictured in July 2014. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Clark Center Park in Oak Ridge will re-open on Friday, May 1.

The re-opening was announced by the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday.

DOE closed the park on April 4 in response to an executive order by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee as the state tried to control the spread of COVID-19.

The park has been closed since then.

[Read more…]

Work starts to increase power of SNS proton beam

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Construction work has started on a part of a project to double the power of the proton beam in the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It’s the first construction work at SNS since 2006. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Construction work has started on a part of a project to double the power of the proton beam in the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

It’s the first construction work at the $1.4 billion SNS since 2006.

The current work is limited to what is known as the klystron gallery. It houses radio-frequency systems. They power the structures that are used to accelerate a negatively-charged hydrogen ion beam in the linear accelerator at SNS.

ORNL has previously said the klystron gallery construction could last about one year.

The work is part of a project called the proton power upgrade, or PPU. It will eventually double the power of the SNS proton beam from 1.4 megawatts to 2.8 megawatts. That could be a seven-year project. The potential cost has previously been estimated at $245 million.

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ORNL making molds to help produce COVID-19 test tubes

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An example of a 3D printer, the Cincinnati Machine, is pictured above at work in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Dec. 29, 2014. (Photo courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy)

Engineers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are making metal molds that companies will use to manufacture plastic tubes for COVID-19 test kits.

The work has been cited in two federal coronavirus task force press conferences at the White House this week.

On Monday, Brad Smith, a federal health official, said the ORNL work could help supply more than 40 million collection tubes per month in the next several weeks. Smith grew up in Knoxville, and he has been a business leader and entrepreneur, and served in Tennessee state government. He is now deputy administrator and director of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The ORNL work was also cited by President Donald Trump on Sunday.

The ORNL engineers are using additive manufacturing to produce the metal molds for the COVID-19 test kits. Additive manufacturing is the process of making an object by printing it with a material layer by layer. Printers known as 3D printers— some large, some small—can be used.

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Y-12 recycling sensitive documents, converting into reusable briquettes

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The paper disintegrator system at the Y-12 National Security Complex produces paper briquettes to be used by off-site recycling vendors to make compressed paper products. The briquettes are currently reused by a commercial company to make a cellulose binder for construction products, such as asphalt sealants. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

Note: This story was updated at 12:45 p.m. April 21.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is recycling sensitive documents by disintegrating them and compressing them into paper briquettes, which are used to make a cellulose binder for construction products, such as asphalt sealants.

In Fiscal Year 2019, 270,000 pounds of paper briquettes were recycled, according to Consolidated Nuclear Security, which manages and operates Y-12 as well as the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.

Sensitive documents generally contain content that is deemed sensitive for business or classification reasons. Y-12 said all of the documents generated at its site, a nuclear weapons production plant, are processed through its Destruction and Recycle, or DAR, facility.

The paper is processed through a disintegrator before it is put into a briquettor. The disintegrated paper meets security specifications for size reduction, CNS said.

[Read more…]

ORNL researcher helps discover new species of cave snail

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Researchers discovered the Tennessee cavesnail, Antrorbis tennesseensis, in caves near Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The snail is less than two millimeters long. (Photo credit: ORNL/Nathaniel Shoobs and Matthew Niemiller)

A researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory helped discover a small cave snail.

The new snail species has been named the Tennessee cavesnail, or Antrorbis tennesseensis. Its name honors the state where it was found and the fact that several researchers involved in its discovery are affiliated with the University of Tennessee. A paper describing and naming the species was published in December.

The snail, which is less than two millimeters long, was found in two caves in Roane County a few miles south of the Oak Ridge Reservation. The reservation includes ORNL and parts of the city of Oak Ridge.

The snail is found on or under rocks far inside the caves, usually in streams that aren’t too muddy or silty, ORNL said. Researchers recommended that the species be listed as endangered.

The ORNL researcher is Evin Carter. He is a research associate and wildlife ecologist at ORNL, which is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. With only a handful of surveys completed so far, Carter has plans to survey the 40 or so other caves on the Oak Ridge Reservation, ORNL said.

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CNS president returned to work last week after work-from-home precaution

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Morgan Smith (Photo by CNS)

Morgan Smith, president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, returned to work last week after temporarily working from home as a precaution. Smith worked from home after he was notified that someone that he had been in brief contact with had reported symptoms that could be related to COVID-19.

But a test of that person was negative for COVID-19, and Smith returned to work on Tuesday, April 7, CNS spokesperson Kathryn King said this week.

Smith had no symptoms, King said.

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Forty-nine COVID-19 cases confirmed at NNSA sites

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The National Nuclear Security Administration on Wednesday said there were 49 confirmed COVID-19 cases at its sites across the country.

The sites include the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. The NNSA, which oversees work at Y-12, did not say how how many COVID-19 cases there have been among Y-12 employees. The plant is not releasing site-specific numbers of confirmed cases because of operational security concerns, the NNSA said.

Consolidated Nuclear Security, which manages and operates Y-12 for the NNSA, has also declined to say how many COVID-19 cases have been confirmed among Y-12 employees. CNS confirmed the first two cases in March and, when asked about additional cases, would only say that there were several.

[Read more…]

Y-12 begins limited operations, transitions to ‘mission critical’ operations

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The Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

Note: This story was updated at 11:45 a.m.

On Monday, the Y-12 National Security Complex began limited operations and transitioning to mission-critical operations. The change is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For now, all non-essential personnel will leave the 811-acre nuclear weapons production plant in Oak Ridge, and employees who can telework will continue to do so.

“Since mid-March, Y-12 has been in a preventive phase of its pandemic plan,” the site in a a response to questions on Wednesday. The response was provided by spokesperson Kathryn King of Consolidated Nuclear Security, a federal contractor that manages and operates Y-12 and another nuclear weapons production plant, the Pantex Plant northeast of Amarillo, Texas.

“With additional cases now confirmed at Y-12 and the growing number of cases in East Tennessee, the plant is transitioning to a ‘containment’ phase that ensures mission-critical operations while further protecting the Y-12 workforce and the community,” the response said. “In the containment phases, all non-essential plant personnel will leave the site until further notice. Employees who are able to telework will continue to do so.”

CNS said all Y-12 processes, systems, and facilities will be maintained in safe and secure configurations. Key mission activities related to stockpile stewardship and modernization, and key infrastructure and reestablishment of production capabilities, will continue.

[Read more…]

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