Oak Ridge Today

Restaurants changing hours, types of service

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The parking lot at Panera Bread and Aubrey’s late in the lunch hour Tuesday, March 17, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated at 10:45 a.m. March 20.

Many restaurants in Oak Ridge are changing hours or the types of services they offer to help try to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.

Explore Oak Ridge, which helps promote tourism, is tracking some of the changes at restaurants and businesses.

Many restaurants are offering carry-out or curbside service or delivery service. Some are still offering dine-in service. Some are closing earlier than normal.

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Museums, national park center closed

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The American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Museums and the national park welcome center in Oak Ridge are closed because of COVID-19, the respiratory illness that has infected more than 200,000 people in at least 144 countries around the world and killed more than 8,000 people.

The museums closed in Oak Ridge are the American Museum of Science and Energy, Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, K-25 History Center, Oak Ridge History Museum at Midtown Community Center (Wildcat Den), and Y-12 History Museum at New Hope Center.

Also closed is the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Welcome Center at the Children’s Museum.

The AMSE bus tours are also not operating now.

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Big Ed’s Pizza temporarily closing to evaluate curbside, carryout orders

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Big Ed’s Pizza is pictured above on Tuesday, March 17, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Big Ed’s Pizza, Oak Ridge’s most well-known restaurant, announced Tuesday that it is temporarily closing.

The temporary closure will allow managers to time they need to evaluate how to safely and effectively fulfill curbside/to-go/carryout orders, said the restaurant, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.

“Once we feel we have the best protocols in place and feel that we can safely operate, we will do so,” Big Ed’s said in a social media post.

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NCAA cancels events, including rowing championships in Oak Ridge

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The 2016 SIRA Championship Regatta is pictured above in Oak Ridge on Sunday, April 17, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The 2020 NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships, which were scheduled to be held in Oak Ridge in May, have been canceled because of COVID-19, and other collegiate regattas have been canceled as well.

Oak Ridge officials and others have been looking forward to the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships since it was announced three years ago. The Oak Ridge rowing venue is considered one of the best in the country.

In a March 12 notice, the NCAA said all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships were being canceled due to COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus. Also canceled were the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, which includes March Madness.

The cancellations affecting Oak Ridge include the NCAA division I, II, and III Women’s Rowing Championships, Big 10 Invitational Regatta, Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championship, as well as other regattas slated to be held in conjunction with the Oak Ridge Rowing Association.

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Updated: Kroger, Walmart limit hours

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Some beef products were sold out at the Kroger store in Oak Ridge after midnight early Saturday, March 14, 2020.

Note: This story was last updated at 7:30 a.m. March 16.

The Kroger and Walmart stores in Oak Ridge are limiting their hours. It’s part of a trend of stores changing their hours across the country as people concerned about COVID-19 flock to stock up on supplies.

The stores said the limited hours will help them clean and stock shelves.

Normally open 24 hours, the Kroger store in Oak Ridge will be closed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. “until further notice.”

The Walmart store, which is also normally open 24 hours, said it will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day starting Sunday, March 15.

As concerns about COVID-19 spread across the country, people have been flocking to grocery stores, loading grocery carts with supplies. Among the items that appear to be in high demand include beef and bread, flour and pasta, rice and beans, sauces and ramen, canned fruits and frozen vegetables, sodas and water, cleaning supplies and wipes, and toilet paper and paper towels.

That’s sometimes left empty shelves for other shoppers. Sometimes those items are restocked, but sometimes the shelves quickly empty again.

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Governor declares state of emergency; first COVID-19 case diagnosed in Knox

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Note: This story was last updated at 7:10 p.m.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee declared a state of emergency to help treat and contain COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus, and the first case has been diagnosed in Knox County.

The Knox County patient was exposed overseas and is an isolated case. The person has been in isolation and has not required hospitalization, according to the Knox County Health Department.

It’s a presumptive positive case, and local and state officials are waiting for confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Following standard public health protocols for infectious disease response, Knox County Health Department said its epidemiologists will work with the Tennessee Department of Health and follow guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contact and monitor anyone who may have been exposed to this isolated case. Eighteen cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Department of Health, but it is not currently widespread in Knox County or the state.

“We understand the concern surrounding COVID-19, but we hope Knox County citizens can take some comfort in the fact that we were expecting a case, and that we routinely utilize extensive plans and national best practice to respond to all reportable infectious diseases in Knox County,” said KCHD Senior Director Dr. Martha Buchanan. “The most important thing the public can do is to follow the CDC guidance, which includes the standard hygiene practices we recommend to prevent the spread of flu and other viruses.”

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DOE plans to demolish world’s oldest operating nuclear facility

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Building 3019, the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world, is pictured above at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to demolish the oldest operating nuclear facility in the world.

The cleanup and demolition of Building 3019 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could start sometime around 2030.

But the work won’t start until more than 500 canisters of uranium-233 stored in the building have been processed and removed, possibly by 2025.

More than 70 years old, Building 3019 was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs.

