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UPF construction could cost more, take longer

Posted at 8:18 pm January 26, 2023
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The entrance sign at Y-12 National Security Complex at Bear Creek Road and Scarboro Road is pictured above on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex was supposed to be completed by 2025 for no more than $6.5 billion, but that might no longer be the case.

In the past week, federal officials said construction projects across the country, including UPF, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain delays, inflation, labor shortages, and increased labor costs. Those factors have led to higher construction costs and longer project timelines, the federal officials said.

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Filed Under: Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Premium Content, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Building 9212, Chuck Fleischmann, Congress, construction project, Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, Lamar Alexander, Main Process Building, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Red Team Review, U.S. Department of Energy, UPF, uranium processing facility, Y-12 National Security Complex

Oak Ridge designated World War II Heritage City

Posted at 11:54 am December 7, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Y-12 Calutron Girls
Women enriching uranium in calutrons at Y-12 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. (Photo by Manhattan Project photographer Ed Westcott)

The City of Oak Ridge has been designated a World War II Heritage City, the only city in Tennessee to receive that designation.

The National Park Service has notified the city of the designation, Oak Ridge said in a press release Tuesday.

“The American World War II Heritage Cities Program honors the contributions of local towns, cities, (and) counties, and commemorates the stories of the men, women, and children whose bravery and sacrifices shaped the U.S. home front during World War II, and still impact our nation today,” the press release said. “Only one American World War II Heritage City can be designated in each state or territory. Oak Ridge played a critical role in history and has been designated Tennessee’s American World War II Heritage City through the program. ”

Oak Ridge was a key production site during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons, before Germany could. Among other work, Oak Ridge enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime and had the first reactor to make plutonium-239. A plutonium sample was sent to scientific facilities at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and more of that isotope, the fuel used in the second bomb, was produced at Hanford, Washington.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, History, History, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: American World War II Heritage Cities Program, American World War II Heritage City, Chuck Fleischmann, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Mark Watson, National Park Service, Oak Ridge, plutonium, uranium, World War II, World War II Heritage City

ORNL to receive $497 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding 

Posted at 3:50 pm November 12, 2022
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory will receive $497 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for projects that include nuclear fusion and neutron research, supercomputing, materials science, and radioisotope production. More than half of the money, 52% of it, will be used for U.S. contributions to an international nuclear fusion project.

ORNL’s $497 million is about one-third of the $1.55 billion provided to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science by the Democrat-led Congress under the IRA. President Joe Biden signed the IRA, which included a range of provisions and passed along party lines, into law in August. It provides money for more than 52 DOE projects already in the works.

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Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Premium Content, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Chuck Fleischmann, DOE, Inflation Reduction Act, ITER, Jennifer Granholm, Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay, LEGEND, Marsha Blackburn, Materials Plasma eXposure Experiment, materials science, MPEX, neutron research, nuclear fusion, Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, Radioisotope Processing Facility, radioisotope production, Second Target Station, Spallation Neutron Source, Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, supercomputing, Thomas Zacharia, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. ITER

Granholm learns about ORNL wireless charging, seawater batteries

Posted at 6:01 pm November 22, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, second from right, talks about the infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden and the Build Back Better Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives during a visit to GRID-C at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. Also pictured from right are ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia; U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, whose district includes Oak Ridge; and Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory shared their intriguing studies of wireless charging and seawater batteries, among other novel projects, with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm during a tour on Monday.

Granholm was in East Tennessee to highlight the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed Congress and was signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, and the president’s Build Back Better agenda, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week but hasn’t been approved by the Senate yet.

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, second from right, talks about the infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden and the Build Back Better Act during a visit to GRID-C at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021. Also pictured from right are ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia; U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, whose district includes Oak Ridge; and Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory shared their intriguing studies of wireless charging and seawater batteries, among other novel projects, with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm during a tour on Monday.

Granholm was in East Tennessee to highlight the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed Congress and was signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, and the president’s Build Back Better agenda, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week but hasn’t been approved by the Senate yet.

“These historic investments will accelerate the transition to a more resilient, clean energy powered future—bringing economic development and good-paying, local jobs,” the U.S. Department of Energy said in a press release.

The Biden administration has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent, compared to 2005 levels, by 2030 and reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

“Part of the legislation passed last week is a big step forward,” Granholm said.

