Oak Ridge Today

B&W chief operating officer to retire but remain CEO of joint venture for Y-12/Pantex bid

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The Babcock and Wilcox Co. announced Monday that Mary Pat Salomone, senior vice president and chief operating officer, will retire effective June 30 after 31 years with the company.

But Salomone will continue serving as chief executive officer of Nuclear Production Partners LLC, or NP2, the B&W-led joint venture competing for the U.S. Department of Energy contract to manage and operate Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. B&W is now the lead management and operating contractor at the two plants.
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Y-12 site manager, fired security guard could testify at protester trial

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Plowshares Protesters Jury Selection

Anti-nuclear weapons activists Megan Rice, left, and Greg Boertje-Obed are pictured with Michele Naar-Obed after jury selection in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Monday. Rice and Boertje-Obed and a third defendant, Michael Walli, are on trial this week for vandalizing a uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July.

This story was updated at 9 p.m.

KNOXVILLE—A federal official who oversees production work at two nuclear weapons plants and the guard who was fired after the unprecedented security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July could both testify this week during the trial of three anti-nuclear weapons activists accused of vandalizing a uranium storage building.

The federal official, Steven C. Erhart, oversees nuclear production work at Y-12 and the Pantex Site in Amarillo, Texas. He manages the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office, or NPO.

The guard, Kirk Garland, was the first security officer to reach the three anti-nuclear weapons activists, who cut through three fences in a high-security Protected Area at Y-12 before dawn on July 28 and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium is stored. Garland was fired Aug. 10, a few weeks after the intrusion. [Read more…]

Jury selection starts today for Y-12 protesters

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

Jury selection starts this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Knoxville for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists accused of breaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and vandalizing a uranium storage building.

The jury selection starts at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom 1A.

The case against Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli starts Tuesday.

Public education reforms to be discussed at League meeting Tuesday

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Jerry Winters, retired chief lobbyist for the Tennessee Education Association, will discuss the challenges facing public schools, with an emphasis on corporate “reforms,” during “Lunch with the League” on Tuesday, a press release said.

Winters will be the featured speaker at the meeting, which starts at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. His presentation is titled “Surviving the Attacks on Public Education.” [Read more…]

Ruth Queen Smith the featured speaker at Women’s Interfaith Dialogue today

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Ruth Queen Smith

Ruth Queen Smith

Ruth Queen Smith will be the featured speaker at a afternoon meeting today of the Women’s Interfaith Dialogue of Oak Ridge.

Her talk, titled “Ruth, Miriam and the Woman at the Well,” will focus on these prominent women, and how the cultural differences of all three are reflected in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Smith is a pastoral associate at John XXIII University Parish. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge to honor law enforcement personnel on May 15

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Peace Officers Memorial

Oak Ridge police officers stand at attention during a National Peace Officers Memorial Day ceremony at the Municipal Building in 2012.

The Oak Ridge Police Department will honor law enforcement personnel during the annual Peace Officer Memorial Day Ceremony on Wednesday, May 15.

It’s part of National Police Week, scheduled from May 12 through May 18.

The Oak Ridge ceremony will be held in front of the Oak Ridge Municipal Building near the flagpole at 1:30 p.m. May 15. Personnel from all law enforcement agencies in the Anderson and Roane County areas have been invited to attend, along with state and federal law enforcement personnel, as well as local prosecutorial elements and public officials, a press release said. [Read more…]

Tennessee tourism official to discuss Civil War Trail Marker program

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Lee Curtis

Lee Curtis

A Tennessee tourism official will be the featured speaker at a Thursday night meeting of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association.

Lee Curtis is program development director of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, where she has worked since 1990, a press release said.

It said Curtis’ responsibilities include overseeing and developing the Tennessee Civil War Trails program and serving as the department’s heritage tourism contact. On Thursday, she will discuss the Civil War Trail Marker program in Oak Ridge, the press release said. [Read more…]

Anderson County officials discuss budget Monday evening

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Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Spending requests have exceeded expected revenues by more than $4 million, mostly because of a proposal to hire more jailers, and Anderson County officials will discuss the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 during a Monday evening workshop.

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and Budget Director Chris Phillips have said they plan to present a balanced budget that does not raise taxes but still provides core services.

County officials have said projected revenues are down slightly, or about 98 percent of what they are in the current fiscal year. There has been a slight increase in property assessments, but sales and business tax revenues are projected to be down. [Read more…]

Man accused of strangling girlfriend at hotel

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A 49-year-old transient was charged with aggravated assault on Wednesday after he allegedly strangled his girlfriend, an Oak Ridge woman, at Days Inn on South Illinois Avenue, authorities said.

Darryel McDonald also allegedly pushed the victim down in the hotel parking lot as she attempted to run from him to the Days Inn office for help, according to an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. [Read more…]

Second week of brush pickup starts Monday

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The city’s annual brush pickup program started Monday, April 29.

The second week starts this Monday, and here is the schedule: [Read more…]

Clinton has antique, emergency preparedness fairs this weekend

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Information from WYSH Radio

It will be a busy weekend in Clinton.

Today and Saturday, the 9th annual Clinch River Spring Antique Fair will take over historic downtown Clinton. The Fair kicks off with a party from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight featuring food and live music by West Wind, plus many of the shops will stay open late. [Read more…]

Cleanup work shifts to mercury as new Y-12 water treatment plant announced

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Y-12 Water Treatment Plant Announcement

State and federal officials announce a plant to treat mercury-contaminated water at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Pictured from left are Mark Whitney, Robert Martineau, Lamar Alexander, Dave Huizenga, and Stan Meiburg.

Cleanup work in Oak Ridge could shift from radiological contamination to mercury contamination, and a new $120 million water treatment plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce mercury as workers tear down four contaminated buildings that were used to make nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s, officials announced Friday.

“This water treatment plant is a major step in addressing one of the biggest problems we have from the Cold War era—mercury once used to make nuclear weapons getting into our waterways,” said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican. He said mercury contamination can cause brain and nervous system damage in people who eat contaminated fish.

Alexander was at Y-12 on Friday along with other federal and state officials to help announce the new water treatment plant, which will be at the head of East Fork Poplar Creek on the south side of Y-12’s main production area. The plant would be connected to a Y-12 storm water system, and it could begin operating in 2019. It would be able to treat 1,500 gallons of mercury-contaminated water per minute. [Read more…]