Oak Ridge Today

Los Alamos National Lab director to give talk at UT on Oct. 1

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Charles McMillan

Charles McMillan

Charles F. McMillan, nuclear physicist and director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, will give the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy’s annual Distinguished Global Security Lecture on October 1 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

McMillan will speak on “The Timeline of Technology” at 5:30 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium at the Baker Center, 1640 Cumberland Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.

McMillan’s lecture will look at how innovations from the previous century are being used to solve today’s national and global security, energy, and environmental issues. Then he’ll pose a question to policy makers: “Are we prepared for the policy needed in the 22nd century with the scientific and technical expertise we have today?” [Read more…]

Gov. Haslam, Bredesen to discuss Amendment 2 at UT on Wednesday

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Governor Bill Haslam

Bill Haslam

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and former Governor Phil Bredesen will discuss a constitutional amendment that could affect the judicial system during a Wednesday celebration of Constitution Day at the University of Tennessee.

Amendment 2 to the Tennessee Constitution will be on the ballot in November. It proposes new checks and balances to the governor’s appointment of Supreme Court and intermediate appellate court judges. It also protects the rights of Tennesseans to vote to retain or replace those judges in retention elections, UT said in a press release.

Haslam and Bredesen will discuss the amendment at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Toyota Auditorium of the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. The discussion will be moderated by Doug Blaze, dean of UT’s College of Law.

It’s part of the Baker Center’s celebration of Constitution Day on Wednesday. Free and open to the public, the day’s events will also include: [Read more…]

Mason to brief feds on UPF alternatives report today

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Ernest Moniz, Lamar Alexander, Thom Mason, Joe DiPietro, Jimmy Cheek at University of Tennessee

From left are UT President Joe DiPietro, Chancellor Jimmy Cheek, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, and ORNL Director Thom Mason.

Note: This story was last updated at 2:30 p.m.

KNOXVILLE—Federal officials have expressed concerns about increasing cost projections and delayed construction dates for a new Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and a so-called Red Team has drafted an alternative approach that could keep the project at $6.5 billion or less—and help workers get out of the aging Building 9212 at Y-12 by 2025.

Thom Mason, the director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, chaired the Red Team, and he is expected to brief federal officials in Washington, D.C., today (Monday) on the team’s report. The report will then go to Congress, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a media briefing at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center at the University of Tennessee on Friday.

Among the questions that could be answered are which old production buildings at Y-12 should be replaced and which can be refurbished. Y-12 was built to enrich uranium as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II as the United States raced to beat Germany to build the world’s first atomic weapons. [Read more…]

Energy Secretary Moniz to give lecture on energy, environment at UT on Friday

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Ernest Moniz

Ernest Moniz

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will give a lecture on energy and the environment at the University of Tennessee on Friday. It’s free and open to the public, a press release said.

Moniz will also talk about the U.S. Department of Energy and its activities in Tennessee, a press release said.

It’s the Baker Distinguished Lecture on Energy and the Environment, and it’s scheduled from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday at the UT College of Law, Room 132. Overflow seating will be available in Room 135, and the event will be streamed live here.

The College of Law is at at 1505 W. Cumberland Ave. in Knoxville. Paid public parking will be available in the Volunteer Hall Garage. A map of campus is available at utk.edu/maps. [Read more…]

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw to lecture at UT

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Tom Brokaw

Tom Brokaw

Tom Brokaw, one of America’s best-known journalists, will be in Knoxville on Nov. 13 to give the Baker Distinguished Lecture at the University of Tennessee.

Brokaw is a former anchor for NBC News, and he is also an author and special correspondent for NBC News. He will speak at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 13 in the University Center Auditorium.

The lecture is presented by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. It is free and open to the public, but reservations must be made. Seats will be held only until 10 minutes before the event begins. Overflow seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis in the Shiloh Room (Room 235). Visit this Web page to reserve a seat. [Read more…]

UT releases policy brief on selling TVA

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KNOXVILLE—The Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has released a policy brief summarizing factors the federal government should consider while making its decision of whether or not to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority.

In his proposed fiscal year 2014 budget, President Barack Obama suggested the federal government consider selling TVA. There are several factors that may affect the federal government’s final decision on the matter, including TVA’s ability to be self-sufficient and the absence of federal money in its programs since 1999. Mary English, Baker Center Fellow for Energy and Environmental Policy, summarizes these factors in the brief, titled “Should the Federal Government Sell TVA?”

[Read more…]