Oak Ridge Today

Knoxville TV stations offer unique experiences for Children’s Museum Gala Auction

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Frank Murpjy, of WNOX radio, will emcee the Children's Museum Gala Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. (Submitted photo)

Frank Murpjy, of WNOX radio, will emcee the Children’s Museum Gala Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. (Submitted photo)

Celebrate Oak Ridge’s 75th birthday at Children’s Museum Gala

Knoxville’s three local TV stations are offering opportunities to shadow a meteorologist, be a news anchor in a mock news cast, and tour a haunted mansion, as auction experiences up for bid during a Gala on Friday at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The Children’s Museum is hosting its 17th annual Gala, a museum benefit with the theme “Oak Ridge at 75: A Night of Nostalgia,” at 6 p.m. Friday at the Museum, 461 West Outer Drive.

Guests will have a chance to bid on an exclusive offer to shadow WBIR-TV Todd Howell, the station’s chief meteorologist since 1996, for a day.

At WVLT-TV, after a station tour and catered lunch with news anchors Ted Hall or Amanda Hara, or both, the winning bidder will read actual news scripts on the news set with anchors during a mock news cast that will be recorded and sent to the winner. [Read more…]

Reactor shutdown affects experiments, isotope production at HFIR

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The High Flux Isotope Reactor vessel at Oak Ridge National Laboratory resides in a pool of water illuminated by the blue glow of the Cherenkov radiation effect. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

The High Flux Isotope Reactor vessel at Oak Ridge National Laboratory resides in a pool of water illuminated by the blue glow of the Cherenkov radiation effect. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Experiments and isotope production have been affected, but employees are still able to carry out their normal duties at the High Flux Isotope Reactor as the U.S. Department of Energy investigates a slightly elevated radiation level in HFIR’s primary cooling system.

The High Flux Isotope Reactor, which is used for research and isotope production, is at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In a response to questions on Wednesday, ORNL Communications Director David Keim said the slightly elevated reading in the primary cooling system was well below alarm levels.

“The HFIR operators promptly responded to the reading and placed the reactor in a safe condition,” Keim said. [Read more…]

Gooch, Chinn re-elected as mayor, mayor pro tem

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Warren Gooch

Warren Gooch

Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch and Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn were re-elected to two-year terms during a special City Council meeting on Tuesday.

In Oak Ridge, the seven-member City Council selects two of its members to serve as mayor and mayor pro tem after each municipal election every two years. The mayor pro tem serves in the mayor’s absence.

Gooch was the only candidate for mayor on Tuesday. Gooch was re-elected November 6, and he is serving his second four-year term as a City Council member and third two-year term as mayor.

Chinn was also re-elected to a second four-year term City Council on November 6, and he is serving his second two-year term as mayor pro tem. [Read more…]

Updated: Man shot in leg while allegedly trying to steal trailer

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Note: This story was updated at 8:55 p.m.

A man was shot in the leg early Tuesday while attempting to steal a utility trailer and rail buggy in Anderson County, authorities said.

The shooting was reported at about 2:19 a.m. Tuesday when two men tried to steal the utility trailer and hook it up to a vehicle on Sulphur Springs Road, said Tyler Mayes, director of administrative services for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department.

The property owner told Deputy Randy Seay, that after hearing noises, he and his son went outside and saw a dark vehicle backed up to their utility trailer, which was loaded with a rail buggy. The property owner noticed two people, later identified as Bret Weaver, 40, and Joey Seiber, 27, trying to hook up the trailer to their vehicle, Mayes said in a media release. [Read more…]

Council to elect mayor, mayor pro tem; discuss DOE landfill

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The four Oak Ridge City Council members re-elected on November 6 will be sworn into office during a special meeting this evening (Tuesday, November 27).

Council will then choose two of its members to serve as mayor and mayor pro tem. The mayor and mayor pro tem, who serves in the mayor’s absence, serve two-year terms. Under the City Charter, they are chosen by Council after each municipal election every two years.

Oak Ridge City Council member Warren Gooch, who has served two terms as mayor, has announced he will seek to be appointed to a third two-year term.

So far, no one else has publicly announced an interest in serving as mayor. [Read more…]

ORNL investigating elevated radiation in HFIR cooling system

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The High Flux Isotope Reactor vessel at Oak Ridge National Laboratory resides in a pool of water illuminated by the blue glow of the Cherenkov radiation effect. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

The High Flux Isotope Reactor vessel at Oak Ridge National Laboratory resides in a pool of water illuminated by the blue glow of the Cherenkov radiation effect. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is investigating an elevated radiation level in the cooling system at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a research reactor that also produces isotopes.

Workers were bringing HFIR back online on Tuesday, November 13, after a planned outage when the elevated radiation level was detected in the cooling system, according to information provided by David Keim, ORNL communications director.

“HFIR operators decided to shut down the reactor in order to investigate and determine what happened,” Keim said. “The plant is in a safe condition.” [Read more…]

Man apprehended after barricading himself, falling through ceiling

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A man who barricaded himself in a house in Anderson County on Wednesday was apprehended after he fell through a ceiling as officers tried to remove him, authorities said.

The incident started just after 5 p.m. Wednesday. An Anderson County Sheriff’s Department officer who was patrolling the area spotted the subject, William Sharp, in the yard at 388 Boyer Road in Andersonville, according to a statement from Tyler Mayes, director of administrative services for the Sheriff’s Department.

