Oak Ridge Today

Kairos Power, TVA to collaborate on low-power demonstration reactor

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An aerial view of the K-33 site at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, in west Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy TVA)

The Tennessee Valley Authority and Kairos Power plan to collaborate on setting up a low-power demonstration reactor at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

As part of this agreement, TVA said in a press release Thursday that itwill provide engineering, operations, and licensing support to help Kairos Power deploy the reactor, named Hermes.

“Teamwork is the hallmark of the nuclear industry and, through this partnership with Kairos Power, we can share TVA’s safety and innovation insights to advance nuclear technology while gaining experience with licensing for advanced reactors,” said TVA President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Lyash. “Nuclear power is the key to fueling our economy with reliable, affordable, and clean electricity, and it is critical to our national security.”

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Commercial horse stables, horse therapy proposed near Big Turtle Park

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Commercial horse stables and horse-based therapy programs have been proposed near Big Turtle Park in west Oak Ridge on about 31 acres at the end of Hermitage Boulevard. (Aerial property image from Oak Ridge Board of Zoning Appeals agenda)

Commercial horse stables and horse-based therapy programs have been proposed near Big Turtle Park in west Oak Ridge.

The Oak Ridge Board of Zoning Appeals will consider a special exception to allow the commercial facility in a residential/open space district on Tuesday, May 11.

The request has been sought by Sean and Sara Pennington, who could buy roughly 31 acres at the end of Hermitage Boulevard for the project. The property is currently owned by the owner of an adjacent single-family lot, Joseph and Tanya Tuminello.

“The stables are intended to board horses and provide people with horse-based therapy programs,” according to a staff report for the zoning appeals board.

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Tim Shelton seeks re-election as AC register of deeds

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Tim Shelton

Anderson County Register of Deeds Tim Shelton will seek re-election to a four-year term in the county elections next year.

Shelton has served as register of deeds since September 2002, and he has received statewide recognition for his work. Shelton was recognized as Tennessee’s register of the year in 2004 and 2009, and he was elected as president of the Tennessee Register of Deeds Association in 2005, a press release said.

He was elected as president of the County Officials Association of Tennessee in 2013.

“In 2017, Shelton received the ultimate award for a county elected official by being selected as the county official of the year for the State of Tennessee,” the press release said.

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History of death penalty in Tennessee to be discussed today

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Hemant Sharma

The history of the death penalty in Tennessee will be discussed in a lunchtime meeting today (Tuesday, May 4).

The meeting is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. It will be virtual (online). The speaker will be University of Tennessee Lecturer Hemant Sharma.

Along with John M. Scheb, head of the Political Science Department at the University of Tennessee/Knoxville, and others, Sharma authored the 2013 study “Race and the Death Penalty: An Empirical Assessment of First Degree Murder Convictions in Tennessee after Gregg v. Georgia,” a press release said. Published in the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice, the study analyzed 1,068 first-degree murder convictions in the state following the 1976 Supreme Court decision that ended the four-year court moratorium on the death penalty across the nation.

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THDA grant will help with down payment assistance in Oak Ridge

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Pictured above in front row are, left to right, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, Oak Ridge Housing Authority Commissioner Tom Beehan, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, state Rep. John Ragan, ORHA Executive Director Maria Catron, and Tennessee Housing Development Agency Industry and Government Affairs Liaison Katie Moore; and back row, left to right, ORHA Commissioner Jim Palmer, ORHA Board Chair Jean Lantrip, and ORHA Board Secretary Sharon Crane. (Photo courtesy THDA)

The Tennessee Housing Development Agency has awarded a $106,000 HOME Program grant to the Oak Ridge Housing Authority that will be used to help low-income families purchase a new home.

The Oak Ridge Housing Authority will use the funding to provide assistance up to $14,999 to cover down payment and closing costs for eligible first-time home buyers living in the city limits, a press release said.

“A down payment is often the biggest hurdle to overcome for working families wanting to buy a home,” THDA Executive Director Ralph M. Perrey said. “These funds will allow first-time home buyers who would otherwise be able to afford a mortgage payment to overcome that obstacle.”

ORHA Executive Director Maria Catron said the grant will be used to help low-to-moderate income families, with the exact amount awarded based on the gap needed to cover the buyer’s down payment and closing costs.

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Final Breakfast with the Legislators of the year is Monday

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The final Breakfast with the Legislators of this year is on Monday. The meeting will be virtual, meaning you can access it online.

The meeting is scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Monday, April 26. It is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.

