Oak Ridge Today

‘Zoomable’ map of poplar proteins offers new view of bioenergy crop

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Poplar Proteins Molecular Map

An extensive molecular map of poplar tree proteins from Oak Ridge National Laboratory offers new insight into the plant’s biological processes. The study is featured on the cover of January’s Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. (Submitted photo)

Researchers seeking to improve production of ethanol from woody crops have a new resource in the form of an extensive molecular map of poplar tree proteins, published by a team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Populus, a fast-growing perennial tree, holds potential as a bioenergy crop due to its ability to produce large amounts of biomass on non-agricultural land. Now, a study by ORNL scientists with DOE’s BioEnergy Science Center has provided the most comprehensive look to date at poplar’s proteome, the suite of proteins produced by a plant’s cells. The study is featured on the cover of January’s Molecular and Cellular Proteomics.

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DOE awards $182 million security guard contract, WSI ‘disappointed’

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Oak Ridge Federal Building

The Joe L. Evins Federal Building in Oak Ridge, one of the U.S. Department of Energy sites to be guarded under a $182 million protective force services contract announced Thursday.

Federal officials announced Thursday that they have awarded a $182 million contract to protect U.S. Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge, including the East Tennessee Technology Park, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Joe L. Evins Federal Building, and the rest of the Oak Ridge Reservation, not including the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The five-year contract was awarded to National Strategic Protective Services LLC, or NSPS.

“We are pleased to welcome NSPS as a part of the Department of Energy team in Oak Ridge,” said Larry Kelly, Oak Ridge Office manager. “We evaluated the proposals and it was clear to us that NSPS is the right company for this difficult and important job.”

NSPS will replace WSI Oak Ridge, which has provided protective force services in Oak Ridge since 2000.

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Guest column: Recommends more negotiations with EPA, DOE on sewer system upgrade

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Note: This is a copy of a letter sent to Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and Oak Ridge City Council members, among others.

Dear Mayor Beehan,

Next Monday evening you will begin considering a major increase in the Oak Ridge city debt to finance the sewer upgrade project. This increase and the associated utility rate increases:

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Guest column: Let’s work hard rather than ‘rubber stamping’ water, sewer debt

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We are only a few days into 2013 and most of us have discovered that we will have to make do with less this year. Before January ends, Oak Ridgers will realize that fact again when they receive their water and sewer bills, which will reflect the second rate hike since last May.

But before you have a chance to see your newly increased bill, Oak Ridge City Council may take an action that will cause your rates to rise a third time before 2013 ends. On Jan. 14, City Council will vote whether or not to apply for two state loans totaling $18 million. This debt, in addition to a large portion of the $15 million issued since September 2011, will pay for work affiliated with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrative order that requires the city to stop sewer overflows.

All $33 million borrowed will be paid by Oak Ridgers through multiple increases in your water and sewer rates. The amount of those increases is not determined until after each round of debt is issued. In other words, the city first borrows on your behalf and then determines how much it will charge you without consideration for your ability to pay.

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DOE manager discusses Oak Ridge Reservation at Jan. 10 meeting

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Larry Kelly

Larry Kelly

Larry Kelly, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office, will be the featured speaker on Thursday, Jan. 10, at a joint meeting of two local nonprofit organizations. His speech is titled “Managing resources on the Oak Ridge Reservation in a changing environment.”

The talk is sponsored by Advocates for the Oak Ridge Reservation and the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. It starts at 7 p.m. Jan. 10 at the Midtown Community Center Wildcat Den, and it is open to the public.

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Officials from Oak Ridge area attend DOE intergovernmental meeting

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State and local officials from Oak Ridge and Anderson and Roane counties recently attended the U.S. Department of Energy’s Annual Intergovernmental Conference in New Orleans. Participants met with federal, state, and local leaders from DOE sites across the nation, including top managers overseeing DOE’s Environmental Management, or EM, program.

Two senior DOE officials were keynote speakers at the conference. David Huizenga, senior advisor for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, provided an update on the EM program, which is responsible for environmental restoration, waste management, and long-term stewardship at DOE sites across the complex.

Neile Miller, recently named acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration and acting undersecretary for nuclear security, addressed the relationship between NNSA and EM, and how the programs work together at sites with multiple missions like Oak Ridge.

