Oak Ridge Today

DOE seeks candidates for advisory board vacancies, applications due Sept. 30

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management is seeking volunteers to fill vacancies on the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board, or ORSSAB. The board is a federally chartered citizens’ panel that provides recommendations to the agency regarding cleanup activities across the Oak Ridge Reservation.

Chartered in 1995 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the board is comprised of up to 22 members that are chosen to reflect the diversity of gender, race, occupation, and interests of people living near the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The board and its EM/Stewardship Committee meet monthly to discuss and develop recommendations on cleanup decisions and topics such as cleanup strategies, hazardous waste management, and long-term stewardship. The board also reviews the Environmental Management program’s planning decisions and cleanup-related documents. All ORSSAB meetings and its committees are open to the public. [Read more…]

DOE, TDEC, scientist to discuss environmental management at Sept. 22 seminar

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Sue Cange

Sue Cange

A scientist and speakers from the U.S. Department of Energy and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will discuss environmental management during a September 22 seminar. It’s the second of three new Community School seminars.

The September 22 seminar will feature Susan Cange, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management; Ellen Smith, environmental scientist and Oak Ridge City Council member; and Chris Thompson, deputy director of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 22, at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Cange will introduce the DOE Environmental Management program, a press release said. Smith will present on the contaminants released and left behind from the federal government activities in Oak Ridge. Thompson will provide an overview of the monitoring of DOE’s activities in the Oak Ridge Reservation relative to public safety and the environment. [Read more…]

First Community School seminar focuses on early Oak Ridge history

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D. Ray Smith

D. Ray Smith

The first of the three Community School evening seminars focusing on management of legacy wastes from Oak Ridge will feature local historian D. Ray Smith. The seminar will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 15, at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

In his presentation, “Stories from the Secret City,” Smith will give an overview of early Oak Ridge history including how the East Tennessee location was selected and the predictions the “Prophet of Oak Ridge.” In material provided about the presentation, Smith said that many Ed Westcott historical images will form the backdrop for the stories of the history of Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. A primary focus will be the Y-12 National Security Complex, which produced the uranium for the first atomic bomb, with some Oak Ridge National Laboratory history included as well.

He said he will touch on the Cold War Era and today’s Oak Ridge missions, and time permitting, give an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. A concluding activity of the first seminar will be an Oak Ridge mapping exercise, led by Community School staff. [Read more…]

ORNL’s Wolfgram named outstanding emergency manager

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Michele Wolfgram

Michele Wolfgram

Emergency Management Specialist Michele Wolfgram of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory received an excellence in emergency management award at the Emergency Management Issues Special Interest Group’s, or EMI SIG, annual meeting, held in West Virginia.

Sponsored by the DOE Office of Emergency Management and Policy Division, the EMI SIG award acknowledged Wolfgram, a member of ORNL’s Laboratory Protection Division, for her outstanding contributions and service to the emergency management profession across DOE facilities.

DOE event marks beginning of landmark ecosystem experiment

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Carbon Dioxide Test Chambers

By controlling the temperature and the amount of carbon dioxide in the test chambers, scientists hope to learn how microbial communities, moss populations, various higher plant types, and some insect groups respond. (Photo by ORNL)

 

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn.—Scientists are getting a glimpse of the future with a U.S. Department of Energy large-scale experiment designed to answer questions about how carbon-rich peatlands will respond to projected warming of the climate and increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

SPRUCE, which stands for Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Climatic and Environmental Change, was launched Wednesday, August 26, at the experiment site about 25 miles north of Grand Rapids. Among those attending the ceremony were Gary Geernaert and Daniel Stover of DOE’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research; Thomas Schmidt, assistant director for research, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Northern Research Station; and Martin Keller, associate laboratory director of Energy and Environmental Sciences at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

The site consists of about seven acres of raised bog in the peatlands of the Chippewa National Forest. The natural spruce bog in northern Minnesota contains more than 10,000 years of carbon accumulated from peatlands and answers to questions related to the predicted warming of ecosystems. [Read more…]

Airport could cost $30-$40 million, construction could start in 2018

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Oak Ridge Airport Property Transfer Session

Oak Ridge resident and pilot Jerry Depew, center, talks to Billy Stair, a consultant for the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, during an information session on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2015, to discuss a proposed property transfer for a general aviation airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 4:36 p.m.

