Oak Ridge Today

Holiday Market is Saturday in Jackson Square

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The Holiday Market is in Jackson Square on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017, from 12-6 p.m., and vendors, music, great food, and Santa will be in the Square. This is a fundraiser for the United Way of Anderson County. (Submitted photo)

The Holiday Market is in Jackson Square on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017, from 12-6 p.m., and vendors, music, great food, and Santa Paws will be in the Square. This is a fundraiser for the United Way of Anderson County. (Submitted photo)

 

The annual Holiday Market will be in Jackson Square on Saturday, December 2. It’s scheduled from 12-6 p.m. Vendors, music, great food, and Santa Paws will be there, a press release said.

“During this market, there will be a picture opportunity with the magical Santa Paws, for all your furry friends to enjoy!” a press release said. “There will also be a puppy parade with a prize for the best dressed or best cart (for our smaller furry friends). The market will also feature last-minute gift shopping from local crafters, live music all day from choirs and trios, activities for the whole family, and a tree lighting to end the evening! Come out and support your community while having a blast doing it.”

This is a fundraiser for the United Way of Anderson County, which provides services and funds to those in need in the area. Admission is free, and the portion of the proceeds from the day’s activities that will benefit United Way will help support more than 36 local nonprofit programs in the community, the press release said. [Read more…]

Boys & Girls Club selling Christmas trees, handmade wreaths

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More than 300 trees of different varieties and sizes, and handmade wreaths, from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, were scheduled to arrive at the Boys & Girls Club on November 17, and sales were scheduled to begin November 24. (Submitted photo)

More than 300 trees of different varieties and sizes, and handmade wreaths, from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, were scheduled to arrive at the Boys & Girls Club on November 17, and sales were scheduled to begin November 24. (Submitted photo)

 

For generations, families have visited the Boys & Girls Club of Oak Ridge for their Christmas tree. More than 300 trees of different varieties and sizes, and handmade wreaths, from Spruce Pine, North Carolina, were scheduled to arrive at the Club on November 17, and sales were scheduled to begin November 24. The lot is assembled and staffed by community volunteers and all proceeds benefit the Oak Ridge Club, a press release said.

“Make plans today for a fresh, fragrant tree for your home,” the press release said. “Volunteers will give the trees a trunk cut, wrapping, and load them for you!” [Read more…]

Presentation on opioid drug epidemic Wednesday evening at RMS

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Chasing the Dragon Flyer Nov 29 2017

There will be a presentation on the opioid drug epidemic this evening at Robertsville Middle School.

The presentation is hosted by the offices of Safe Schools and Coordinated School Health. They are inviting the Oak Ridge community and friends of Oak Ridge Schools to the presentation, which is this evening (Wednesday, November 29) in the Robertsville Middle School Auditorium.

The evening will include a screening of the film “Chasing the Dragon,” a press release said. Following the film, the group will engage in a panel discussion with former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Neil Morgenstern as well as representatives from Oak Ridge Police Department, Oak Ridge Fire Department, Ridgeview Behavioral Health, and ASAP of Anderson County.

The doors will open at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday to provide those who attend an opportunity to visit with area mental health, drug prevention, treatment, and recovery agencies. The program will start promptly at 6 p.m. [Read more…]

Pierce Physical Therapy a donation center for Toys for Tots

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Pierce Physical Therapy in Oak Ridge is a local Toys for Tots donation center.

You can drop off a new unwrapped toy at Pierce Physical Therapy at 661 A Emory Valley Road Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until Friday, December 1.

This press release was submitted by Raymond Pierce.

Forest fire northwest of Oliver Springs grew to 300 acres

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The forest fire reported on Big Brushy Mountain between Oliver Springs and Petros on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, grew to 300 acres, and it was reported to have containment lines around it on Tuesday, Nov. 28. The fire is pictured above from State Route 62 near Back Petros Road on Monday, Nov. 27. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The forest fire reported on Big Brushy Mountain between Oliver Springs and Petros on Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, grew to 300 acres, and it was reported to have containment lines around it on Tuesday, Nov. 28. The fire is pictured above from State Route 62 near Back Petros Road on Monday, Nov. 27. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

PETROS—The forest fire reported between Oliver Springs and Petros on Sunday grew to 300 acres, a spokesperson said Tuesday.

