Oak Ridge Today

Sewer line inspections using sonar machine continue in Oak Ridge

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The Oak Ridge Public Works Department continues to use state-of-the-art technology to perform inspections of the city’s sewer system, a press release said.

This technology employs a sonar machine that emits a repeating series of tones, similar to a musical scale. In open areas, it can be heard over long distances. While harmless, the tones emitted by the machine are low enough in frequency that residents nearby may be able to feel and, in some instances, hear them.

Testing is ongoing, but it will be concentrated to certain areas depending upon weather constraints and other factors. This area includes Georgia Avenue to West Outer Drive north of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Cumberland View to Fairbanks Road south of the Turnpike. Residents will notice signs posted on main roads stating “Acoustic Sewer Inspection in Area” while crews are working in their neighborhoods.

Questions can be directed to the Public Works information line at (865) 425-3619 or by email to PubWorksDis@oakridgetn.gov.

More specific information may also be found on the city’s website at SewerProject.OakRidgeTN.gov/work-activities.

ORNL Federal Credit Union has groundbreaking for new branch on Tuesday

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ORNL Federal Credit Union Branch Parcel

ORNL Federal Credit Union will have a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday for its new branch at 215 South Rutgers Avenue. The main branch and headquarters are pictured in the background.

 

ORNL Federal Credit Union will have a groundbreaking for its new branch on South Rutgers Avenue on Tuesday, June 9.

The groundbreaking is scheduled at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at 215 South Rutgers Avenue, the vacant property next to the Credit Union’s headquarters and main branch.

The original branch on that property was demolished in fall 2014 as part of a larger Credit Union plan that includes the remodel and redesign of its headquarters and the development of a regional center at Northshore. The former Realty Executives building was also demolished. [Read more…]

Survivor Sundae honors cancer survivors, families, friends

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Mt. LeConte Jug Band

The Mt. LeConte Jug Band is pictured at the 2014 Survivor Sundae. (Submitted photo)

 

With improved screenings and advanced treatment, more and more people are beating cancer each year. But that doesn’t change the significance of being a cancer survivor and the hard fight to put cancer in its place.

Join Methodist Medical Center and Thompson Cancer Survival Center at Methodist as they celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day on Sunday, June 7, with Survivor Sundae. This special ice cream social will take place from 2-4:30 p.m. at the Cheyenne Ambulatory Center at 944 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Survivor Sundae will honor cancer survivors and their families who have supported them along the way. [Read more…]

Public Notice: Public hearing rescheduled on Annual Action Plan

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City of Oak Ridge

Equal Housing Opportunity Logo

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

 

Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Entitlement Program

for the City of Oak Ridge, Tennessee

 

CITY COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING

For

Annual Action Plan of the Consolidated Plan

CDBG Program Year 2015-City of Oak Ridge Fiscal Year 2016

 

The Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development is a requirement of the 1990 National Affordable Housing Act and the Community Development Plan, for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Such a plan is required of entitlement communities, which receive Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds under HUD’s housing and service programs related to the needs of low- and moderate-income persons. The development of the sixth City of Oak Ridge Consolidated Plan took place during the eight-month period of September 2013 through April 2014 and is to be utilized for the three-year period of July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2017 (CDBG Program Year 2014 through Program Year 2016). [Read more…]

Report: Suspect identified, charges pending after shots fired Wednesday

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A suspect has been identified and charges are pending after gun shots were reported at McKenzie Acres Apartments on Utica Circle on Wednesday, authorities said.

The shots were reported at about 4:52 p.m. Wednesday, according to a summary released to the media by the Oak Ridge Police Department on Thursday.

Other information about the incident is not available yet, but more information will be added as it becomes available.

UT, CNS support camp that lets students study space shuttle debris

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Shuttle Debris at UT, CNS, ASM Camp

CNS Y-12’s Steve Dekanich holds up a piece of the remains of the space shuttle Columbia during a materials science camp session on Monday. (Submitted photo)

 

KNOXVILLE—An ASM International Materials Camp supported by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and scientists at CNS Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is giving local students the chance to study debris from the space shuttle Columbia, with an eye on improving materials used in space flight.

“This is a great opportunity for local kids to get involved with materials science and see how it affects a lot of different disciplines,” said Steve Dekanich, senior metallurgist at CNS Y-12 and the leader of this year’s camp. “People can tend to focus on the really specialized things that materials science studies, but the reality is that it plays a part in many things that people don’t realize, from energy to design.”

Dekanich recalled how he met NASA’s Steve McDanels at a conference in Hawaii, with the two hitting it off immediately.

McDanels, who heads up NASA’s materials science division at Kennedy Space Center, has spent years doing studies and analysis for the agency, including work related to the shuttles, the International Space Station, and various hardware. He offered Dekanich the chance to have his campers study NASA debris for the first time in 2006, with the offer being gladly accepted. [Read more…]

ADFAC: Dine and Donate returns Monday, June 8

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Eli Mauk-Olson at Buddy's bar-b-q

Just in time for a summer picnic, treat for dad, or office party, Buddy’s Bar-B-Q in Oak Ridge and Buddy’s ORNL Café are participating in the June 8 Dine and Donate event. Eli Mauk-Olson, a recent graduate of Robertsville Middle School, appears ready to celebrate the end of the school year! (Submitted photo)

 

School is out, and Father’s Day is around the corner: These are just two of many reasons to celebrate with a Dine and Donate meal!

On Monday, June 8, six local restaurants will donate a portion of their sales to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, or ADFAC. Launched in October 2013, Dine and Donate is a yearlong event, with different restaurants participating on the second Monday of each month.

