Oak Ridge Today

ORNL to reduce workforce by up to 350 by end of year

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Thomas Zacharia

Thomas Zacharia

Note: This story was last updated at 10:50 a.m. Aug. 9.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will reduce its workforce by up to 350 positions by the end of the calendar year, ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said in a Tuesday morning email to employees.

The workforce restructuring plan has been proposed by UT-Battelle and approved by the U.S. Department of Energy, Zacharia said. ORNL is DOE’s largest multiprogram science and energy laboratory.

“From time to time, sustaining our work effectively and efficiently requires the most difficult of decisions, which is to reduce our staff in certain areas of the lab,” Zacharia said. “To allow us to provide for our research missions and to allocate resources most productively, the Department of Energy has approved a Workforce Restructuring Plan proposed by UT-Battelle that will reduce ORNL’s workforce by up to 350 positions by the end of the calendar year.”

Zacharia said the reductions will be made primarily among staff who charge to “indirect accounts,” along with some research staff affected by fiscal year 2017 funding who could not be placed elsewhere in the lab.

“By reducing these positions, ORNL will be able to maintain competitive chargeout rates while freeing resources for discretionary investments that will modernize lab infrastructure and maintain core research capabilities in the mission areas assigned to ORNL,” Zacharia said. [Read more…]

DOE: Pavement collapse at ORNL a significant distance from U-233 storage area

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A pavement collapse at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in early June was a significant distance from an area where uranium-233 is stored at Building 3019, the U.S. Department of Energy said Monday.

The collapse of about 36 square feet of pavement was near Building 3019B, which is an inactive facility, the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management said.

The hot cells in the facility were not affected, and they do not contain radioactive material, DOE said.

“There were no immediate safety hazards to personnel, but as a precaution, the area was barricaded until crews made repairs,” DOE said.

Uranium-233, or U-233, is a fissionable material, and Building 3019 area is a secure and controlled area. The pavement collapse was reported by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board on June 19. [Read more…]

ORHS Class of 1982 to hold 35-year reunion

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The Oak Ridge High School Class of 1982 will be holding its 35-year reunion September 1-3.

Activities include a Friday night social, a Saturday night dinner and dance, and a Sunday picnic. The cost for the weekend’s events is $65 per person.

For more information or to register for the reunion, contact Mark Boatner at (865) 483-0402 or by e-mail at boatnerm@comcast.net.

ORNL: World’s smallest neutrino detector finds big physics fingerprint

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From left, Professor Yuri Efremenko of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and Jason Newby of Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among 80 participants in COHERENT, a large, collaborative, particle physics experiment to record neutrinos at the Spallation Neutron Source. Photomultiplier tubes look like giant light bulbs and are used to detect light from neutrino interactions in detectors. COHERENT’s cesium iodide detector, the first to espy neutrinos at the SNS, employs a 5-inch (13-centimeter) wide photomultiplier tube. An 8-inch (20-centimeter) wide photomultiplier (shown here) is deployed in COHERENT’s nearby liquid-argon detector. Measurements from different types of detectors are necessary for comprehensive studies of neutrinos at SNS. The scientists are standing in front of the cesium-iodide-detector shielding. (Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy; photographer Genevieve Martin)

From left, Professor Yuri Efremenko of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and Jason Newby of Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among 80 participants in COHERENT, a large, collaborative, particle physics experiment to record neutrinos at the Spallation Neutron Source. Photomultiplier tubes look like giant light bulbs and are used to detect light from neutrino interactions in detectors. COHERENT’s cesium iodide detector, the first to espy neutrinos at the SNS, employs a five-inch (13-centimeter) wide photomultiplier tube. An eight-inch (20-centimeter) wide photomultiplier (shown here) is deployed in COHERENT’s nearby liquid-argon detector. Measurements from different types of detectors are necessary for comprehensive studies of neutrinos at SNS. The scientists are standing in front of the cesium-iodide-detector shielding. (Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy; photographer Genevieve Martin)

 

By Dawn Levy/ORNL

After more than a year of operation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the COHERENT experiment, using the world’s smallest neutrino detector, has found a big fingerprint of the elusive, electrically neutral particles that interact only weakly with matter.