Conditions are subject to change, but current plans call for starting construction on a general aviation airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, in 2018. The current estimate range says the airport could cost between $30 million and $40 million, officials said Wednesday.

Work on an airport master plan is just starting, and it could take 12 months to complete, said Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. He said that plan will provide more details on subjects like cost and schedule.

The Oak Ridge airport would the third for the MKAA, which would own the site. The other two are McGhee Tyson in Blount County and Downtown Island in Knoxville.

Marrison said the Oak Ridge airport would be a reliever airport and help relieve congestion at the other two airports. He said McGhee Tyson is at capacity and there is no hangar space available, and Downtown Island has 100 people on its waiting list. [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…]

City officials meet with NPS, DOE, other communities to discuss Manhattan Project park

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Chuck Hope

Chuck Hope

A delegation from the City of Oak Ridge recently traveled to Los Alamos, New Mexico, to participate in a meeting with officials from the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Energy, and from Los Alamos and the Hanford communities to discuss the newly designated Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The meeting was sponsored by the Energy Communities Alliance, or ECA, which supported attendance at the meeting with travel grants to the participants.

The three-day event, with more than 50 in attendance, began with a tour of the cultural resources and Manhattan Project era sites at Los Alamos National Laboratory. David Klaus, deputy under secretary of management and performance with DOE, was the keynote speaker. He emphasized the importance of preserving the history of the Manhattan Project, and pointed to the important scientific and technological advancements that originated from that era.

Victor Knox, associate director for park planning, facilities, and lands for the National Park Service, then briefed attendees on the status of a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, currently under development by DOE and NPS. The draft MOA, which has been released for public comment, will govern the respective roles of the secretary of interior and secretary of energy in administering the park and its facilities. Completion of the MOA is the first major milestone required by the enacting legislation, which was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last December. [Read more…]

Synergy Solutions receives $3.7 million contract at DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of EM

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Sue Cange at DOE Oak Ridge Environmental Management

Sue Cange, manager of the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, is pictured above after a community meeting in May on budget priorities. (DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management recently awarded a $3.7 million contract to Synergy Solutions Inc. for administrative support services.

Synergy Solutions is an 8(a) and small woman-owned business headquartered in Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The contract employs 11 staff members that provide administrative support services to the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. It has a one-year base period with four one-year options.

“We are very pleased to begin our partnership with Synergy Solutions,” said Sue Cange, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. “Small businesses are an important element that helps us achieve our mission, and we are excited about the capabilities this local business offers our program.”

Tasks performed under the contract include general office administration, technical editing and writing, graphics and design support, and records management.

Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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…]

Despite lobbying, Manhattan Project park HQ proposed in Denver

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K-25 Building Aerial View

Now demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building, pictured above, was once used to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Located in west Oak Ridge, the site could become part of a Manhattan Project National Historical Park. There is a separate effort to preserve the site’s history; that work could be incorporated into the new park. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:10 p.m. July 29.

Local officials had proposed locating it in Oak Ridge, but federal officials have proposed locating the headquarters for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Denver.

The new park, which is still in the planning stages, would include three sites: Oak Ridge; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

A National Park Service release on Tuesday said there would be a site manager for each location who will coordinate with local U.S. Department of Energy staff, Tribes, community members, and area partners. The site managers will report to the Manhattan Project National Historical Park’s superintendent, who will be located at an NPS central office that has been proposed in Denver. [Read more…]

UT-ORNL nuclear expert Wirth honored in Washington, D.C.

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Brian Wirth, Ernest Moniz, and John Kotek

UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Computational Nuclear Engineering Brian Wirth, right, receives a plaque from U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, center, honoring him as an Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award recipient. John Kotek, acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, is at left. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

 

Nuclear energy expert Brian Wirth, a joint appointee at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, received the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award from U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz at a Washington, D.C., ceremony Thursday night.

Wirth serves as the Governor’s Chair for Computational Nuclear Engineering, studying aspects of nuclear environments and materials related to nuclear energy.

That expertise led to his honor, one of nine the DOE bestowed during the evening.

“The ceremony was really nice,” said Wirth. “I was thrilled that College of Engineering Dean Wayne Davis, department head Wes Hines, and Steve Zinkle attended, along with Alan Icenhour from ORNL.” [Read more…]