Oak Ridge Today

A great technical achievement, Molten Salt Reactor could be entombed

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The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory housed the reactor and offices for operating personnel. The facility was constructed in the 1950s for a nuclear aircraft project and was later expanded significantly and retrofitted to accommodate the MSRE. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory housed the reactor and offices for operating personnel. The facility was constructed in the 1950s for a nuclear aircraft project and was later expanded significantly and retrofitted to accommodate the MSRE. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:30 p.m.

Former director Alvin Weinberg once called it the greatest technical achievement at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was inspired by the campaign to build a nuclear-powered aircraft in the 1950s, and it was the first reactor to ever operate using uranium-233.

Now parts of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment that are too radioactively “hot” for humans could be entombed in concrete.

For now, the idea is only under study, and there is no guarantee that any part of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, a nuclear historic landmark that has been dormant for decades, will be entombed.

But it’s one of the proposals being evaluated by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. The goal is to finish the evaluation by the end of the year.

Jay Mullis, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, presented the proposal to the Oak Ridge City Council and Site Specific Advisory Board in two separate meetings earlier this month. The entombment proposal is one of five items being evaluated as part of a 45-day review started by DOE’s Environmental Management, or EM, program in June. [Read more…]

New Oak Ridge EM manager Jay Mullis outlines cleanup vision

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Jay Mullis

Jay Mullis

 

Note: This story was published in the November 21 edition of “EM Update” by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. EM Update recently spoke with Jay Mullis, the new manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM), about his vision and priorities for the EM program in Oak Ridge.

What are your main priorities going forward as the new manager of OREM?

Overall, I want to ensure our program maintains the momentum we’ve achieved during the past several years. First, it is important for us to continue pushing forward to complete cleanup at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP, also known as the former K-25 site) by 2020. This will facilitate the transfer of the site back to the community so it can be transformed into a vibrant industrial park capable of generating jobs and economic growth for the region. It will also allow our program to shift its focus and resources toward cleanup at two important, active DOE sites: the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Before we finish our cleanup mission at ETTP, we must also fulfill our historic preservation commitments to preserve and celebrate the many achievements that occurred there during the Manhattan Project and Cold War. 

Secondly, it is very important that we begin laying the foundation for our next big challenges at Y-12 and ORNL. That began on November 20, when we broke ground on the new Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12. This critical piece of infrastructure will provide an important control measure for mercury and opens the door for us to clean and remove mercury contaminated facilities and soils. Additionally, it is crucial to construct another onsite disposal facility that will provide the space necessary for the waste generated by completing cleanup at Y-12 and ORNL. 

Finally, we will continue our focus on eliminating Oak Ridge’s waste inventory. We are making progress packaging and disposing transuranic waste from ORNL with the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant again accepting shipments. We are working to eliminate the remaining portion of the uranium-233 inventory from ORNL to improve safety and significantly reduce security costs. [Read more…]

ORNL names director of artificial intelligence

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David Womble

David Womble

 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has hired David Womble, a leader in high-performance computing and former executive at Sandia National Laboratories, to direct its artificial intelligence work.

Womble began as AI Program Director on October 30, a press release said. AI stands for artificial intelligence.

Womble’s responsibilities include guiding ORNL’s AI and machine learning strategy for high-performance computing, ensuring broad scientific impacts to the missions of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and providing long-range program planning and project leadership, the press release said.

“In more than three decades in computing, Womble has won two R&D100 awards and the Association for Computing Machinery’s Gordon Bell Prize, awarded each year ‘to recognize outstanding achievement in high-performance computing,'” the press release said. [Read more…]

Ray Smith receives DOE Gold Medal Award for helping to create national park

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D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian, left, received a U.S. Department of Energy Gold Medal Award on Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, for his role in helping to create the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge. The award was presented to Smith by retired Lieutenant General Frank G. Klotz, DOE under secretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian, left, received a U.S. Department of Energy Gold Medal Award on Monday, Nov. 20, 2017, for his role in helping to create the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge. The award was presented to Smith by retired Lieutenant General Frank G. Klotz, DOE under secretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

 

Note: This story was updated at 4:05 p.m.

D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian, received a U.S. Department of Energy Gold Medal Award on Monday for his role in helping to create the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge.

The award was presented to Smith by retired Lieutenant General Frank G. Klotz, DOE under secretary for nuclear security and administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Smith is retiring this month. He previously told Oak Ridge Today that he would retire November 22.