The research, performed at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source and published in the journal Science, provides compelling evidence for a neutrino interaction process predicted by theorists 43 years ago but never seen.

“The one-of-a-kind particle physics experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory was the first to measure coherent scattering of low-energy neutrinos off nuclei,” said ORNL physicist Jason Newby, technical coordinator and one of 11 ORNL participants in COHERENT, a collaboration of 80 researchers from 19 institutions and four nations.

The SNS produces neutrons for scientific research and also generates a high flux of neutrinos as a byproduct. Placing the detector at SNS a mere 65 feet (20 meters) from the neutrino source vastly improved the chances of interactions and allowed the researchers to decrease the detector’s weight to just 32 pounds (14.5 kilograms). In comparison, most neutrino detectors weigh thousands of tons: although they are continuously exposed to solar, terrestrial, and atmospheric neutrinos, they need to be massive because the interaction odds are more than 100 times lower than at SNS.

The scientists are the first to detect and characterize coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off nuclei. This long-sought confirmation, predicted in the particle physics Standard Model, measures the process with enough precision to establish constraints on alternative theoretical models. [Read more…]

CH2M, part of UCOR, being acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

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CH2M, which is based in Colorado, is a partner in UCOR, or URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC. UCOR is the U.S. Department of Energy's cleanup contractor for the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, and it is primarily focused on cleanup of East Tennessee Technology Park (the former Oak Ridge K-25 Site), which is pictured above. (Photo by UCOR)

CH2M, which is based in Colorado, is a partner in UCOR, or URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC. UCOR is the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, and it is primarily focused on cleanup of East Tennessee Technology Park (the former Oak Ridge K-25 Site), which is pictured above. (Photo by UCOR)

 

CH2M, which is part of UCOR, the federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, is being acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

The acquisition was announced Wednesday. It’s a a cash-and-stock transaction of about $3.27 billion, including a $2.85 billion purchase and roughly $416 million of CH2M net debt. It’s expected to close in the first quarter of Jacobs’ fiscal year 2018, which ends at the end of 2017.

The two companies are separate until then.

It’s too early to say whether the acquisition would have any effect on the federal contract with UCOR, but the companies said the transaction is about growth, acquiring the expertise of CH2M, and expanding the presence of the combined company.

CH2M, which is based in Colorado, is a partner in UCOR, or URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC. UCOR is the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, and it is primarily focused on cleanup of East Tennessee Technology Park (the former Oak Ridge K-25 Site). But UCOR also works on cleanup and waste management activities at other Oak Ridge Reservation sites. [Read more…]

Man indicted in alleged backpage.com robbery in Claxton

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Richard Paul Pressley

Richard Pressley

A Knoxville man was indicted last month on robbery, kidnapping, and conspiracy charges for his role in an alleged robbery at gunpoint in Claxton in 2016 that authorities said started with an advertisement for escort services posted on backpage.com.

Richard Pressley, 31, has been indicted on charges of aggravated robbery, especially aggravated kidnapping using a weapon, conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery, and conspiracy to commit especially aggravated kidnapping. He was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury on July 11.

The alleged robbery and kidnapping occurred in a mobile home on Queen Street in Ben’s Mobile Home Park off Edgemoor Road in Claxton on May 21, 2016, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release after Pressley and his wife, Lindsay Pressley, were arrested last year.

Affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Clinton on May 23, 2016, said the alleged victim, Cody Monroe, traveled from Athens to the address provided in the backpage.com ad. Monroe “made small talk” with the female, later identified as Lindsay Pressley, for about five minutes when a man brandishing a handgun, later identified as Richard Pressley, entered the living room and ordered Monroe onto the ground, according to the affidavits. [Read more…]

ORNL names chief scientist of Global Security Directorate

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James Peery

James Peery

 

James Peery, who has led critical national security programs at Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory, has been selected as the chief scientist of the Global Security Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“James brings more than two decades of experience in creating successful national security initiatives for the U.S. Department of Energy,” said Brent Park, associate laboratory director of global security at ORNL. “In particular, his leadership in cybersecurity, data analytics, and high-performance computing will enable him to lead the laboratory’s cybersecurity initiative for the electric grid and beyond.”