Among other benefits, the ORNL projects are expected to help the United States transition to a carbon-free economy as countries around the world seek to reduce emissions, improve the use of batteries and renewable energy, and allow the nation to be less reliant on other countries for critical materials such as cobalt.

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Filed Under: DOE, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Premium Content, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Build Back Better, Chuck Fleischmann, GRID-C, Ilias Belharouak, infrastructure bill, Jennifer Granholm, Joe Biden, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Omer Onar, ORNL, Rick Raines, seawater battery, U.S. Department of Energy, Veda Galigekere, Warren Gooch, wireless charging

General Fusion locating U.S. headquarters in Oak Ridge

Posted at 8:21 am November 11, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

General Fusion Corporation will locate its U.S. headquarters in Oak Ridge as the company advances plans for a commercial pilot plant, Tennessee officials and company executives announced Wednesday.

The headquarters decision was announced Wednesday by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe, and General Fusion Corporation executives.

General Fusion Corporation is based in Vancouver, Canada. The company says fusion could provide a carbon-free power source that would meet the growing global energy demand while fighting climate change.

The U.S.-based subsidiary of General Fusion Incorporated will initially invest $539,000 and create 20 new jobs in Anderson County during the next five years, a press release said. It’s the first private fusion company to establish an office in Tennessee, General Fusion said. The new headquarters in Oak Ridge will be near Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a science and energy lab that is home to the U.S. ITER program. ITER is an experimental fusion device being built in southern France through an international collaboration and planned to be the first such device to produce net energy.

In Oak Ridge, General Fusion said it will collaborate with “world-leading fusion scientists and tap into key engineering talent.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Bill Lee, Christofer Mowry, Chuck Fleischmann, fusion, General Fusion, ITER, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL

Rep. Fleischmann tests positive for COVID

Posted at 3:34 pm January 11, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Chuck Fleischmann

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Fleischmann announced his positive diagnosis on Sunday.

Chuck Fleischmann

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, has tested positive for COVID-19.

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Filed Under: COVID-19, Front Page News, Government, Health, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: Chuck Fleischmann, COVID-19

Next major decision anticipated for second target station at SNS

Posted at 3:27 pm March 2, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

SNS-Second-Target-Station
More than 200 scientists from around the world met from Oct. 27 to 29, 2015, at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to provide input on the scientific instruments that would be installed at a proposed Second Target Station, or STS, pictured above at center right at the Spallation Neutron Source. (File aerial photo and overlay by ORNL)

The next decision about the second target station at the Spallation Neutron Source could be made later this year or in the first quarter of next year, U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told a House subcommittee on Thursday. The next decision would include an alternative selection and a cost range.

The $1.4 billion SNS is located on Chestnut Ridge at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It provides neutrons for research.

The second target station has been part of SNS plans for many years. It’s one of two upgrades being pursued at SNS. The other is a proton power upgrade, which is expected to double the power of SNS’s proton beam from 1.4 megawatts to 2.8 megawatts.

The second target station has a current estimated cost range of $800 million to $1.5 billion. The U.S. Department of Energy said the second target was needed more than a decade ago, in January 2009. The second target station would use a narrow proton beam and a compact, rotating, water-cooled tungsten target. It is expected to fill gaps in materials research that require the combined use of intense, cold (longer wavelength) neutrons and instruments that can help analyze complex materials. It could have up to 22 experimental beamlines.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Chuck Fleischmann, Dan Brouillette, DOE, House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, neutron science, neutrons, proton beam, proton power upgrade, protons, Second Target Station, SNS, SNS target, Spallation Neutron Source, U.S. Department of Energy

Updated: TerraPower, Isotek extracting cancer treatment materials from U-233 at ORNL

Posted at 11:50 am November 22, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

DOE EM ORNL Pumping Uranyl Nitrate Solution into Resin Columns
TerraPower, a company that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates helped launch in 2006, is working with Isotek Systems LLC, a federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, to extract rare isotopes from nuclear materials for cancer treatment and research. Pictured above is a uranyl nitrate solution being pumped into resin columns. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

Note: This story was last updated at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 25.

A company that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates helped launch in 2006 is working with a federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge to extract rare isotopes from nuclear materials for cancer treatment research.

