Oak Ridge Today

Construction on Oak Ridge Airport could start late next year, early 2019

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Image via Billy Stair presentation at Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority General Aviation Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

Image via Billy Stair presentation at Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority General Aviation Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2 a.m.

There are additional steps and approvals required, but if all goes well, construction on the Oak Ridge Airport on the west end of town could start in late 2018 or early 2019, officials said Wednesday.

The airport could still cost an estimated $35 million to $40 million, officials said. It would be funded with a mix of federal funding, state aeronautical commission funding, and local funding from the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, or MKAA.

On Wednesday, the MKAA General Aviation Committee approved an airport layout plan during a meeting at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa. The plan will now be sent to the Federal Aviation Administration for review and approval.

“It’s a very important step for us,” said Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. [Read more…]

First of its kind, Oak Ridge’s federal re-industrialization program celebrates 20 years

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east-tennessee-technology-park-2020-rendering-1

A rendering of East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, in 2020, when cleanup there is scheduled for completion. ETTP offers robust infrastructure and multiple parcels spanning hundreds of acres, capable of attracting and supporting large-scale industry, according to DOE. (Photo courtesy DOE)

 

Note: This is an edited version of a story by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

A re-industrialization program that was the first of its kind and converts federal property to private-sector use celebrated 20 years this month.

The re-industrialization program was designed to attract new industries and jobs to a former uranium enrichment complex.

Through the program, the U.S. Department of Energy has transferred hundreds of acres to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, or CROET, and the City of Oak Ridge to create two private-sector industrial parks, the 1,200-acre Heritage Center and the 1,000-acre Horizon Center.

Heritage Center is at the former K-25 site, which was built during World War II and was once used to enrich uranium in west Oak Ridge. Horizon Center is a few miles east of Heritage Center. [Read more…]

Reminder: Property transfer for airport to be discussed during info session today

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Oak Ridge Airport Development Plan

The Heritage Center airport development plan is pictured above. The airport site is the area pictured in yellow. The main entrance to Heritage Center off Oak Ridge Turnpike is at bottom left, in the area of the ponds. (Cropped image from DOE Draft Environmental Assessment)

 

About 170 acres of land at a federal site in west Oak Ridge could be transferred to a nonprofit organization for a new general aviation airport that would feature a 5,000-foot runway and accommodate airplanes and helicopters.

The airport would be built on the south side of Heritage Center, which is also known as East Tennessee Technology Park and the former K-25 site. The runway would be close to and run roughly parallel to Oak Ridge Turnpike/State Route 58.

A draft environmental assessment, or EA, has been prepared for the property transfer. It evaluates the potential impacts of transferring the ETTP land from the U.S. Department of Energy to the nonprofit Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. DOE and MKAA representatives will be available to discuss the proposed action during a public information session from 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 19, at the DOE Information Center. The Information Center is on the west end of the building that houses the Office of Scientific and Technical Information in east Oak Ridge.

No formal presentation is planned, and the public may stop by at any time during the session. [Read more…]

Property transfer for Oak Ridge airport to be discussed during info session on Aug. 19

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Oak Ridge Airport Development Plan

The Heritage Center airport development plan is pictured above. The airport site is the area pictured in yellow. The main entrance to Heritage Center off Oak Ridge Turnpike is at bottom left, in the area of the ponds. (Cropped image from DOE Draft Environmental Assessment)

 

About 170 acres of land at a federal site in west Oak Ridge could be transferred to a nonprofit organization for a new general aviation airport that would feature a 5,000-foot runway and accommodate airplanes and helicopters.

The airport would be built on the south side of Heritage Center, which is also known as East Tennessee Technology Park and the former K-25 site. The runway would be close to and run roughly parallel to Oak Ridge Turnpike/State Route 58.

A draft environmental assessment, or EA, has been prepared for the property transfer. It evaluates the potential impacts of transferring the ETTP land from the U.S. Department of Energy to the nonprofit Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. DOE and MKAA representatives will be available to discuss the proposed action during a public information session from 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 19, at the DOE Information Center. The Information Center is on the west end of the building that houses the Office of Scientific and Technical Information in east Oak Ridge.