The officer knew that Sharp had an active violation of probation warrant in Union County, the statement said.

“When the officer pulled into the residence to make contact with the subject, he ran into the home and barricaded himself inside the attic,” the statement said. “Mr. Sharp was the only subject barricaded in the home.” [Read more…]

Oak Ridge asks for public input on draft City Blueprint Plan

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The Oak Ridge Community Development Department is continuing the Oak Ridge City Blueprint effort in 2018 with community meetings planned through the month of March. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

The Oak Ridge Community Development Department is asking citizens for feedback on the first draft results of the City Blueprint Plan. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge Community Development Department is asking citizens for feedback on the first draft results of the City Blueprint Plan.

Blueprint is a citywide plan for the future of Oak Ridge, a press release said. The formation of the plan is led by the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission with input and involvement from the entire community, including residents, businesses, and property owners. Generally, a citywide plan prepares for future population change or growth and its anticipated impacts in order to ensure that the city can achieve desired goals for the built environment, community services, economic health, and quality of living, the press release said.

When the Blueprint process began in January 2017, more than 500 people turned out to share their ideas about our City’s direction. Since that time, the planning team has completed the following: [Read more…]

TVA asks for public input on closing Bull Run, Paradise fossil plants

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The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority is asking for public input on a review of the potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts of closing the Bull Run and Paradise Fossil Plants.

Bull Run, located in Anderson County, Tennessee, is a single-generator coal-fired power plant. Paradise, near Drakesboro, Kentucky, has one coal-fired generator still operating, unit 3. Two other coal-fired units at Paradise were retired when a new natural gas plant began operation at the site in 2017.

TVA announced a review of generating assets that was focused on Bull Run and Paradise in August. The review is based on the future cost of maintenance and environmental compliance, and other factors. TVA said it must continually evaluate its fleet to ensure flexibility and financial responsibility.

Oak Ridge Today reported when the review was announced in August that the evaluation could help determine whether the plants will be needed in the future. The assessment is to focus on plants that are the least efficient, least cost-effective, and expected to have the highest future costs, TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks said. Plants that fit into that category are the Bull Run Fossil Plant, the one remaining unit (Unit 3) at the Paradise Fossil Plant in western Kentucky near Drakesboro, and combustion turbines (gas turbines), Brooks said. The assessment will look at whether TVA needs Bull Run or Paradise or combustion turbines in the future. [Read more…]

Seven ORNL researchers named 2019 INCITE award winners

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Jeremy Smith is studying the recalcitrance of biomass to enable cheaper, more efficient biofuels, and other high-value chemicals. (Image courtesy ORNL)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Jeremy Smith is studying the recalcitrance of biomass to enable cheaper, more efficient biofuels, and other high-value chemicals. (Image courtesy ORNL)

 

Seven researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been chosen by the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment, also known as INCITE, program to lead scientific investigations that require the nation’s most powerful computers, a press release said.

INCITE awards computing time via a proposal process to researchers seeking to harness the power of DOE computing systems at the Argonne and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facilities to solve some of the world’s greatest scientific challenges, the press release said.

Since INCITE’s inception in 2004, the ALCF and OLCF have continuously undergone significant upgrades to retain their edge in facilitating the most computationally demanding scientific projects. The ALCF’s most recent machine is Theta, an 11.69-petaflop Cray XC40 system whose 280,000-plus cores make it ideal for research at the nexus of simulation, data science, and machine learning. An even more powerful system, the exascale Aurora, is planned for deployment in 2021 and is projected to be capable of a quintillion (one billion billion) calculations per second. [Read more…]

Golf Course hosts Sweets with Santa on Dec. 3

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Tennessee Centennial Golf Course Logo Web

Centennial Golf Course is hosting a Sweets with Santa holiday event on Monday, December 3. Space is limited and advanced registration must be complete by Friday, November 30, a press release said.

Admission is $10 per adult and $5 per child age 4 and up. The cost includes story time, gingerbread man decorating, and pictures with Santa Claus. Guests can also enjoy cookies, milk, cocoa, and more, the press release said.

Registration can be completed online at http://bit.ly/SweetsWithSantaEvent. Additional information is available on the Centennial Golf Course website at https://www.centennial.golf/ under the Events tab.

Questions can also be directed to the golf shop by calling (865) 483-2291.

ORNL technologies receive six R&D 100 Awards

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Using the Atomic Forge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers brought two, three, and four silicon atoms together to build clusters (green) and make them rotate within a layer of graphene (blue). (Image courtesy ORNL)

Using the Atomic Forge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers brought two, three, and four silicon atoms together to build clusters (green) and make them rotate within a layer of graphene (blue). (Image courtesy ORNL)

 

By Shelby Whitehead and Sean Simoneau

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received six R&D 100 Awards in recognition of their significant advancements in science and technology, a press release said. The honorees were recognized over the weekend at the 56th annual R&D 100 Conference, which is sponsored by R&D Magazine.

The awards, known as the “Oscars of Invention,” honor research and development pioneers and their revolutionary breakthroughs in materials science, biomedicine, consumer products, and more from academia, industry, and government-sponsored research agencies, the press release said. This year’s six honors bring ORNL’s total of R&D 100 awards to 216 since their inception in 1963.

ORNL researchers were recognized for the following innovations: [Read more…]