Oak Ridge Today

Sholl named interim executive director of UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute

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David Sholl will serve as interim executive director of the UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute. (Photo credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy)

David Sholl, director of the Transformational Decarbonization Initiative at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been appointed interim executive director of the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute. His appointment was effective Monday, June 12.

“Sholl’s background, passion, and expertise will ensure continued progress as the institute recruits exemplary joint research faculty, builds its research portfolio, develops students and prepares them to become leaders, and contributes to workforce development in areas important to Tennessee,” a press release said.

“The work UT faculty and students are doing in partnership with ORNL researchers is advancing the frontiers of knowledge and strengthening Tennessee’s leadership role in areas like clean energy, future mobility, advanced materials, and next-generation manufacturing,” said UT Chancellor Donde Plowman. “We look forward to working with David and to leveraging our strategic partnership with ORNL to advance discoveries, learning, and innovations that make life and lives better here in Tennessee and around the world.”

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ORNL scientist to lead project studying permafrost thaw, climate processes in Alaska

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Colleen Iversen (Photo submitted by ORNL)

Submitted

Colleen Iversen—ecosystem ecologist, group leader, and distinguished staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory—has been named director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments Arctic, or NGEE Arctic. That is a multi-institutional project studying permafrost thaw and other climate-related processes in Alaska, a press release said.

Iversen has worked as a scientist on NGEE Arctic since 2012 and served as its deputy director from 2021-2023. She also leads a research team in the Plant-Soil Interactions Group at ORNL. Iversen succeeds Stan Wullschleger, founding director of NGEE Arctic, who retired as associate laboratory director for Biological and Environmental Systems Science at ORNL in April 2023.

Iversen, who took on the role of director and principal investigator for NGEE Arctic earlier this year, is excited about taking the reins of such a large, multidisciplinary project, the press release said.

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DOE asks for public comment about ETTP groundwater decision

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The U.S. Department of Energy has asked for public comment about a proposed plan to reduce groundwater contamination in the main plant area of East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

Comments are for an interim record of decision. There will be a public meeting Tuesday evening in Oak Ridge.

“The proposed plan identifies enhanced in situ bioremediation (EISB) as DOE’s preferred alternative to remediate six specific areas of groundwater in the main plant area of the East Tennessee Technology Park,” DOE said in a public notice distributed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. “EISB is a method that involves using microorganisms to reduce contamination levels in these specific areas of groundwater. For these six areas, workers have excavated, or will excavate, the primary sources of contamination, as specified in the Record of Decision for Soil, Buried Waste, and Subsurface Structure Actions in Zone 2, East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (DOE/OR/01-2161&D2).

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Ken Tarcza joins ORAU as chief of staff

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Ken Tarcza

Ken Tarcza has joined Oak Ridge Associated Universities as chief of staff.

Tarcza comes to ORAU after an impressive military and federal career, a press release said.

A graduate of West Point, Tarcza spent his military career serving in numerous roles, including assistant professor of mechanical engineering at West Point; commander of the Defense Contract Management Agency’s Southern Europe office in Wiesbaden, Germany; and chief of staff for the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.

After retiring from the military in 2015, he went on to be a supervisory physical scientist for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground before being named manager for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office and Office of Science Integrated Support Center/Consolidated Service Center in 2016. There, Tarcza and his organization helped enable more than $10 billion of annual program activity, the press release said. [Read more…]

Contract awarded for K-25 Viewing Platform

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Artist rendering of the exterior of the new Viewing Platform, which will be located next to the recently constructed K-25 History Center overlooking the footprint of the K-25 Building. (Artist renderings by Smee + Busby Architects)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded Geiger Brothers a $9.9 million contract to build the K-25 Viewing Platform at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge. The Viewing Platform will help commemorate what was once the world’s largest building and part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. The site enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants through the Cold War.

The K-25 Viewing Platform will be next to the K-25 History Center, which opened about three years ago. It will give visitors a complete view of the former building’s massive 44-acre footprint.

While the K-25 History Center focuses on the men and women who built and operated the Oak Ridge Diffusion Plant during the Manhattan Project and Cold War, this facility will help visitors understand the scope and magnitude of the former K-25 Building, a press release said.

The U-shaped K-25 Building was a mile long. It was demolished in 2013.

Construction on the Viewing Platform is scheduled to begin in May 2023, and it is expected to be complete in late 2024, the press release said.

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Wade named associate lab director for fusion & fission

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Mickey Wade has been named associate laboratory director for the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, effective April 1, 2023. (Photo credit: ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy)

Mickey Wade has been named associate laboratory director for the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, effective April 1.