No formal presentation is planned, and the public may stop by at any time during the session. [Read more…]

New one-megawatt solar array at Heritage Center can power 133 homes

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Powerhouse Six Solar Array Ribbon-cutting April 9, 2015

Company executives and city and federal officials celebrate a new one-megawatt solar array at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge on Thursday with a ceremonial “plugging in.”

 

A new one-megawatt solar array at the Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge will provide enough clean energy to power 133 average-size homes per year, officials said.

Company and nonprofit executives joined city and federal officials for a ceremonial “plugging in” of the new Powerhouse Six photovoltaic solar array on Thursday.

The $1.8 million array has 3,268 solar modules, and it will be used to sell electric power to the Tennessee Valley Authority through the Oak Ridge Electric Department.

“We’re going live today,” said Gil Hough, renewable energy manager for RSI, or Restoration Services Inc., the Oak Ridge-based company that developed the array. [Read more…]

DOE transfers former machine shop property to CROET

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DOE Land Transfer at ETTP to CROET

From left during Wednesday’s land transfer ceremony are U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann; Mark Whitney, manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management; Lawrence Young, CROET president and CEO; and David Klaus, DOE’s deputy undersecretary for management and performance.

 

Roughly 25 acres of land that once housed a machine shop and supporting buildings at Heritage Center has been transferred to an economic development organization that finds new uses for former federal property.

The property transfer from the U.S. Department of Energy to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee was celebrated in a Wednesday afternoon ceremony. It’s the 12th transfer from DOE to CROET, and the two dozen acres were signed over to CROET for private-sector use.

Among the speakers at Wednesday’s ceremony were U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, and David Klaus, DOE’s deputy undersecretary for management and performance.

“The reindustrialization program in Oak Ridge has not only been an economic development catalyst for the region, it is saving tax payers millions of dollars as the federal government transfers underutilized assets to the private sector,” Fleischmann said.

The transfers of the parcels, officially known as ED-11 and ED-12, have been in the works for at least a few years. Lawrence Young, CROET president and chief executive officer, said there will some infrastructure improvements to make the property ready for development. Part of the property once housed Building 1401, an old machine shop that has now been demolished. [Read more…]

DOE to transfer 25 acres to CROET

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Heritage Center

The main entrance to the Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge, is pictured above. (Photo courtesy CROET)

The U.S. Department of Energy will transfer 25 acres at East Tennessee Technology Park’s Heritage Center to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, and officials have planned a Wednesday afternoon ceremony.

The speakers will include Mark Whitney, manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, and Lawrence Young, CROET president and chief executive officer.

Special guests will include U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and David Klaus, DOE deputy undersecretary for management and performance.

EDi buys former IMPACT Services site from CROET

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Impact Services Inc.

State and contractor officials lead tours of the IMPACT Services Inc. site at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge in June. More than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste has been shipped from the site.

An environmental services company that helped clean up the former IMPACT Services site at Heritage Center has purchased the seven-acre property from the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee.

The company, Environmental Dimensions Inc., is headquartered in Alburquerque, N.M., but has offices in Oak Ridge.

The cleanup work at the site started in May 2012 after IMPACT Services, which processed low-level radioactive waste, declared bankruptcy. The company had leased the site—which is at the northwest corner of Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge—from CROET.

“We are fortunate to have a partner like EDi who has not only helped us address the environmental liabilities of the property, but that has a vision for its future that will help our community, bring jobs to the area, and further our reindustrialization efforts at East Tennessee Technology Park’s Heritage Center,” said Lawrence Young, CROET president and chief executive officer. [Read more…]

Heritage Center Greenway area certified by National Wildlife Federation

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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…]

CROET recognizes TDEC, contractor performance on Impact Services cleanup

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IMPACT Services Waste

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…]

DOE asks for more information on $2 million CROET grant

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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…]

Planned for years, new railroad museum will not be built at Heritage Center

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Southern Appalachia Railway Museum Building

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…]