The project will significantly increase the number of cancer treatment doses available each year, federal officials and company executives said Friday. It will help remove highly enriched fissile nuclear material from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and save taxpayers an estimated $90 million, the officials and executives said. And it will recycle an isotope that would otherwise be “irretrievably lost” as the nuclear material, uranium-233, is converted into a disposal-ready form.

The U.S. Department of Energy, Isotek Systems LLC, and TerraPower celebrated with an announcement of the project in Oak Ridge on Friday morning.

TerraPower, which is based in Bellevue, Washington, where Gates is chairman, is particularly interested in actinium-225. That isotope can be extracted from thorium-229. The thorium will be removed from the fissile material, the uranium-233 stored at ORNL, by the federal cleanup contractor, Isotek.

The unique agreement, a public-private partnership, is expected to allow TerraPower the ability to make 100 times more actinium-225-based cancer treatment doses per year than the 4,000 doses that are currently available worldwide. TerraPower could first offer actinium-225 in late 2020, company executives said.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, DOE, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Slider Tagged With: actinium-225, alpha particles, alpha-emitting isotope, Atkins, Bill Gates, Building 3019, cancer treatment, Chris Levesque, Chuck Fleischmann, DOE, Isotek Systems LLC, isotope, Jay Mullis, Jeff Latkowski, Jim Bolon, monoclonal antibodies, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, ORNL, Sandy Taylor, SNC-Lavalin, TerraPower, thorium-229, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium-233

For members: Companies have agreement to make nuclear fuel

Posted at 11:31 am November 14, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

X-energy-TRISO-Carbonization-and-Heat-Treatment-Furnace
The carbonization and heat treatment furnace used to produce TRISO fuel, a uranium fuel, at a pilot production facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy X-energy)

Note: This story was updated at 12:15 p.m.

A company that has a trial fuel fabrication facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is collaborating with a joint venture led by GE with Hitachi to produce nuclear fuel for the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA.

 

The carbonization and heat treatment furnace used to produce TRISO fuel, a high-assay, low-enriched uranium fuel, at a pilot production facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy X-energy)

 

A company that has a trial fuel fabrication facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is collaborating with a joint venture led by GE with Hitachi to produce nuclear fuel for the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA.

The company, X-energy of Rockville, Maryland, announced the collaboration with Global Nuclear Fuel on November 6.

The two companies have an agreement to develop high-assay, low-enriched uranium TRISO fuel. The fuel could be used in defense micro-reactors and by NASA for nuclear thermal propulsion, a press release said.

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Filed Under: Business, Business, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Premium Content, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Centrus Energy, Chuck Fleischmann, Clay Sell, Daniel Poneman, fuel fabrication, GE, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, Global Nuclear Fuel, GNF, HALEU, high-assay low-enriched uranium, Hitachi, Jay Wileman, NASA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Pete Pappano, TRISO, TRISO fuel, U-235, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, uranium fuel, uranium-235, X-energy

ORNL: New research facility will serve expanding missions in computing, materials R&D

Posted at 12:04 pm May 8, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A conceptual drawing is shown above for the new Translational Research Capability at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Image courtesy ORNL)

Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, and lab officials broke ground Tuesday morning on a multipurpose research facility that will provide laboratory space for expanding scientific activities at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The new Translational Research Capability, or TRC, will be built for world-leading research in computing and materials science, and it will serve to advance the science and engineering of quantum information, a press release said.

“Through today’s groundbreaking, we’re writing a new chapter in research at the Translational Research Capability Facility,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said in the press release. “This building will be the home for advances in quantum information science, battery and energy storage, materials science, and many more. It will also be a place for our scientists, researchers, engineers, and innovators to take on big challenges and deliver transformative solutions.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Chuck Fleischmann, DOE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, research facility, Rick Perry, Thomas Zacharia, Translational Research Capability, U.S. Department of Energy

(For members) New lithium building a priority as ceiling materials fall in old one

Posted at 1:50 pm April 6, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

 

A new lithium processing facility that could be built in Oak Ridge is a priority for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which has cited worker safety and materials that have fallen from the ceiling at the old building now used at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

As a priority, the new lithium processing facility is right behind the number one priorities: the production of plutonium pits at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and uranium processing at the Uranium Processing Facility, which is now under construction at Y-12, said Charles Verdon, NNSA deputy administrator for defense programs.