Firefighters were reported to have containment lines around the fire, said Nathan Waters, assistant district forester in the Tennessee Division of Forestry Administration’s East Tennessee District.

The fire, about seven miles northwest of Oliver Springs and a few miles south of Petros, was reported at about 4 p.m. Sunday. On Monday, Waters said the cause was under investigation.

It hadn’t endangered any structures, Waters said Tuesday evening. [Read more…]

Sheriff’s Department investigating homicide

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The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a shooting northeast of Oliver Springs on Sunday afternoon.

The shooting was reported before 5 p.m. Sunday on Back Half Moon Road in the Frost Bottom community, a press release said. When they arrived, deputies found that Buford Glenn Phillips, 62, had been shot and killed.

Sheriff’s investigators along with agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation were called to the scene and are currently investigating the circumstances of the shooting, the press release said.

“As this is an ongoing investigation, no additional information can be released at this time,” the release said.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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Reservations due today for League of Women Voters’ Holiday Luncheon

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Ram Uppuluri

Ram Uppuluri

Reservations are due today for the League of Women Voters’ Holiday Luncheon on Sunday, December 3.

Ram Uppuluri will return to his hometown of Oak Ridge to be the guest speaker at the Holiday Luncheon, which will be Sunday, December 3, at the DoubleTree Hotel. Social time will begin at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, with an available cash bar and lunch at 1 p.m. The community is invited to attend, a press release said.

The title of his presentation will be “In Search of Identity in the Age of Trump: My Adventures in Politics in Tennessee and Washington, D.C., from the 1980s to Today.”

Uppuluri is a senior policy advisor and communicator with more than 30 years of experience in the U.S. government, local governments, and the nonprofit sector, the press release said. He has developed innovative policy solutions, forged consensus among stakeholders, and led advocacy efforts in a variety of areas including the environment, energy, and education. He has a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University. He graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1979. [Read more…]

About half of uranium-233 waste shipped from Building 3019 at ORNL

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CEUSP Canister

At left is a picture of an actual 24-inch steel canister of waste from the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Program. At right is a representation of the canister interior. (File photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Environmental Management)

About half of the uranium-233 waste stored in Building 3019 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been shipped to a disposal facility in Nevada.

The shipments were completed in August, said Jay Mullis, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

But federal officials were only recently able to announce the end of the shipments of the waste from the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Program, or CEUSP. The waste contained radioisotopes of uranium from a 1960s research and development test of thorium and uranium reactor fuel at the Consolidated Edison Indian Point-1 reactor in New York. The test was sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The shipments were completed 10 months ahead of schedule, Mullis told the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on Wednesday, November 8. The CEUSP waste had been treated and turned into a ceramic matrix. It was shipped from Building 3019 at ORNL, where it had been stored, to the Nevada National Security Site, a former nuclear weapons proving ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. DOE started shipping the waste materials to the Nevada National Security Site in May 2015. [Read more…]

A great technical achievement, Molten Salt Reactor could be entombed

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The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory housed the reactor and offices for operating personnel. The facility was constructed in the 1950s for a nuclear aircraft project and was later expanded significantly and retrofitted to accommodate the MSRE. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

The Molten Salt Reactor Experiment building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory housed the reactor and offices for operating personnel. The facility was constructed in the 1950s for a nuclear aircraft project and was later expanded significantly and retrofitted to accommodate the MSRE. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:30 p.m.

Former director Alvin Weinberg once called it the greatest technical achievement at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was inspired by the campaign to build a nuclear-powered aircraft in the 1950s, and it was the first reactor to ever operate using uranium-233.