Established in November 2015, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park is a unique three-site park that includes Oak Ridge; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. Among other activities, Oak Ridge built uranium enrichment facilities for the Manhattan Project at Y-12 and the former K-25 site, and the city had the pilot facility for plutonium production at the Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which was then known as X-10. [Read more…]

Treatment facility will reduce mercury in creek water, allow cleanup work at Y-12

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The new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce the amount of mercury that gets into East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of four large buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War, officials said during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Nov. 20, 2017. Part of the back of the Beta 1 building is pictured at back left. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce the amount of mercury that gets into East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of four large buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War, officials said during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, Nov. 20, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 10:45 p.m.

The new Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce the amount of mercury that gets into East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of four large buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War, officials said Monday.

Mercury contamination is one of the biggest problems remaining from the Cold War, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander said during a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday morning. Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, first announced the new treatment facility at Y-12 more than four years ago.

“In May 2013, I came to Oak Ridge to announce that a new water treatment facility would be built at Y-12 at the head of the East Fork Poplar Creek to prevent mercury that was once used to make nuclear weapons from getting into our waterways,” Alexander said. “That day, I made a personal commitment to address one of the biggest problems we have from the Cold War era—mercury contamination—and help fund a solution. Today, I am proud to see that we are breaking ground on the new water treatment facility.”

Site preparation for the new Mercury Treatment Facility is expected to start this year, with the rest of construction beginning in late 2018. The facility is expected to start operating in late 2022.

The treatment plant will allow workers to demolish four large buildings where mercury, a toxic metal, was once used: Alpha 2, Alpha 4, Alpha 5, and Beta 4. Work on those buildings, mostly on the west side of Y-12, could start by 2024. [Read more…]

Council asks UPF project director to postpone removal of trees on top of Pine Ridge

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A letter unanimously approved by Oak Ridge City Council on Monday, Nov. 13, 2017, asks federal officials to postpone a project to remove trees and other vegetation from the top of Pine Ridge, pictured above from South Illinois Avenue in south Oak Ridge, for 161-kilovolt power lines that will provide electricity to a new substation at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A letter unanimously approved by Oak Ridge City Council on Monday, Nov. 13, 2017, asks federal officials to postpone a project to remove trees and other vegetation from the top of Pine Ridge, pictured above from South Illinois Avenue in south Oak Ridge, for 161-kilovolt power lines that will provide electricity to a new substation at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A letter unanimously approved by Oak Ridge City Council on Monday asks federal officials to postpone a project to remove trees and other vegetation from the top of Pine Ridge for 161-kilovolt power lines that will provide electricity to a new substation at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Among the City Council concerns: They only recently learned of the project, they don’t know what other options were considered, and they are worried about the visual impact of 79-foot transmission towers being located on top of Pine Ridge. Also, Council members said, there has been no public discussion about the project until two weeks before the logging operation was scheduled to start on Thursday, November 16.

The clearing work is part of a project to build a new substation at Y-12. It will replace an existing substation that is “nearing the end of its service life,” according to information presented to City Council and some community members. The tree removal will allow the 161-kilovolt power lines to be installed in the cleared area. The area to be cleared is on top of the ridge, about 2.1 miles long, and it will support a right-of-way that is about 100 feet wide. The electrical line would run from east to west on Pine Ridge, according to a report to City Council from Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson. All of the work would be on U.S. Department of Energy property, officials said.

The new substation will service all of Y-12, but it is being built as a subproject of the Uranium Processing Facility. It would be near UPF on the west side of Y-12. [Read more…]

Construction documents submitted for new museum at Main Street Oak Ridge

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former-sears-roebuck-co-oak-ridge-jan-2-2017-web

An agreement signed Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, by the U.S. Department of Energy and City of Oak Ridge calls for the American Museum of Science and Energy missions to be relocated within about one year to 18,000 square feet of space in a two-story building that once housed a Sears Roebuck store next to JCPenney at Main Street Oak Ridge. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Construction documents have been submitted to the City of Oak Ridge for the new museum at Main Street Oak Ridge, and the American Museum of Science and Energy will continue to be at its current location past the end of the year, municipal and federal officials said this week.

It’s not clear when AMSE might open at its new home at Main Street Oak Ridge, the 58-acre project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall.

On Monday, John Shewairy, assistant manager for administration in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office, said the construction documents were also expected to be submitted to a contractor for pricing this week.

“We don’t yet have an estimated opening date for the museum in its new location because the construction schedule is still being finalized,” Shewairy said.