Next-generation cybersecurity for the electric grid is a multi-directorate, multi-program effort at ORNL that supports the DOE cybersecurity program for critical energy infrastructure, a press release said. The initiative aims to enable electric utilities and other components of the nation’s energy supply to defend against emerging and previously unseen cyberattacks.

Peery also will help ORNL researchers draw on the lab’s distinctive capabilities to develop scientific and technological solutions aligned with national security policies and strategies, the press release said. [Read more…]

Jefferson Middle School students win map award

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Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools

Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools

 

Jefferson Middle School students Ian Bailey and Beatrice Shea were awarded second place in the Student Map—up to age 12 category at the Esri 2017 Users Conference Map Gallery.

The students selected their mapping project because their school is unique by having wooded and protected areas near it. They learned that these areas provide a habitat that is important to the local ecosystem. Jefferson Middle School has taken a strong interest in protecting these resources and has taken steps to add more habitats, creating a wetland, for example, and maintaining trails, eradicating invasive species, and providing bird boxes in the Cedar Barrens.

Their map, Cedar Barrens, is an online Story Map created using ArcGIS Online to display efforts to engage Jefferson Middle School students in their surroundings in a meaningful way. Students collected the locations shown on the map using GPS, added photos and text to explain each location. You can view their map at http://arcg.is/2g66cm1. [Read more…]

Roane State joins National CyberWatch Center as college grows high-tech cyber defense program

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George Meghabghab leads Roane State's cyber defense program. The college is now part of the National CyberWatch Center. (Photo by Roane State Community College)

George Meghabghab leads Roane State’s cyber defense program. The college is now part of the National CyberWatch Center. (Photo by Roane State Community College)

 

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

In this era of widespread hacking, ransomware, and other cyberattacks, Roane State Community College is about to launch an educational counterattack.

Preparations are under way for the college to become a center for academic excellence in cyber defense.

George Meghabghab, professor of computer science and director of Roane State’s computer information technology program, recently unveiled the college’s long-range plan to expand its IT (information technology) curriculum.

“We’re going to begin a culture of cybersecurity,” he said. “Cybersecurity is a growing field, and our goal is to build a program that teaches the very latest technology and is closely aligned to industry needs.” [Read more…]

Roane State to offer extended business hours beginning Aug. 21

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Roane State Community College will offer extended business hours to help students get ready for the start of the new semester. Fall classes begin August 28.

Extended hours for the Roane County and Oak Ridge campuses are:

  • Monday, August 21-Thursday, August 24, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
  • Monday, August 28-Thursday, August 31, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

The Roane County and Oak Ridge campuses will maintain usual business hours (8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) on Fridays. [Read more…]

Girls Inc. art on display at Library in August

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Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge

Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge

 

The art exhibit at Oak Ridge Public Library for the month of August is a collection of drawings and paintings by young artists from Girls Inc. of Oak Ridge.

This organization first began in 1976 as a girls-only sports program, but quickly grew into an after school, summer camp, and sports program for girls between five and 18 years old. Girls Inc. serves more than 850 girls per year, a press release said.

Girls in the program are encouraged to be strong, smart, and bold, the press release said. [Read more…]

City tree board has workshop on emerald ash borer on Aug. 29

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An ash tree is pictured above in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

An ash tree is pictured above in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge Tree Board is hosting a workshop focused on the impact of the emerald ash borer in the area. The event, scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, August 29, will provide important information regarding the emerald ash borer for property owners, landscapers, and others involved in the maintenance of green spaces, a press release said.

“Ash trees make up a significant percentage of our urban forest and have traditionally been a landscaping staple,” the press release said. “Many of these trees in Oak Ridge are already dead or beyond treatment, but a significant number can be saved. At the workshop later this month, experts from around the area will address issues such as identification of affected ash trees and responses to EAB (emerald ash borer) infestation, including appropriate treatment.”

Those who attend will learn about these pests and their origin and how they spread across the country, as well as the techniques used in diverse areas ranging from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to urban areas, such as Knoxville and surrounding municipalities. [Read more…]