Oak Ridge Today

Peace group wants fence removed from longtime Y-12 protest area

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Y-12 Fence on Scarboro Road

The temporary fence erected at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex encloses an area, pictured above, that has been used for protests and vigils for years. An Oak Ridge organization that wants to eradicate nuclear weapons has asked a federal court to order the removal of the fence before an Aug. 6 ceremony.

Calling it an assault on their First Amendment rights, an Oak Ridge organization has again asked a federal court to order officials to remove a fence that blocks an area long used for protests, vigils, and demonstrations in front of the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, which opposes Y-12’s nuclear weapons production work, filed the preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Friday. The lawsuit, which amends a complaint filed in April, names new U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz as the sole defendant.

OREPA wants the U.S. Department of Energy to reopen a small grass field near Y-12’s main entrance at East Bear Creek and Scarboro roads before an annual Aug. 6 demonstration. If it is left in place, the temporary fence erected April 1 would cause “irreparable harm” to First Amendment rights—including the rights of free speech, peaceful assembly, and the ability to petition the government for a redress of grievances, OREPA said. [Read more…]

TVA releasing dam water to reduce Tennessee River flooding

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The Tennessee Valley Authority on Wednesday said it is working to move large volumes of water—as much as one million gallons per second in some places—along the Tennessee River system to reduce potentially damaging flooding from record rainfall.

TVA said it prepared for this event by lowering reservoir levels on the main channel of the Tennessee River beginning the last week of June, leaving some areas below normal for this time of year. [Read more…]

UT releases policy brief on selling TVA

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KNOXVILLE—The Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has released a policy brief summarizing factors the federal government should consider while making its decision of whether or not to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority.

In his proposed fiscal year 2014 budget, President Barack Obama suggested the federal government consider selling TVA. There are several factors that may affect the federal government’s final decision on the matter, including TVA’s ability to be self-sufficient and the absence of federal money in its programs since 1999. Mary English, Baker Center Fellow for Energy and Environmental Policy, summarizes these factors in the brief, titled “Should the Federal Government Sell TVA?”

[Read more…]

Obama administration delays employer health care mandate until 2015

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Mark Mazur

Mark Mazur

Responding to business concerns, the Obama administration announced Tuesday that it would delay until 2015 the new health care law’s mandate that employers provide workers with health insurance.

New reporting requirements of the Affordable Care Act will also be delayed a year. Questions about the new employer mandate and reporting requirements have been a concern for businesses across the nation, including in and around Oak Ridge.

“We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively,” said Mark J. Mazur, assistant secretary for tax policy. Mazur made the announcement on the U.S. Treasury Department’s website. [Read more…]

TVA finishes excavating spilled coal ash at Kingston plant, starts covering disposal area

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Kingston Fossil Plant Ash Spill Cleanup

Ash that spilled into the brown embayment pictured above has been removed, and workers are placing a black liner over an ash containment cell, pictured at center, preparing to close it late next year. More than 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled in December 2008 when a storage cell used by the Kingston Fossil Plant, back left, failed.

KINGSTON—It was the largest ash spill in U.S. history. A dike failed on a storage cell on a cold December night more than four years ago, and roughly 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash surged out, covering about 300 acres of land and water near the Kingston Fossil Plant.

No one was injured, but 40 homes in the area were affected. The ash filled three embayments north of the coal-fired plant, covered Swan Pond Road, and flowed into the Emory River. Three homes became uninhabitable because of structural damage.

The work to clean up the gray sludge, which had been four to six feet deep, has been under way since the Dec. 22, 2008, spill. On Friday, officials paused to celebrate two milestones in the six-year, $1.2 billion project. [Read more…]

Sen. Alexander, others introduce bipartisan nuclear waste legislation

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

Four U.S. senators, including Lamar Alexander, introduced a bipartisan, comprehensive plan this week that they said would safeguard and permanently dispose of tens of thousands of tons of dangerous radioactive nuclear waste currently accumulating at sites dispersed across the country.