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Supercomputers, materials and bears: ORNL marks eventful 2012

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Jeff Nichols and Titan at ORNL

ORNL’s newest supercomputer, Titan, seen here with associate lab director for computing and computational sciences Jeff Nichols, took the top spot in November’s Top500 rankings. (Photos courtesy of ORNL)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory regained the lead in high-performance computing, enjoyed record-setting recognition for its research, and became a showpiece for renewable energy technology during 2012.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science reciprocated with favorable marks in its annual appraisal of managing contractor UT-Battelle. DOE cited the laboratory’s operation of its scientific user facilities, its “delivery of impactful science,” and a successful workforce restructuring to reduce operating costs.

“The dedicated efforts of our laboratory staff in all phases of science and technology and operational support have resulted in an excellent record of delivering science to the nation in 2012,” said ORNL Director Thom Mason. “ORNL will continue to set the pace in research toward a clean and secure energy future.”

ORNL’s 2012 included achievements in both research and support.

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One-of-a-kind waste incinerator in ‘safe shutdown’ at ETTP

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Filling the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator

Workers fill the sumps at the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator with grout, as part of the work to close it. (Submitted photo)

A one-of-a-kind waste incinerator, which began operations at the East Tennessee Technology Park more than 20 years ago, has been safely shut down.

When the Toxic Substances Control Act Incinerator, or TSCAI, began operations in 1990, the intent was to run it for five years to prove the technology worked. It was the only incinerator in the nation permitted to burn certain hazardous and radioactive wastes.

Operations ceased in December 2009, after a safe and successful run that saw the facility burn 35 million pounds of liquids and solids from DOE sites across the United States—even some from Hawaii.

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With ‘fiscal cliff’ looming, ORNL says it’s as well-prepared as it can be

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As President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner continue their high-stakes negotiations over tax revenues and spending cuts, officials at Oak Ridge National Laboratory say they have prepared as best they can for automatic spending cuts that could go into effect in January.

“We have been preparing for increased budget pressures for several years now and have taken a number of steps to reduce our costs, including workforce restructuring, benefits changes, reduction in energy consumption, and other operational costs,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a statement Monday. “Since we don’t know exactly how any cuts would be allocated by the various governments agencies that fund ORNL, we can’t really say with certainty what the impacts would be, other than to say we are as well-prepared for uncertainty as we can be.”

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DOE recognizes ORAU for Science Bowl support

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ORAU and DOE Science Bowl

Representatives of Oak Ridge Associated Universities and the U.S. Department of Energy at a recent ceremony recognizing their partnership in the management of a high school science bowl. Among those pictured are DOE Program Manager Greg Mills (center back), ORNL Site Office Manager Johnny Moore (second from left), and ORAU President and CEO Andy Page (third from left). (Submitted photo)

Oak Ridge Associated Universities was recently recognized for its continued support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Tennessee Science Bowl, an annual competition to encourage high school students to excel in science and math and pursue careers in those fields.

Johnny Moore, DOE’s site office manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, presented a commemorative plaque to ORAU for its support of the science bowl.

In a letter to ORAU President and CEO Andy Page, Moore emphasized that coordinating the event—which in 2012 hosted more than 300 students, coaches, and volunteers over a two-day period—was a “huge undertaking and (ORAU) staff performed in an incredible manner to make it happen.”

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DOE receives reimbursable work totaling $442 million

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The U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office said last week it had received funding for reimbursable work totaling $442 million during the last fiscal year, which ended in September.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed about $232 million of the work, a press release said. The remaining $210 million of the work was conducted at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education.

Under its Work for Others program, DOE said, outside entities can use national laboratories to solve problems when the work is related to DOE missions and the entities cannot do the work elsewhere.

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DOE award could lead to small nuclear reactors in Oak Ridge

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Note: This story was updated at 8:12 p.m.

Four small nuclear reactors could be built on the Clinch River in west Oak Ridge in about a decade under a federal award announced Tuesday.

In its announcement, the U.S. Department of Energy said it will invest up to half of the total cost of the project to design, license, and help commercialize the new small modular reactors, or SMRs. The investment will come through a five-year cost-sharing agreement.

The project will be led by The Babcock & Wilcox Co, which is headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., and has a business unit that oversees the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. The company’s partners on the SMR project are Bechtel and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

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