From 1943-1976, the building was used as a pilot plant to test radiochemical processes before they were used on a large scale at other nuclear facilities.

Now Building 3019 stores the nation’s inventory of uranium-233. Processing and removing that uranium is the top cleanup priority at ORNL because, among other things, storing the highly enriched fissile nuclear material increases security costs and creates nuclear safety issues. The cleanup work is being done by DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor Isotek.

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Updated: Two more coronavirus cases diagnosed in Tennessee

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Image courtesy Tennessee Department of Health/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Note This story was last updated at 11 p.m.

Two more cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus, have been diagnosed in Tennessee, bringing the total number of cases to three, the Tennessee Department of Health said Sunday.

The health department said it was announcing the two new cases in coordination with two metro health departments in Nashville and Shelby County.

The Tennessean newspaper reported that the Nashville patient is an adult woman who is cooperating with a voluntary self-isolation at home in Davidson County, and state health officials are trying to determine how she was infected. The Shelby County patient is a non-elderly adult who recently traveled to another state and is now hospitalized.

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With key isotopes depleted, DOE plans production center at ORNL

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The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed an isotope production and research center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory that could be important for medical, national security, and research projects.

In a budget request released in February, DOE said its supply of certain key enriched stable isotopes has been depleted, making the United States more dependent upon foreign imports for enriched stable isotopes. Isotopes are forms of an element that have the same number of protons but different number of neutrons in their nuclei.

DOE said the demand for enriched stable isotopes continues to grow substantially, including for the medical, national security, and fundamental research projects.

The new center at ORNL, the U.S. Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, would reduce the nation’s dependence upon foreign countries for those isotopes, DOE said.

DOE approved the mission need for the facility in January 2019. Although the cost range could change, the current project estimate is between $175 million and $298 million.

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ORNL supercomputer used to identify drug compounds that could help fight coronavirus

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A compound, shown in gray, was calculated to bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, shown in cyan, to prevent it from docking to the Human Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2, or ACE2, receptor, shown in purple. (Image credit: Micholas Smith/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

Note: This story was last updated at 10:55 a.m.

The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been used to identify drug compounds, including medications and natural compounds, that could help fight coronavirus, although more study is needed.

“The researchers used Summit, the world’s most powerful and smartest supercomputer, to identify 77 small-molecule drug compounds that might warrant further study in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is responsible for the COVID-19 disease outbreak,” ORNL said in a response to questions Wednesday.

The researchers performed simulations on Summit of more than 8,000 compounds to screen for those that are most likely to bind to the main “spike” protein of the coronavirus, rendering it unable to infect host cells. They ranked compounds of interest that could have value in experimental studies of the virus. They published their results on “ChemRxiv.”

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Fusion research: ORNL chosen for plasma materials experiment facility

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Scientists use a laser to align the plasma created at the Proto-MPEX (Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment) machine at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo credit: Ted Biewer/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been chosen as the site of an experimental facility to test materials that would withstand the harsh conditions of the plasmas created in fusion devices, which, researchers hope, could eventually provide carbon-free energy to people around the world.

The proposed facility, the Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment facility, or MPEX, has an estimated cost range between $87 million and $175 million. It would be in an existing facility in an area at ORNL known as the Energy Systems Test Complex.

Fusion devices would use the same reactions that power the sun. Temperatures inside a fusion reactor could reach millions of degrees.

Scientists are studying materials that could withstand the conditions inside fusion reactors by exposing them to prototypical plasma conditions. Plasma, the heated matter created in a fusion device, has high-energy neutrons, electrons, and ions. MPEX would study materials that face the plasma. Finding materials capable of withstanding the harsh environment remains a major hurdle to using fusion to produce energy.

A critical decision for the MPEX facility was completed in early February by the U.S. Department of Energy. ORNL is a DOE Office of Science lab. The critical decision, CD-1, is the second step in the five-step process that DOE uses to manage projects. The CD-1 decision included an alternative selection and a cost range.

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For members: Chinns part of apartment project on former AMSE site

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The former American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 10 p.m.

Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn and his brother Ryan are minority partners in the project to build apartments at the former American Museum of Science and Energy site.

 
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The former American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn and his brother Ryan are minority partners in the project to build apartments at the former American Museum of Science and Energy site.

Rick Chinn, a developer, said this month that the project will bring much-needed apartments to the city, allowing more people who work in Oak Ridge to live here. The apartments are being built as RealtyLink, a South Carolina developer, plans to build more new stores across South Tulane Avenue at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.

Now called Main Street Lofts, the apartment project has included an agreement to reduce property taxes and the transfer of what had been federal property from the U.S. Department of Energy to the city and then to a developer. It will include the demolition of the former AMSE building. It is expected to include seven three-story buildings with 226 apartment units on 10 acres.

Rick Chinn and his father, Richard Chinn, a member of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, have been abstaining from votes related to the apartment project for at least a year.

They have not been required to explain their abstentions, but Oak Ridge Today has asked Rick and Richard Chinn why they have been abstaining.

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