A greenway area at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, has been designated as a certified wildlife habitat site by the National Wildlife Federation.
The 26-acre area is part of the Heritage Center Greenway, which includes trails, ponds, and close-by rivers, a press release said. The greenway provides public access to meadow and wildlife habitat areas that allow viewing of more than 200 species of birds and water fowl, including nesting pairs of bald eagles and osprey. [Read more…]
An airport with a 5,000-foot runway could serve small business jets and pressurized turbine aircraft at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, in west Oak Ridge. An image of the proposed runway is in yellow at right. (Photo courtesy Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority)
The airport proposed at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge could feature a 5,000-foot runway, accommodate all but the largest business jets, and cost between $35 million and $45 million, an official said Monday.
Construction at the site is possible around 2017 to 2018, said Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.
The airport would be built at the front of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, and the runway would parallel Highway 58. [Read more…]
The last of more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste at the former IMPACT Services site at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge was scheduled to be shipped out at the end of June.
The board of directors of the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee honored Roger Fenner, consultant to the director of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and Judy Hardt, senior project manager for Science Applications International Corp., for their leadership and success in closing out some 1.2 million pounds of radioactive waste left after Impact Services LLC declared bankruptcy in May 2012, a press release said.
Fenner and Hardt led the team of professionals that successfully closed out a performance bond required by TDEC as part of a state radiological materials license held by Impact Services, a lessee of CROET at East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site), at the time of bankruptcy. TDEC contracted SAIC to return to the waste generators and clean up the waste, the press release said. [Read more…]
The U.S. Department of Energy has requested additional information as it tries to close out a $2 million grant awarded 16 years ago to a nonprofit organization that owns, develops, and manages former DOE property.
The grant was issued in 1997 as part of a larger grant that the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee requested from DOE, said Lawrence Young, CROET president and chief executive officer. Most of the money was used for a high-risk loan program for small businesses. The purpose was to create jobs and promote economic development in East Tennessee, said Mike Koentop, spokesman for the DOE Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]
The last of more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste at the former IMPACT Services site at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge was scheduled be shipped out today.
It’s considered a success story—a one-year, $1.2 million state project to ship out more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste from a company that has declared bankruptcy—and it’s scheduled to end Friday, officials said last week. The last waste, stored in an open-air shed at the site, was scheduled to be shipped out today, but it has been delayed a day or two.
The project began in May 2012 after IMPACT Services Inc., a company that processed low-level radioactive waste, declared bankruptcy. The company had operations on property leased from the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee at the northwest corner of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.
In the past year, state and contractor officials said during a tour last week, a total of roughly 1.6 million pounds of waste and equipment has been shipped out, including to other processors and sites in Oak Ridge, Florida, and a landfill in Clive, Utah. The waste has been shipped from the site in 1,200 containers on some 220 truck shipments. [Read more…]
Local and state officials joined business executives and German officials at a Thursday ribbon-cutting ceremony for a 50 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array at Heritage Center.
Note: This story was updated at 9:25 a.m. April 29.
A Tennessee solar company and the German Energy Agency, or dena, celebrated their first U.S. solar project Thursday, a 50 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge.
The array includes seven ground-mounted trackers that are 20 feet high. They each include 28-30 solar panels. The trackers adjust themselves to capture the most sunlight, using two sensors each to adjust from east to west and tilting up and down.
It’s a public-private partnership involving dena and Vis Solis LLC of Franklin, Tenn., a subsidiary of Vis Solis GmbH in Breesen, Germany. Also involved is German manufacturer DEGERenergie.
It’s a $250,000 to $300,000 investment, said Carlos Mayer, Vis Solis chief executive officer. [Read more…]
A plan for the Southern Appalachia Railway Museum that had been proposed at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site. (Submitted image)
Note: This story was updated at 10:13 a.m.
A railroad museum that has been planned for years at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, will not be built due to budget constraints, officials said Monday.
The lowest qualified bid for the 3,315-square-foot facility came in at nearly $1 million, or about 26 percent more than expected, a press release said.
The Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee’s Heritage Center LLC and the Southern Appalachian Railway Museum determined this week that the cost was too high, the press release said. [Read more…]
A plan for the proposed Southern Appalachia Railway Museum at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site. (Submitted image)
Although they had concerns about potential worst-case scenarios, Oak Ridge City Council members on Monday unanimously agreed to accept a state grant worth up to $480,000 for construction of a railway museum at Heritage Center, a project first proposed more than a decade ago.
By approving the resolution, Council also authorized the city to enter into a construction management agreement with the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee and Heritage Center LLC. That agreement calls for CROET and Heritage to offer the 20 percent local match required under the grant, or $120,000, as well as associated construction management services.
The Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee is moving its headquarters across town to the Commerce Park, where the economic development organization will share a building with Tech 20/20.
CROET has been located at the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office building complex on Laboratory Road for years, and Tech 20/20 has had its headquarters at 1020 Commerce Drive.
In a press release, John Morris, Tech 20/20 president and chief executive officer, said the collaboration between the two economic development organizations brings his career “full circle.”
“In 1996, CROET helped launch one of my start-up companies, Net Learning, with a $100,000 seed loan that served as a catalyst to launch the business,†Morris said. “They were there when we could not get traditional funding, and now I’m excited to have the opportunity to continue to strengthen the partnership between Tech 20/20 and CROET. By being co-located, we will build upon the great relationships we’ve had for years to leverage opportunities and help other businesses and start-ups in non-traditional ways.â€
The press release said the partnership between CROET and Tech 20/20 has played a key role in economic development in Oak Ridge, with projects including the Center for Entrepreneurial Growth’s accelerator fund and the Halcyon Commercialization Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