“To reach the nation’s clean energy goals, we must develop and deploy nuclear energy technologies,” interim ORNL Director Jeff Smith said in a press release. “Given his experience in industry and the national lab system, Mickey is the perfect choice to ensure ORNL is applying its leading expertise and capabilities to help the United States reach net zero.”

In his new role, Wade will oversee the directorate’s facilities, capabilities, and scientists and engineers who are tackling such challenges as extending operations of the current U.S. nuclear reactor fleet, investigating economical and flexible advanced reactor systems, and making fusion energy a viable power source, the press release said.

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Eight new members join DOE’s environmental advisory board

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The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) welcomed eight new members during the board’s February monthly meeting in Oak Ridge. From left (front), Bonnie Shoemaker, Leon Shields, Michelle Lohmann, and Harriett McCurdy; from left (back), Tom Tuck, Mary Butler, Atilio Anzellotti, Christine Michaels, Noah Keebler, Mike Mark, Harold Conner, Jr., Rosario Gonzalez, Roger Petrie, Paul Dill, Melyssa Noe and Kristof Czartoryski. (Submitted photo)

The U.S. Department of Energy recently welcomed eight new members to its Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management citizen advisory board.

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board is a federally chartered citizens’ panel that provides independent recommendations to OREM, which is responsible for the cleanup of the Oak Ridge Reservation.

“ORSSAB is a core element of our outreach and engagement with the community,” said OREM Manager Jay Mullis. “We’re very grateful to have area residents who are willing to invest their time and energy to learn more about our work, share their perspectives, and provide recommendations. Their insight and feedback greatly benefit our cleanup program.”

All board members are volunteers from the region and have a variety of backgrounds.

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DOE conducting controlled burns on Oak Ridge Reservation

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The U.S. Department of Energy is conducting controlled burns of grassland areas on the Oak Ridge Reservation through mid-April, weather permitting.

People may see smoke from this activity. However, smoke in Oak Ridge and other areas in the region could also be the result of prescribed burns currently being undertaken by other federal and state agencies, a press release said.

It said the controlled burns are planned on the Three Bend Area off Pump House and Bull Bluff Roads and other managed grassland areas off Bethel Valley Road and off Highway 58.

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UCOR announces management change

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Tom Dieter

United Cleanup Oak Ridge LLC, the lead cleanup contractor at federal sites in Oak Ridge, has announced a top management change that will be effective April 1.

UCOR Chief Operating Officer Tom Dieter has announced he will retire March 31, and Kent Fortenberry has been appointed to take his place.

In a press release, UCOR said Dieter has had a 30-year career, and during that time, he has earned a national reputation, leading more than $3 billion in cleanup successes in complex nuclear enterprises in several states.

“Tom led UCOR’s transition for our 10-year, $8.3 billion Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup contract, and we’re grateful for his leadership in the company maintaining a strong safety performance in our first year,” said UCOR President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Rueter.

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Y-12 honored with DOE sustainability partnership award

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Pictured above are Y-12 refrigerant cylinders to be sent for reclamation. (Photo by CNS Y-12)

The Y-12 National Security Complex recently received a U.S. Department of Energy Sustainability Award for Strategic Partnerships for Sustainability.

The Y-12 team was recognized for its efforts to improve efficiency, sustainability, and resiliency of the site through partnerships with other DOE contractors and private companies, a press release said.

Through its sustainability program, Y-12 said it is reducing greenhouse gases, minimizing waste, and improving waste treatment on a large scale.

The partnership efforts for which the team was recognized include Energy Savings Performance Contract implementation, including helping to reuse refrigerant, using additive manufacturing for unique part production, and implementing wastewater treatment process improvements.

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UPF construction could cost more, take longer

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The entrance sign at Y-12 National Security Complex at Bear Creek Road and Scarboro Road is pictured above on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex was supposed to be completed by 2025 for no more than $6.5 billion, but that might no longer be the case.

In the past week, federal officials said construction projects across the country, including UPF, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain delays, inflation, labor shortages, and increased labor costs. Those factors have led to higher construction costs and longer project timelines, the federal officials said.

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Y-12 celebrates new fire station, emergency operations center

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Y-12 Site Manager Gene Sievers talks about the plant’s new fire station and emergency operations center during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A new fire station and emergency operations center at the Y-12 National Security Complex will replace “severely outdated” buildings that were constructed in the 1940s, about eight decades ago. The new buildings will improve working conditions, consolidate operations now conducted in separate places, and provide ample space for large equipment like fire trucks, federal officials and Y-12 leaders said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday.

Workers at the plant, which manufactures components for the nation’s nuclear weapons, among other activities, have been talking about the new facilities for at least 13 years. The start of construction was celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony in April 2021. The new buildings, reported to have cost $68 million, are part of a “huge transformation,” an effort to modernize the site.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.

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If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:

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We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription.

Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!