Oak Ridge Today

Federal safety board to discuss Y-12 nuclear safety

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Y-12 National Security Complex Sign

A federal board meeting on nuclear safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been rescheduled for Dec. 10.

A federal board meeting on nuclear safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been rescheduled for Dec. 10.

The day-long public meeting and hearing of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board had originally been scheduled for Oct. 22. But it was postponed because of the partial federal government shutdown that started Oct. 1 and ended Oct. 17.

The board will still meet at the Knoxville Convention Center, and the meeting will still include two sessions. The first is from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, and the second is from 2 to 6 p.m. [Read more…]

Alexander opposes cell phone calls on airplanes as FCC considers rule change

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KLM 747

A low-flying KLM 747 airplane is pictured above. (Photo by Kitty Terwolbeck/Creative Commons License 2.0)

A proposed rule change announced Thursday that would allow air travelers to make cell phone calls above 10,000 feet has already generated a backlash.

On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said he would also oppose the move.

“Imagine two million passengers, hurtling through space, trapped in 17-inch-wide seats, yapping their innermost thoughts,” Alexander said. “The Transportation Security Administration would have to hire three times as many air marshals to deal with the fistfights.”

On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission said it will consider changing the rules, which Chairman Tom Wheeler called out-of-date. The change would also allow air travelers to use their cellular data plans above 10,000 feet. Restrictions would remain for takeoffs and landings. [Read more…]

TVA retiring eight coal units at three plants

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Colbert Fossil Plant

The Tennessee Valley Authority is retiring all five coal units at the Colbert Fossil Plant on the Pickwick Reservoir on the Tennessee River in Alabama. (Photo courtesy TVA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors recently approved a plan that will retire eight coal units at three plants with more than 3,000 megawatts of combined generating capacity.

The retirements affect all five coal units at the Colbert Fossil Plant in Tuscumbia, Ala.; one of two operating coal units at Widows Creek Fossil Plant in Stevenson, Ala., and two of three coal units at the Paradise Fossil Plant near Central City, Ky. Paradise Unit 3, one of TVA’s largest coal units, will continue to operate.

A number of these units were already idled or scheduled for idling and/or retirement based on an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, TVA said in a press release. [Read more…]

President Obama announces more DOE nominations, including science director

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WASHINGTON, D.C.— President Barack Obama recently announced plans to nominate two people to top U.S. Department of Energy posts, including a director of the Office of Science.

The Office of Science is responsible for 10 of the 17 DOE labs, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Obama nominated Marc Kastner to serve as director of the Office of Science and Franklin Orr to serve as DOE under secretary for science and energy.

“I am confident that these outstanding individuals will greatly serve the American people in their new roles, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years to come,” Obama said in a press release.

Here is more information about the two candidates: [Read more…]

TVA tax equivalent payments total $547 million in 2013

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Submitted

KNOXVILLE—The Tennessee Valley Authority provided $547 million in tax equivalent payments in fiscal year 2013 to states and local governments where it sells electricity or has power properties.

TVA pays tax equivalent payments annually in the eight states where it sells electricity or owns generating plants, transmission lines, substations and other assets, and directly to 146 local governments where TVA owns power facilities. [Read more…]

Sen. Corker in Oak Ridge on Tuesday

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U.S. Senator Bob Corker

Bob Corker

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., will be in East Tennessee on Tuesday, and he will make stops in Knoxville and Oak Ridge.

Corker is scheduled to be at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday afternoon. His brief visit to the Chamber will be with Millennium Partners only.

“At events in Knox and Anderson counties, Corker will discuss his work to solve the big problems facing our country,” a press release said. “In Knoxville, Corker will address family business owners and entrepreneurs at an event hosted by The Legacy Centre, an organization working to grow companies through educational programs, peer advisory groups and professional resources. Later, Corker will address business and community leaders at an event hosted by the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.” [Read more…]

B&W-led team files new protest on Y-12, Pantex contract

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Y-12 National Security Complex Aerial View

The bidding team led by the Babcock and Wilcox Co. has filed a third protest over the contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, pictured above, and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. (Photo courtesy B&W Y-12)

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—The bidding team led by the Babcock and Wilcox Co. has filed a third protest over the contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.

B&W announced the protest by the bidding team, Nuclear Production Partners LLC, or NP2, on Wednesday night. It was filed with the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

“This protest encompasses concerns identified in NP2’s June 17, 2013, protest of the revised Request for Proposals,” a B&W press release said. “The protest also reflects information received during the National Nuclear Security Administration’s debriefing session held on November 15.”