Now parts of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment that are too radioactively “hot” for humans could be entombed in concrete.

For now, the idea is only under study, and there is no guarantee that any part of the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment, a nuclear historic landmark that has been dormant for decades, will be entombed.

But it’s one of the proposals being evaluated by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. The goal is to finish the evaluation by the end of the year.

Jay Mullis, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, presented the proposal to the Oak Ridge City Council and Site Specific Advisory Board in two separate meetings earlier this month. The entombment proposal is one of five items being evaluated as part of a 45-day review started by DOE’s Environmental Management, or EM, program in June. [Read more…]

Three people escape house fire on Northwestern

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Three people escaped with no injuries from a house fire on Northwestern Avenue early Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, authorities said. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Three people escaped with no injuries from a house fire on Northwestern Avenue early Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, authorities said. The Oak Ridge Fire Department and Oak Ridge Police Department both responded. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Three people escaped with no injuries from a house fire on Northwestern Avenue in the Woodland neighborhood early Sunday, authorities said.

An adult male and two juveniles were home at the time of the fire, and all three escaped, said Eric Rackard, Oak Ridge Fire Department battalion chief.

The fire was reported near the intersection with Nasson Lane just after midnight Sunday.

The cause is under investigation, Rackard said. [Read more…]

New Oak Ridge EM manager Jay Mullis outlines cleanup vision

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Jay Mullis

Jay Mullis

 

Note: This story was published in the November 21 edition of “EM Update” by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. EM Update recently spoke with Jay Mullis, the new manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM), about his vision and priorities for the EM program in Oak Ridge.

What are your main priorities going forward as the new manager of OREM?

Overall, I want to ensure our program maintains the momentum we’ve achieved during the past several years. First, it is important for us to continue pushing forward to complete cleanup at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP, also known as the former K-25 site) by 2020. This will facilitate the transfer of the site back to the community so it can be transformed into a vibrant industrial park capable of generating jobs and economic growth for the region. It will also allow our program to shift its focus and resources toward cleanup at two important, active DOE sites: the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Before we finish our cleanup mission at ETTP, we must also fulfill our historic preservation commitments to preserve and celebrate the many achievements that occurred there during the Manhattan Project and Cold War. 

Secondly, it is very important that we begin laying the foundation for our next big challenges at Y-12 and ORNL. That began on November 20, when we broke ground on the new Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12. This critical piece of infrastructure will provide an important control measure for mercury and opens the door for us to clean and remove mercury contaminated facilities and soils. Additionally, it is crucial to construct another onsite disposal facility that will provide the space necessary for the waste generated by completing cleanup at Y-12 and ORNL. 

Finally, we will continue our focus on eliminating Oak Ridge’s waste inventory. We are making progress packaging and disposing transuranic waste from ORNL with the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant again accepting shipments. We are working to eliminate the remaining portion of the uranium-233 inventory from ORNL to improve safety and significantly reduce security costs. [Read more…]

Community volunteer Tom Row receives mayoral proclamation

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Oak Ridge resident Thomas Row, center, who has been a volunteer with more than 40 nonprofit and professional organizations throughout his life, was honored with a mayoral proclamation at the City Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. Also pictured are City Council members Jim Dodson, right, and Hans Vogel. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

Oak Ridge resident Thomas Row, center, who has been a volunteer with more than 40 nonprofit and professional organizations throughout his life, was honored with a mayoral proclamation at the City Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. Also pictured are City Council members Jim Dodson, right, and Hans Vogel. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

 

Oak Ridge resident Thomas Row, who has been a volunteer with more than 40 nonprofit and professional organizations throughout his life, was honored with a mayoral proclamation at the City Council meeting this month.

The proclamation recognized Row’s distinguished service and contributions to the community, the City of Oak Ridge said in its November 2017 newsletter.

Several of the more than 40 nonprofit and professional organizations where Row has been a volunteer have had a significant impact on Oak Ridge and Anderson County, the city said. [Read more…]