Oak Ridge Today

Panel discussion to feature author, Y-12 Manhattan Project workers

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Denise Kiernan

Denise Kiernan

Best-selling author Denise Kiernan will host a panel discussion with women employed at Oak Ridge during the top-secret Manhattan Project of World War II.

The panel discussion will start at 6 p.m. Wednesday, September 23, at the American Museum of Science and Energy. Admission is free.

Kiernan is the award-winning author of “The Girls of Atomic City,” a New York Times best-seller that tells the story of the women who worked at Oak Ridge during the war years.

Some of these women, known as “Calutron Girls,” adjusted dials that controlled the workings of the 1,152 calutrons used to separate isotopes of U-235 from naturally occurring uranium, a press release said. The work fueled “Little Boy,” the first nuclear bomb used in warfare. [Read more…]

Construction on Y-12 mercury treatment plant could start in 2018, cost $146 million

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Y-12 Process Buildings and Mercury Use Area

Note: This story was last updated at 3:30 p.m.

Construction on a mercury treatment plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex could start in 2018 and cost $146 million, a federal official said Wednesday.

The plant would treat mercury contamination that originates in the West End Mercury Area at Y-12, flows through storm drains, and enters Upper East Fork Poplar Creek at a point known as Outfall 200. East Fork Poplar Creek flows through Oak Ridge.

The U.S. Department of Energy has evaluated several alternatives for treating the mercury, including doing nothing. But DOE prefers an option that would treat 3,000 gallons of contaminated water per minute and store two million gallons of stormwater. It could reduce the flow of mercury, a toxic metal, by an estimated 84 percent. [Read more…]

CNS, Auburn agree to collaborate in areas ranging from computing to tool development

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John Mason of Auburn and Mike Beck of CNS

John Mason, left, Auburn University vice president of research and economic development, and CNS vice president for mission engineering Mike Beck sign a memorandum of understanding that will allow the two entities to collaborate on projects. (Photo submitted by Auburn)

 

Consolidated Nuclear Security, which operates the Y-12 National Security Complex, recently signed an agreement with Auburn University with the goal of creating collaborations in areas ranging from computing to advanced machine tool development, a press release said.

The partnership between the university and CNS, which also manages and operates the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, was created to formalize areas of interest, identify potential collaborative, and cooperative efforts, and establish a framework and boundaries for future discussions, the press release said.

“By combining the talents and resources of Auburn and Y-12, we’re creating a pipeline that flows both ways,” said Mike Beck, CNS vice president for mission engineering. “We look forward to working with some of the university’s brightest students as interns and grads to help us meet our important national security mission, and we are hopeful they can use our real-world manufacturing environment to help develop and prove some of their projects.” [Read more…]

CNS research teams named 2015 R&D 100 Award finalists

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LISe Thermal Neutron Imager Sensor Board

The LISe Thermal Neutron Imager sensor board bears the Y‑12 and UT logos. At the center is the lithium crystal that creates the images. The imager is nominated for a 2015 R&D 100 Award. (Photo by Y-12 National Security Complex)

 

CNS partners with universities on significant technology advances

Two teams of Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC researchers at the Y-12 National Security Complex are finalists in the 2015 R&D 100 Awards program.

The LISe Thermal Neutron Imager, or LTNI, and a sensor named ChIMES, which is short for Chemical Identification by Magneto-Elastic Sensing, were selected as finalists by a panel of 70 independent judges. The winners will be announced November 13 at the conference in Las Vegas.

LTNI (pronounced litany) was developed through a collaboration with three Tennessee universities—the University of Tennessee, Fisk University, and Vanderbilt University. The imager builds upon a lithium crystal that won an R&D 100 Award in 2013. Applications for the imager include research, diagnostics/medical imaging, law enforcement, and national security. [Read more…]

Two UT College of Engineering groups finalists for R&D 100 List

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By University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee College of Engineering recently got some good news, as R&D Magazine named two research groups to its list of finalists for the R&D 100.

The joint UT-Y12 Lithium Indium Diselenide Thermal Neutron Imager (LTNI) project includes Assistant Professor Eric Lukosi and Y-12 Joint Assistant Professor Ashley Stowe, both of nuclear engineering, while the joint UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Universal Grid Monitoring and Analyzing System (UGMAS) includes Governor’s Chair Yilu Liu, Research Assistant Professor Yong Liu, and Lingwei Zhan of electrical engineering and computer science.

A panel of judges and editors selected groups for inclusion as nominees based on the magazine’s determination of the most technologically significant products introduced in the past year. [Read more…]

Three years after break-in, protesters return to Y-12

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Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed at Y-12

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalized a uranium storage building three years ago returned to the nuclear weapons plant during a march in Oak Ridge on Saturday. The three protesters—from left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed—object to nuclear weapons and the planned Uranium Processing Facility. Here they are pictured on Scarboro Road across from Y-12. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 a.m. August 9.

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex and vandalized a uranium storage building three years ago returned to the nuclear weapons plant during a march in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

The march and rally were organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance as part of a series of events that commemorate the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, near the end of World War II. Uranium for the first bomb, the Little Boy atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was enriched at Y-12.