The June protest was the second filed by NP2, of Lynchburg, Va. The company had also filed one after the National Nuclear Security Administration announced in January that it had selected Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC of Reston, Va., to manage the two nuclear weapons plants. [Read more…]

ORNL retiree recalls 1944 hospital bombing in Belgium

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Ernest Shepherd

Ernest Shepherd

Ernest Shepherd attended the Veterans Day ceremony on Monday at Oak Ridge National Laboratory wearing a uniform similar to what he wore in 1944 when the hospital he was working in as a medic in Belgium was hit with a German bomb.

Shepherd—89 years old and an ORNL retiree who treated wounded from the D-Day invasion prior to moving on to Belgium—would earn the Purple Heart for his heroics in the aftermath of the bombing.

“It blew out all the windows in that whole building,” recalled Shepherd, who was on the second floor when the bomb crashed into the hospital and exploded about 300 feet from where he was located. “It killed 29 people. There were between 12 to 15 air personnel killed, and one major who I really liked got killed. I got wounded in the face with shrapnel or flying glass. That’s how I earned the Purple Heart.” [Read more…]

ORNL: ‘Black Hawk Down’ commander still honors fallen soldiers

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Danny McKnight

Danny McKnight

Danny McKnight’s U.S Army Rangers’ unit was the focus of the movie “Black Hawk Down”—the story of a battle that occurred in Somalia 20 years ago.

McKnight told an audience at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Monday, Veterans Day, that he visits the six graves of men who lost their lives in that battle every five years as he did this past October.

“It reminds me of how special they were and still are to me,” said McKnight, a 28.5-year veteran of the Rangers and author of the book “Streets of Mogidishu—Leadership at Its Best” that recounts the battle of Oct. 3-4, 1993. “I want people to know about it because I want people to understand that’s what we need to do. I never want to forget them. I don’t care if they’ve been gone 50 years. As long as I can walk, talk and breathe every five years, they’ll see me. I know they see me.”

Three hundred people recently attended the unit’s first reunion in 20 years in October when they met in Dallas. [Read more…]

B&W seeks investors on program to build small nuclear reactors in Oak Ridge

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TVA Clinch River Site

The Babcock and Wilcox Co. has invested more than $360 million in a project that could result in a small nuclear reactor at the former Clinch River Breeder Reactor Site in west Oak Ridge, pictured above. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Valley Authority)

The Babcock and Wilcox Co. has already invested more than $360 million in a project that could result in a small nuclear reactor in west Oak Ridge, and now the North Carolina company is looking for investors and possibly majority owners.

The mPower small modular reactor, or SMR, program is expected to have a nuclear power plant operating at the former Clinch River Breeder Reactor Site by 2022. Initially, it could have two small reactors, a “twin pack,” and produce 360 megawatts.

On Wednesday, Marshall Cohen, B&W vice president for government affairs and communications, said the company is seeking major corporations who are interested in taking a “strong position,” up to and including ownership, including majority ownership.

“We would reduce our ownership to one that really matches the scope of work going forward,” Cohen said. [Read more…]

Alexander Inn groundbreaking, press conference Thursday

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Alexander Inn Ballroom Demolition

In June, workers had demolished the ballroom at the Alexander Inn, a historic, dilapidated two-story hotel that has been vacant for years and is now being converted into an assisted living facility. (File photo)

Local, state, and federal officials will join nonprofit and business executives for a formal groundbreaking and press conference on Thursday at the historic Alexander Inn, which is being converted into an assisted living center.

The press conference will start at 10 a.m. at the Guest House at the Alexander Inn Senior Living, which is at 210 E. Madison Road on the northwest side of Jackson Square. Representatives from the City of Oak Ridge, U.S. Department of Energy, Tennessee Historical Commission, East Tennessee Preservation Alliance, and Family Pride Corp. are all expected to take part.

The iconic two-story hotel had been unused for about two decades and fallen into disrepair. Family Pride Corp. has been rehabilitating the Manhattan Project-era building since May. It’s been stabilized, but the building will not be completed until mid-2014, a press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL receives GreenGov Presidential Award

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Central Campus

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s central campus is pictured above. (Courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Dept. of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory received one of eight GreenGov Presidential Awards announced Tuesday.

The lab won in the Good Neighbor category for a project titled “ORNL Good, Green, Sustainable Neighbor,” a press release said.

The fourth annual awards were announced by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. They honor federal civilian and military personnel as well as agency teams, facilities, and programs that have taken innovative steps to reduce energy use and carbon pollution, curb waste, and save taxpayer money in federal agency operations, the release said.

At a White House ceremony in Washington, D.C., senior administration officials recognized the eight award winners for exemplifying President Barack Obama’s charge to “lead by example and demonstrating extraordinary achievement in the pursuit of the president’s 2009 executive order on federal leadership in environmental, energy, and economic performance,” the release said. [Read more…]