On Friday, Wayne Blasius, director of Oak Ridge Community Development, confirmed that the city has received the construction documents for the new museum at Main Street Oak Ridge. The construction documents for the new museum are now under staff review, Blasius said. It’s not clear how long that review might take. The submission of the documents is for a building permit, which does not require the approval of either the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission or Oak Ridge City Council. [Read more…]

Public hearing for renewal of hazardous waste permit at ORNL on Nov. 30

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A roadside sign posted near the intersection of Scarboro Road and Bethel Valley Road announces a meeting on Nov. 30, 2017, for the renewal of a hazardous waste permit for the U.S. Department of Energy/UT-Battelle at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

A roadside sign posted near the intersection of Scarboro Road and Bethel Valley Road announces a hearing on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, for the renewal of a hazardous waste permit for the U.S. Department of Energy/UT-Battelle at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

 

There is a public hearing on Thursday, November 30, for the renewal of a hazardous waste permit at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

It’s a routine renewal of a U.S. Department of Energy/UT-Battelle permit, ORNL said Monday. It’s for the renewal of DOE/UT-Battelle’s RCRA Part B Hazardous Waste Permit TNHW-134.

RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) is the public law that creates the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste.

The permit was issued by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in September 2008. [Read more…]

Groundbreaking scheduled for Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12

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The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

 

A groundbreaking has been scheduled for Monday morning for the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Y-12 operations have historically used large amounts of mercury, and many of the buildings, now in varying states of deterioration, have mercury contamination, a media advisory said.

“The treatment facility will lower existing mercury levels from past releases and will serve as a guard against a potential increase in releases as mercury-contaminated buildings are demolished,” the media advisory said.

Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette will attend the groundbreaking, which is at Y-12 and not open to the public. U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, both Tennessee Republicans, will also attend the groundbreaking, the media advisory said.

The groundbreaking is being presented by the U.S. Department of Energy and URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, DOE’s cleanup contractor at federal sites in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

China passes U.S. in number of top supercomputers; ORNL’s Titan drops to 5th

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The Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is pictured above. (Photo by ORNL/U.S. Department of Energy)

The Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is pictured above. (Photo by ORNL/U.S. Department of Energy)

 

China has passed the United States in the total number of top ranked supercomputers, and Titan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has dropped from fourth to fifth on the TOP500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers.

The TOP500 list is released twice a year, once in June and once in November. It is based on a benchmark test known as Linpack.

Titan at ORNL dropped from third to fourth in June, bumped from the number three spot by the upgraded Piz Daint, a Cray XC50 system installed at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. Titan is capable of 17.59 petaflops. A petaflop is one quadrillion calculations per second. That’s 1,000 trillion calculations per second. Piz Daint is capable of 19.59 petaflops.

That power is useful in scientific research. At ORNL, Titan is used for research in areas such as materials science, nuclear energy, combustion, and climate science. ORNL is a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory.

Titan slipped one more spot in this month’s list, from fourth to fifth. It was displaced by the upgraded Gyoukou supercomputer. That is a ZettaScaler-2.2 system capable of 19.14 petaflops and deployed at Japan’s Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, the home of the Earth Simulator. [Read more…]

DOE names Jay Mullis as new cleanup manager in Oak Ridge

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Jay Mullis

Jay Mullis

 

He’s been the acting manager, and on Wednesday, Jay Mullis was named manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. That’s the office that oversees federal cleanup projects at East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex.

Mullis has served as the OREM acting manager since October 2016, and he has served as the deputy manager since February 2015. He has 30 years of federal service, a press release said.

OREM is responsible for environmental cleanup across the 32,400-acre Oak Ridge Reservation, which includes ETTP, ORNL, and Y-12.

“Specifically, Mullis will oversee environmental cleanup and stewardship, decontamination and decommissioning activities, waste processing and management, surveillance and maintenance programs, historic preservation efforts, and procurement and contract functions,” the press release said. [Read more…]

With $3 billion in savings expected, not clear how much saved at Y-12, Pantex so far

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Y-12 National Security Complex

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above. (File photo/B&W Y-12)

 

More than $3 billion in savings are expected during a decade, but it’s not clear yet how much money has been saved after three years under a consolidated contract at two nuclear weapons plants in Tennessee and Texas.

The savings of $3.27 billion are expected under a contract that could last 10 years at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

On Monday, officials said Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, the contractor at the two sites, has generated significant savings in three fiscal years, although it’s not clear exactly how much they’ve saved. CNS has managed and operated Y-12 and Pantex Plant since July 1, 2014.

Federal officials announced the expected savings of $3.27 billion during a decade when the five-year contract was announced in January 2013. Officials said the consolidated contract, the result of years of work, could save money in part by eliminating redundancies in such areas as human resources, purchasing, finance, and information technology. [Read more…]