The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—were convicted on two felony charges on May 8, 2013, in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. But their conviction on the more serious felony sabotage charge was overturned two years later, on May 8, 2015, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli were released on May 16 and have a re-sentencing hearing on September 15 in Knoxville. [Read more…]

Three Y-12 protesters will discuss Oak Ridge action in first public reunion since prison

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012, and vandalized a uranium storage building. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex three years ago and vandalized the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility will discuss their Oak Ridge action in their first public reunion since they were released from prison in May.

Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli will speak at the Church of the Savior (UCC) in Knoxville at 7 p.m. today (Friday, August 7).

Their sabotage conviction from the July 28, 2012, incident was overturned earlier this year. Since their release from prison in May, the three protesters, who are described as nonviolent peace activists, have appeared on national and international news programs, organizers said. [Read more…]

OREPA has events in Oak Ridge, Knoxville on 70th anniversary of WWII bombings

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Ralph Hutchison

Ralph Hutchison

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance has a series of events in Oak Ridge and Knoxville this week on the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II.

The events will recall the bombings and address present-day nuclear weapons production, a press release said.

The events kicked off with an evening with Gar Alperovitz, author of “The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb,” at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville on Sunday and continued on Monday with faith leaders speaking about the bomb in Market Square in Knoxville.

They continue today (Tuesday, August 4.) Here’s the schedule: [Read more…]

UCOR recognizes small businesses at awards ceremony

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Karen Reeve and Tim Melberg

Karen Reeve, UCOR small business manager, and Tim Melberg, UCOR supply chain manager, present the 2015 UCOR Small Business Awards. (Photo courtesy UCOR)

 

UCOR, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for the Oak Ridge Reservation, presented awards to seven small businesses at its annual Small Business Awards ceremony, held Monday, July 27, at the Double Tree Hotel in Oak Ridge.

The categories and winners are: [Read more…]

Y-12 raises $13,759 for Anderson County Relay for Life

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Joe Marshall

Joe Marshall is one of Y-12’s cancer survivors who took his victory lap at the Anderson County Relay for Life. (Photo by Y-12)

Employees at Y-12 National Security Complex raised $13,759 for Anderson County Relay for Life, which raises money to help fight cancer.

Here is more information from Y-12:

Joe Marshall is one of Y-12’s cancer survivors who took his victory lap at the Anderson County Relay for Life.

What do relays, races, and regattas have in common? They’re all ways Y‑12 employees stay active and support the community.

After hours, Y‑12ers are all about staying active and supporting their communities. Here’s a roundup of the activities: [Read more…]

UT, CNS support camp that lets students study space shuttle debris

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Shuttle Debris at UT, CNS, ASM Camp

CNS Y-12’s Steve Dekanich holds up a piece of the remains of the space shuttle Columbia during a materials science camp session on Monday. (Submitted photo)

 

KNOXVILLE—An ASM International Materials Camp supported by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and scientists at CNS Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is giving local students the chance to study debris from the space shuttle Columbia, with an eye on improving materials used in space flight.

“This is a great opportunity for local kids to get involved with materials science and see how it affects a lot of different disciplines,” said Steve Dekanich, senior metallurgist at CNS Y-12 and the leader of this year’s camp. “People can tend to focus on the really specialized things that materials science studies, but the reality is that it plays a part in many things that people don’t realize, from energy to design.”

Dekanich recalled how he met NASA’s Steve McDanels at a conference in Hawaii, with the two hitting it off immediately.

McDanels, who heads up NASA’s materials science division at Kennedy Space Center, has spent years doing studies and analysis for the agency, including work related to the shuttles, the International Space Station, and various hardware. He offered Dekanich the chance to have his campers study NASA debris for the first time in 2006, with the offer being gladly accepted. [Read more…]

DOE Oak Ridge awards $33.4 million telecommunications contract

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DOE Oak Ridge Telecommunications Contract

Robert Forshay, left, partner alliance manager with Black Box Network Services, and Kevin Hall, manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office, sign a telecommunications contract for the Oak Ridge Federal Integrated Communications Network. (DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Integrated Support Center-Oak Ridge has awarded a $33.4 million telecommunications contract to Mutual Telecom Services Inc., doing business as Black Box Network Services, or Black Box.

Black Box is responsible for providing operations, maintenance, and upgrades to the Oak Ridge Federal Integrated Communications Network at the Oak Ridge Townsite, East Tennessee Technology Park, Y-12 National Security Complex, Office of Secure Transportation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. The Oak Ridge Townsite refers to the Federal Building, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Building 2714 Complex, and various locations in the local vicinity.

“We are pleased to announce Black Box as the Oak Ridge Reservation’s integrated telecom service provider,” Oak Ridge Office Manager Kevin Hall said. “This selection comes after many months of evaluations by our selection team for this crucial service, and we are excited to have Black Box on board as our new partner.”

The company has more than 30 years of experience supporting U.S. government locations with similar needs and requirements. Black Box is located in Needham, Massachusetts. The contract has a two-year base and three one-year options. A 90-day transition begins on June 1.