Tennessee senators Randy McNally and Ken Yager and representatives John Ragan and Kent Calfee have been invited to share an update about the current session of the Tennessee General Assembly, a press release said.

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National Park Service asks for public comments about Manhattan Project Park

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An undated aerial photo posted online by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management shows the former K-25 Building, once the world’s largest building, in west Oak Ridge. The building has been demolished, but its history is being preserved, including at the new K-25 History Center.

The National Park Service is asking for public comments about the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The comments are being sought as the Park Service prepares an interpretive plan for park programming, exhibits, and media, a press release said. The goal is to capture many different experiences and perspectives.

Discussions with the public are being organized by theme and region. The discussions focused on regions concentrate on the areas around the three Manhattan Project park locations: Hanford, Washington; Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Because of COVID-19, all events will be held virtually (online), the press release said.

The public meetings are Tuesday to Thursday this week. Here is the schedule:

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ORAU will support COVID-19 communications for CDC Office of Minority Health & Health Equity

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Part of the ORAU campus in central Oak Ridge is pictured above on May 29, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

ORAU was recently awarded a contract by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of Minority Health and Health Equity (OMHHE) to provide technical communications support to the office and three COVID-19 award recipients.

ORAU will advise the development of awardee health communication plans and materials targeting limited English proficiency audiences, such as Hispanic or Asian/Pacific Islander populations, as well as help increase the communications capacity of OMHHE to respond to COVID-19 in these and other high-risk communities, a press release said. [Read more…]

Governor authorizes $10,000 reward in Thomas Thrasher death investigation

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Rolling Hills Apartments Building
The Oak Ridge Police Department and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated the death of a 29-year-old man found dead in a second-floor apartment at this Rolling Hills Apartments building in Oak Ridge on Monday, Dec. 8, 2014. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has authorized a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person or people responsible for killing Thomas Steven “T.S.” Thrasher in Oak Ridge on December 8, 2014, Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark said Monday.

The reward was requested by Clark.

Thrasher was found dead in his home from a gunshot wound more than six years ago. He and his family lived at 615 West Vanderbilt Drive in the Rolling Hills Apartment Complex in Oak Ridge. Thrasher’s death was investigated by the Oak Ridge Police Department and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

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Motorsports park will not be built in Oak Ridge

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Horizon-Center-Motorsports-Track-6-Feb-11-2020
Part of the site where a test track and research facility or motorsports park was proposed on the back side of Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The proposed motorsports park will not be built in Oak Ridge, the developer announced Tuesday after learning that an environmental impact statement would be required, and that the study could cost several million dollars and take several years.

Rusty Bittle, developer and founding partner of the Oak Ridge Motorsports Park, said he would try to relocate the proposed project. The name will be changed as well, Bittle said.

“After more than a year of discussions between the City of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, and the U.S. Department of Energy, Bittle decided to relocate the project to another East Tennessee community that offers more attractive options for the project,” a press release said.

“An East Tennessee motorsports park is a legacy project for me,” Bittle said in the press release. “The State of Tennessee has a reputation for automotive excellence, we are leading the way on advanced transportation technologies like electric vehicles, lightweight composites, and artificial intelligence. A motorsports park will help the state and host community build an international reputation for next generation transportation technologies and become a tourism destination for automotive enthusiasts.”

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Political redistricting to be discussed at Lunch with League

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Debby Gould

Political redistricting will be discussed at Lunch with the League in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, April 20.

The virtual meeting is scheduled to start at noon April 20. It is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.

The featured speaker will be Debby Gould, first vice president of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.

She will “share information on the League’s efforts to facilitate fair and equitable redistricting in our state and nation through its People Powered Fair Maps national redistricting program, which aims to create fair political maps nationwide in all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” a press release said.

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Death penalty to be discussed at Lunch with League

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Marshall Jensen

The death penalty in America will be discussed during a Lunch with the League meeting at noon today (Tuesday, April 6).

The virtual meeting is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. It will feature Marshall Jensen, a federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee. His talk is titled “‘Spaces of Sorrow Only God Can Touch’: The Death Penalty in Modern America.”

“Most people think that those on death row must be the worst of the worst,” Jensen said in a press release. “But when we examine who ends up on death row in America, what they share is they almost uniformly tend to be poor, mentally ill, intellectually disabled, or suffer from some form of organic brain damage.”

Having served as a federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee in the Capital Habeas Unit since January 2020, Jensen represents people sentenced to death in their final, federal appeals before execution, the press release said. Prior to this work, he served as an assistant public defender at the Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office, where he represented indigent individuals in Knox County criminal courts.

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