NNSA Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty cited the materials that have fallen from the ceiling at the old Y-12 building used for lithium processing, 9204-2, or Beta 2, in her response to questions during a budget hearing with the U.S. House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee on Tuesday.

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Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Premium Content, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: 9204-2, Beta 2, Biology Complex, budget hearing, budget request, Building 9204-2, CD-1, Charles Verdon, Chuck Fleischmann, critical decision 1, Kathryn King, Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, lithium processing, lithium processing facility, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Manhattan Project, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, nuclear weapons stockpile, Oak Ridge, plutonium, plutonium pits, Savannah River Site, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, UPF, uranium, uranium processing facility, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

For first time since 2012, US has top supercomputer in world

Posted at 1:37 pm June 25, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Summit supercomputer was named number one on the TOP500 List, a semiannual ranking of the world’s fastest computing systems on Monday, June 25, 2018. (Photo credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Summit supercomputer was named number one on the TOP500 List, a semiannual ranking of the world’s fastest computing systems on Monday, June 25, 2018. (Photo credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

 

For the first time since 2012, the United States has the most powerful supercomputer in the world, and it’s again located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The new supercomputer, called Summit, is capable of 200 petaflops, or 200,000 trillion calculations per second. Equipment delivery for Summit was completed in March, and officials celebrated the launch of the supercomputer in a ceremony attended by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on June 8.

The last time the United States had the top supercomputer was in November 2012. That machine, which is still in use, is named Titan, and it’s also at ORNL. It’s now number seven on the semiannual TOP500 list, which was released Monday.

China had held the top spot since June 2013, and the country had held the top two spots since June 2016. That ended with Monday’s TOP500 announcement. Previously at number one and number two, the top two Chinese supercomputers have fallen to number two and number four.

ORNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory, now has two of the top seven systems on the list. They are Summit at number one and Titan at number seven. The United States now has six of the top 10 machines, according to the TOP500 list. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: AI Bridging Cloud Infrastructure, China, Chuck Fleischmann, Cray, exascale computing, High Performance Linpack, hybrid CPU-GPU architecture, IBM, IBM Power9 central processing unit, ISC High Performance conference, Jaguar, Japan, Lamar Alexander, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lenovo, Linux operating system, Mellanox EDR InfiniBand network, Milky Way-2A, most powerful supercomputer, NVIDIA Tesla V100 graphics processing unit, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, petaflops, quantum computing, Red Hat, Sierra, smartest supercomputer, summit, Sunway TaihuLight, supercomputer, supercomputers, Thomas Zacharia, Tianhe-2, Tianhe-2A, Titan, Top500, Top500 List, U.S. Department of Energy, United States

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  • ORAU Annual Giving Campaign exceeds $100,000 goal+ORAU Annual Giving Campaign exceeds $100,000 goal More than $1 million raised in past 10 years benefits United Way and Community Shares Oak Ridge, Tenn. —ORAU exceeded its goal of raising $100,000 in donations as part of its internal annual giving campaign that benefits the United Way and Community Shares nonprofit organizations. ORAU has raised more than $1 million over the past 10 years through this campaign. A total of $126,839 was pledged during the 2024 ORAU Annual Giving Campaign. Employees donate via payroll deduction and could earmark their donation for United Way, Community Shares or both. “ORAU has remained a strong pillar in the community for more than 75 years, and we encourage our employees to consider participating in our annual giving campaign each year to help our less fortunate neighbors in need,” said ORAU President and CEO Andy Page. “Each one of our employees has the power to positively impact the lives of those who need help in the communities where we do business across the country and demonstrate the ORAU way – taking care of each other.” ORAU, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, provides science, health and workforce solutions that address national priorities and serve the public interest. Through our specialized teams of experts and access to a consortium of more than 150 major Ph.D.-granting institutions, ORAU works with federal, state, local and commercial customers to provide innovative scientific and technical solutions and help advance their missions. ORAU manages the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Learn more about ORAU at www.orau.org. Learn more about ORAU at www.orau.org. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OakRidgeAssociatedUniversities Follow us on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/orau Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/orau ###
  • Children’s Museum Gala Celebrates the Rainforest
  • Jim Sears joins ORAU as senior vice president
  • Oak Ridge Housing Authority Receives Funding Assistance of up to $51.8 Million For Renovating Public Housing and Building New Workforce Housing
  • Two fires reported early Friday

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