“Whether celebrating the fathers in our lives or simply beating the heat, dining out at least one of Monday’s Dine and Donate restaurants is a fantastic way to enjoy the season,” said ADFAC Board Member Cande Seay, who also chairs the Dine and Donate committee.

The restaurants participating on Monday are: [Read more…]

EPA, TVA have final public meeting today on Kingston ash spill cleanup

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Kingston Fossil Plant Ash Spill Cleanup

Ash that spilled into the brown embayment pictured above had been removed by June 2013, and workers placed a black plastic liner over an ash containment cell in the background, preparing to close it late in 2014. The ash spilled in December 2008 when a storage cell failed at the Kingston Fossil Plant, back left. (File photo)

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Tennessee Valley Authority have their final public meeting on the cleanup of the 2008 ash spill in Kingston during a meeting this evening (Thursday, June 4).

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is also participating in the meeting on the Kingston Recovery Project.

The meeting is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 4, in the Roane County High School Auditorium. [Read more…]

U.S. joins world in new era of research at Large Hadron Collider

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Alice

At the Large Hadron Collider, scientists have begun to collect new data from experiments such as ALICE, which aims to reproduce conditions similar to those that existed immediately after the Big Bang. (Image credit: CERN)

 

New LHC data gives researchers from around the world their best chance yet to study the Higgs boson and search for dark matter and new particles.

On Wednesday, scientists at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European research facility, started recording data from the highest-energy particle collisions ever achieved on Earth. This new proton collision data, the first recorded since 2012, will enable an international collaboration of researchers that includes more than 1,700 U.S. physicists to study the Higgs boson, search for dark matter, and develop a more complete understanding of the laws of nature.

“Together with collaborators from around the world, scientists from roughly a hundred U.S. universities and laboratories are exploring a previously unreachable realm of nature,” said James Siegrist, the U.S. Department of Energy’s associate director of science for high-energy physics. “We are very excited to be part of the international community that is pushing the boundaries of our knowledge of the universe.”

The Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator, reproduces conditions similar to those that existed immediately after the Big Bang. Oak Ridge National Laboratory led an equipment upgrade for LHCs experiment called ALICE (for A Large Ion Collider Experiment), which aims to learn more about the conditions of the early universe. [Read more…]

BESC, Mascoma develop revolutionary microbe for biofuel production

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Yeast

A yeast engineered by Mascoma and BESC could hold the key to accelerating the production of ethanol in the U.S. (Submitted photo)

 

Biofuels pioneer Mascoma LLC and the U.S. Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center have developed a revolutionary strain of yeast that could help significantly accelerate the development of biofuels from nonfood plant matter.

BESC is led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The approach could provide a pathway to eventual expansion of biofuels production beyond the current output limited to ethanol derived from corn.

C5 FUEL, engineered by researchers at Mascoma and BESC, features fermentation and ethanol yields that set a new standard for conversion of biomass sugars from pretreated corn stover—the non-edible portion of corn crops such as the stalk—converting up to 97 percent of the plant sugars into fuel. [Read more…]

ORFD, AC EMS, UT Lifestar honored for helping to save cyclist

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Oak Ridge Fire Department at Star of Life 2015

Members of the Oak Ridge Fire Department at the 2015 Star of Life Awards in Nashville in May. Among those honored from Region 2 were Oak Ridge firefighters (starting at second from left) Marty Griffith, Eric Mocsari, Steven London, Duane Chase, and Thomas Giles. (Submitted photo)

 

NASHVILLE—The Oak Ridge Fire Department, Anderson County Emergency Medical Services, and University of Tennessee Lifestar have been honored for helping to save a cyclist after a medical emergency on Bethel Valley Road in March 2014.

Thomas Berg experienced a sudden medical emergency while on a bicycle ride on March 30, 2014, causing him to crash in the middle of Bethel Valley Road, a press release said.

David Smallwood was riding with Berg, and Smallwood called 911 and began CPR as soon as he saw the crash. Emergency crews from the Oak Ridge Fire Department and Anderson County EMS responded, and they found Berg in cardiac arrest, the release said.

Berg was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center by UT Lifestar.

“Today, Mr. Berg has made a full recovery and is once again enjoying cycling,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Guest column: Good things continue to happen in Andersonville

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Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department Fire Truck

Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department Fire Truck

 

By Theresa Scott

The Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department recently had a task to complete. Assistant Fire Chief Brian Casto took a crew to Oak Ridge. Upon arrival at the City of Oak Ridge’s main building, Assistant Chief Casto was directed to the Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson’s office. It was time for the papers to be signed. The title needed to be transferred and keys handed over. Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley was there to give further verbal instructions.

While the department heads were inside signing documents and discussing the final technicalities, the crew waited outside. However, without patience, they were found opening doors to compartments, checking out gauges, wiping off the windshield, checking out the view from the driver’s seat of the big yellow fire truck. This big, yellow Quality fire truck is going into full service but in a different zip code. It will still get the same hands-on care that it always had, but now it will be with a new crew out in the country. Perhaps out in the country, but still in the same county. The Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department was getting one of the surplus trucks. Most of the crew were laughing and chatting like a bunch of children on Christmas morning.  The excitement was obvious.

Thank you to the City of Oak Ridge for keeping this (as well as the one that was recently transferred to our Medford Volunteer Fire Department) in our county. It is important that we continue to pay it forward amongst ourselves as we may very well need to depend on it sometime in the future. The residents of Andersonville are very fortunate to have such caring volunteers. These men and women put their lives on the line when called to the scene of an automobile accident, a working residential or commercial property fire, or even to the water if there’s been a boating accident. [Read more…]