A press release said the proposal, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013, would establish a new nuclear waste administration and create a consent-based process for siting nuclear waste facilities. It would also enable the federal government to “address its commitment to managing commercial nuclear waste, limiting the costly liability the government bears for its failure to dispose of commercial spent fuel.

“The integrated storage and repository system established by this legislation will expand opportunities for nuclear power to supply low-carbon energy, and will provide long-term protection of public health and safety for both commercial and defense high-level waste,” the release said. [Read more…]

Alexander proposes National Day of Remembrance for nuclear workers

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

Earlier this month, U.S. Sen Lamar Alexander introduced a resolution to designate Oct. 30, 2013, as the fifth National Day of Remembrance for nuclear weapons program workers.

“In Tennessee, more than 14,000 workers have made claims for compensation, many of whom worked countless hours with hazardous materials to build our country’s nuclear deterrent,” Alexander said. “Many Americans labored behind the scenes, and Tennesseans—like those from Anderson and Roane counties, for example—filed more claims than any other state. It’s these workers, and those all around the country, whose sacrifice we seek to honor with this day of remembrance.” [Read more…]

Federal decision on new protest of Y-12, Pantex contract due Sept. 25

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Y-12 National Security Complex

Y-12 National Security Complex (Submitted photo)

Federal officials have a Sept. 25 deadline to rule on a new protest filed last week by one of the two teams that lost a contract competition earlier this year to manage two nuclear weapons plants in Tennessee and Texas.

The new bid protest was filed on June 17 by Nuclear Production Partners LLC, or NP2, a team led by Babcock and Wilcox Co. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has 100 days to respond to the latest protest but could issue a decision earlier.

The bid protest is related to the consolidated management and operating contract at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. [Read more…]

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

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Y-12 National Security Complex

Y-12 National Security Complex (Submitted photo)

The Babcock and Wilcox Company announced Monday that Nuclear Production Partners LLC, or NP2, has filed a new protest with the Government Accountability Office related to the combined management and operating contract at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.

“NP2 has expressed concern over the fairness of the procurement and selection process and the form and scope of the revised request for proposals issued to bidders on June 6,” a press release said. [Read more…]

House passes Manhattan Project national park bill that would include Oak Ridge

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X-10 Graphite Reactor

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park would include the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Submitted photo)

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday took an essential step toward establishing a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that could include Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, N.M., and Hanford, Wash., a nonprofit organization said.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act was included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the House passed Friday, the Atomic Heritage Foundation said in an e-mail.

“The new national park will be the first to recognize the top-secret project in World War II that changed the course of world history, science, and society,” the foundation said. [Read more…]

Organizing for Action has Climate Cleanup at Melton Lake Park on Saturday

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Organizing for Action will be holding an event on Saturday called Climate Cleanup. This event will take place at 3:30 p.m. and be held at the pavilion at Melton Lake Park next to the New China Place restaurant in Oak Ridge.

Climate Cleanup will start with Organizing for Action fellow Scott Julius giving a speech about climate change, why the climate change deniers are wrong, and how this problem impacts Tennessee. His assistant Rose Williams will give a short speech about what one can do to help. Their goal is to encourage people to contact senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander to get them to sponsor comprehensive climate change legislation.

After the speeches, a  cleanup will take place to help remove litter from the park, allowing those present to do something tangible to help the environment. [Read more…]

U.S. Postal Service can ask for mailbox move, but can’t require it, spokesman says

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The letter that told some postal customers in Oak Ridge that they would have to move their mailboxes should not have been sent out, a spokesman said Tuesday.

WYSH Radio in Clinton reported last week that the letters were sent to some postal customers in Oak Ridge who still use house boxes to receive their mail. It said customers had 10 days to switch to a curbside mailbox before “mail received at the box will be returned to sender,” the radio station reported.

But on Tuesday, David Walton, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in the Tennessee District, said the federal agency can’t force a customer to move his or her mailbox. [Read more…]