Oak Ridge Today

Two taken to hospital after pickup crashes into back of tow truck

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North Illinois Avenue Crash

An Oak Ridge woman and Oliver Springs tow truck driver were taken to area hospitals after a Ford Ranger pickup ran into the back of a stalled Quality Towing wrecker on North Illinois Avenue. Oak Ridge firefighter Duane Chase is pictured above. (Photos by Tom Scott)

An Oak Ridge woman driving into the sun up a slight hill on North Illinois Avenue crashed into the back of a stalled wrecker south of West Outer Drive on Monday morning, sending two people to the hospital with possible injuries, authorities said.

Elise A. Williams, 47, was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center after the collision, and tow truck driver Charles T. Jones, 38, of Oliver Springs, was taken by ambulance to Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville, an Oak Ridge Police Department accident report said.

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Y-12, Pantex contractor expected to save $3.27 billion, details later

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Note: This is a repost of an earlier post removed through a technical error.

The new company selected to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, has promised to help the federal government save $3.27 billion during the next decade.

But many of the details will have to be announced later, possibly after the NNSA and the new contractor, Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, have had more discussions.

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Woman tied up, escapes during home invasion robbery

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An Anderson County woman told deputies a man with a handgun tied her up and ransacked her house looking for jewelry Tuesday afternoon, but she managed to break loose and run to a neighbor’s house.

The New Henderson Road resident said she had been upstairs in her home at about 2 p.m. Tuesday when she heard a noise downstairs, an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department incident report said. She thought it was her husband, so she called out his name. There was no reply.

The woman said she continued hearing noises from downstairs, so she went to the stairwell, continuing to call her husband’s name, according to a report by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Robert B. Sexton.

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Security breach given ‘due consideration’ in Y-12, Pantex award

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The July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex was given “due consideration” in the competition to award a consolidated contract to a company to manage Y-12 in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, federal officials said Tuesday.

Federal officials said they evaluated past performance—both positive and negative. Although past performance was a key part of the selection analysis, it was not the determining factor, federal officials said during a Tuesday teleconference. Instead, it was one of a number of factors.

The Y-12 intrusion was given the same consideration as other incidents, federal officials said. During the intrusion, three anti-nuclear weapons activists sneaked into a high-security area at Y-12. They allegedly cut through fences and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

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School board raises superintendent pay offer, hires Smallridge as interim

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Bob Smallridge

Bob Smallridge

Their first attempt to hire a new school superintendent ended after four of five finalists withdrew, and Oak Ridge Board of Education members learned Monday that bumping the potential pay range up to $175,000 per year could attract new candidates and better reflect market conditions.

The board approved the recommendation to offer a higher salary in a 5-0 vote during a special meeting Monday. The board also agreed to have executive search firm Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, contact previously interested candidates with the new pay information, reset the application deadline to March 1, and set a start date for the new superintendent of no later than June 15.

The potential salary range for a new superintendent had earlier been set at $140,000 to $150,000, but two finalists from a search that started in June withdrew, citing salary issues, among other things, and a third apparently would have had to take a $6,000 to $8,000 pay cut to take the Oak Ridge superintendent’s job.

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NNSA: New Y-12, Pantex contractor expects to offer jobs to most employees

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Note: This story was updated at 9:41 a.m. Jan. 9.

The company that won the contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, expects to offer jobs to more than 95 percent of the current employees, federal officials said Tuesday.

The number could be affected by voluntary retirements and other departures, National Nuclear Security Administration officials said during a Tuesday afternoon teleconference.

The company that won the five-year contract, Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, is a team that includes Bechtel National Inc. and Lockheed Martin Services Inc. It also includes ATK Launch Systems Inc. and SOC LLC.

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Bechtel, Lockheed Martin team wins contract to manage Y-12, Pantex

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Y-12 National Security Complex

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC has been selected to manage the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, and the company will take over from B&W Y-12 on May 1.

Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, a team that includes Bechtel National Inc. and Lockheed Martin Services Inc., has won a five-year contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, federal officials announced Tuesday morning.

The winning team also includes ATK Launch Systems Inc. and SOC LLC. Besides managing and operating Y-12 and Pantex, Consolidated Nuclear Security, or CNS, will also manage construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 and could manage tritium operations at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C.

Including the possible tritium work, the contract has a total available fee of up to $446 million for CNS to manage the three sites for the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration. CNS may also earn up to an additional $263 million as their share of savings, an NNSA announcement said, although CNS cannot share any savings related to employee benefits.

The four-month transition to CNS will begin immediately, and CNS will take over the work on May 1, the NNSA said in a Tuesday morning announcement. The contract will be administered by the NNSA Production Office, or NPO, which which was created in June and oversees nuclear production missions at Y-12 and Pantex.

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Bids on consolidated Y-12, Pantex contract expire today

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Note: This story was updated at 11:12 a.m.

Bids expire today on a nuclear production contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex plant near Amarillo, Texas.

On Monday, NNSA Public Affairs Director Joshua McConaha said the National Nuclear Security Administration could either announce a winner today (Tuesday) or extend the expiration date. The NNSA announced Tuesday morning that top officials, including Administrator Thomas D’Agostino, will have a 4:15 p.m. teleconference to discuss a major contract award.

McConaha said the contract bids were submitted last year, and the expiration date has been extended once already.

McConaha said he can’t confirm the total number of bids or the bidding teams.

When announced, the winner will have the first consolidated contract to manage and operate Y-12 and Pantex. The government also has the option to have the winner manage tritium operations at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C.

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Man says rock affected steering, hits parked car on Outer Drive

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Outer Drive Crash

An Oak Ridge man was not injured when his pickup truck hit a parked car on Outer Drive early Saturday morning. (Photo by Tom Scott)

An Oak Ridge man told police he hit a rock while driving west on Outer Drive early Saturday morning, which affected his steering and caused his GMC Sierra pickup truck to veer into an unoccupied Hyundai sedan in an on-street parking space, an accident report said.

Roger C. Thompson, 58, was not injured in the crash at about 12:20 a.m. Saturday just east of New York Avenue, an Oak Ridge Police Department report said.

ORNL helps kick off 2013 FIRST robotics season

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First Robotics Competition

Students try their hand at manipulating a Remotec robotic system at a kickoff event for the 2013 FIRST Robotics Competition at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Saturday. (Submitted photo)

Students from dozens of area high schools piled into Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Saturday to get a sense of the obstacles they will be battling over the next six weeks. Hundreds of students, parents, and mentors attended the kickoff event for the 2013 FIRST robotics competition, a nationwide event in which students design and build complex robots that can tackle the challenges of a specially designed game.

This year’s challenge, which involves robots that can throw discs and climb pyramids, was revealed via simulcast on Saturday morning. Teams were then able to view a full-scale version of the competition field and hold mock games on it. The field, sponsored by Tech 2020 and assembled by the Hardin Valley Academy FIRST Alumni Club at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, or MDF, is available for all local teams to use during the build season.

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Report: Man flees from police, suspected drugs found in toilet

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A Knoxville man allegedly fled from Oak Ridge police Friday night once in a car and twice on foot and was found in a bathroom shower near suspected marijuana and crack cocaine that was in a toilet, authorities said.

Anthony S. Gulley, 25, fled from an attempted traffic stop just before midnight Friday and ran into a home on Houston Avenue, according to warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

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Oak Ridge man flown to hospital after stabbing early Monday

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An Oak Ridge man had severe lacerations and had to be flown by a medical helicopter to a Knoxville hospital after he was allegedly stabbed in the chest while drinking with a friend in Claxton early Monday morning, an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department report said.

Alex J. Hamrick, 27, of Ulysses Lane, was flown by a Lifestar helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center after the alleged stabbing at about 12:30 Monday morning on Cedar Circle, near the intersection of Clinton Highway and Edgemoor Road.

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