Oak Ridge Today

Updated: Council approves $500,000 renovation to Fire Station 4 at ETTP

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Oak Ridge Fire Station

Oak Ridge Fire Department Station 4 is pictured above at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. (File photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10 a.m. May 15.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday authorized about $500,000 in renovations at Fire Station 4 at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, a federal site in west Oak Ridge.

The funds for the renovations are currently available in the Fiscal Year 2019 budget for the West End Fire Fund, Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said in an April 27 memo to City Manager Mark Watson.

The total estimated cost of the renovations, based on a sealed bid process, is not to exceed $515,000, Kerley said. He said funds have been set aside for the past 11 years.

The project was unanimously approved in a 7-0 vote after a brief discussion at the City Council meeting on Monday.

The funds are part of the overall re-industrialization that will convert the ETTP fire station from a U.S. Department of Energy fire station to a municipal fire station through a DOE memorandum of agreement for the operation and maintenance of the fire station. [Read more…]

Learn about DOE’s progress cleaning up federal sites on Wednesday

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Jay Mullis

Jay Mullis

You can learn about the progress being made in the cleanup of federal sites in Oak Ridge on Wednesday.

The information will be shared at the annual Community Budget Workshop, which is scheduled from 4:30-6 p.m. Wednesday, May 9. It’s hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM.

The Community Budget Workshop will be in the DOE Conference Room 2714-G at 235 Laboratory Road in Oak Ridge.

“This event serves as one of the most effective forums to educate the community about OREM’s progress, budget, and priorities,” a press release said. “This year’s discussion will focus on the growing financial support Oak Ridge’s environmental cleanup program has received from Congress, and how this support is helping accelerate cleanup and create new opportunities in Oak Ridge.” [Read more…]

Spending bill has $639 million for DOE cleanup in Oak Ridge

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Y-12 Biology Complex aerial

An aerial view of the Biology Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Plans call for eventually demolishing the complex. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

 

The federal spending bill approved last week includes $639 million for the federal government’s cleanup program in Oak Ridge, including what could be full funding for a top priority deactivation and demolition project at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The $639 million for the current fiscal year is an increase of $141 million or more, compared to recent fiscal years, and it’s the most money appropriated in a while.

Besides Y-12, the fiscal year 2018 funding will be used for U.S. Department of Energy cleanup projects at East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“It’s very positive for us,” said Jay Mullis, manager of the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM. Mullis gave a brief update at a meeting of the Oak Ridge Reservation Communities Alliance on Monday.

In addition to $125 million to deactivate and demolish the Biology Complex at Y-12, the fiscal year 2018 spending bill includes $17.1 million in funding for the planned Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12, about $200 million for continued cleanup work at ETTP, and a total of roughly $12 million for the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, or EMDF. That’s a proposed landfill that could be west of Y-12 and accept waste from future cleanup work at Y-12 and ORNL, possibly early in the 2020s. The project plan for EMDF is expected to be open to public comment later this summer. [Read more…]

Centrus, X-energy contract supports work on advanced nuclear fuel

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American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center

The American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center in south Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo courtesy USEC/Centrus Energy Corp.)

 

Note: This story was updated at 3:15 p.m.

A contract between two companies that have operations or employees in Oak Ridge will support continued work on the production of fuel for advanced nuclear reactors, possibly within six years or so.

The two companies, Centrus Energy Corp. and X Energy LLC, announced the services contract in a press release on Wednesday.

The companies had announced in September that they were exploring a collaboration for the possible production of fuel for advanced nuclear reactors, and they had signed a memorandum of understanding for the potential collaboration.

They said then that they were working toward the development of a fuel fabrication facility that could possibly be in Oak Ridge, where Centrus, formerly known as USEC, has had operations for about 15 years. Oak Ridge could be a nexus for the advanced reactor industry in the United States, one official said at the time. It’s not clear yet how large the fuel fabrication facility would be or what the total investment might be.

In the Wednesday press release, the two companies said the services contract announced this month builds upon the September memorandum of understanding.

“This contract is the initial implementation of that agreement,” said Jeremy Derryberry, Centrus senior communications manager. “Our team in Oak Ridge will be working with X-energy on this project.” [Read more…]

Trump administration requests more money for DOE, NNSA

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The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2:50 p.m.

The Trump administration has requested more money for the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration than it did last year, but the impact could vary at Oak Ridge’s major federal sites.

The NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within DOE, would get a big increase of $2.2 billion, compared to spending levels enacted in fiscal year 2017. The boost would raise NNSA funding to $15.1 billion. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is an NNSA site.

The NNSA proposal is more than $1 billion higher than the $13.9 billion requested by the Trump administration in fiscal year 2018, which was up $1.4 billion over the fiscal year 2016 spending level ($12.5 billion).

Oak Ridge Today reported last year that Y-12’s funding would have been up 25 percent under President Donald Trump’s budget request for the current fiscal year, if Congress had approved the proposed spending levels. [Read more…]

Three subcontracts awarded for new K-25 History Center

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This is a rendering of the exterior of the K-25 History Center, center, on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4 at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. Also planned are an Equipment Building and Viewing Tower. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

This is a rendering of the exterior of the K-25 History Center, center, on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4 at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. Also planned are an Equipment Building and Viewing Tower. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, has awarded three subcontracts totaling more than $5.3 million to construct, conduct site improvements, and fabricate and install exhibits for the K-25 History Center at the East Tennessee Technology Park.

The history center will occupy 7,500 square feet in the second floor of the existing, city-owned Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4. The building is adjacent to the K-25 Building’s 44-acre footprint, which is now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The history center will include a theater and interactive galleries that display equipment, artifacts, and other media to highlight the site’s workers and numerous Manhattan Project and Cold War-era accomplishments, a press release said.

UCOR awarded two subcontracts for construction and site improvements to North Wind Construction Services LLC of Knoxville, and it awarded a third subcontract for exhibit fabrication and installation to Formations Inc. of Portland, Oregon, the press release said. [Read more…]

With government shut down, Y-12 employees still working

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The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

With some apparent exceptions, employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge will continue working even after the federal government shut down after federal funding expired Friday.

Y-12 posted an announcement after the federal government shut down early Saturday. The announcement said workers at Y-12 and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, are expected to report to work on their next scheduled work day unless they have previously approved leave or have been given formal notice by their management to not report to work.

A few other federal organizations and federal contractors didn’t immediately appear to have posted notices as of early Saturday afternoon, about 12 hours after the shutdown began. Those include Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [Read more…]

Possible government shutdown: DOE says it will be open Monday

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Y-12 National Security Complex Aerial Photo

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2012. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:35 p.m.

A possible government shutdown is looming with federal funding expiring today, but the U.S. Department of Energy, which has facilities in Oak Ridge, said it will be open for business on Monday.

For now, federal employees are expected to continue to report for work as scheduled, DOE said in a shutdown plan posted on its website Friday. That approach appeared similar to DOE’s guidance during the last shutdown more than four years ago.

But “a prolonged lapse in appropriations may require subsequent employee furloughs,” DOE said of this year’s possible shutdown on Friday. “If there is an imminent threat to human life or protection of property, a limited number of employees may be recalled from furlough status.”

Federal sites in Oak Ridge include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, and East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, among others. Those are DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration sites, and they include a mix of federal and contractor employees. There is also a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility on South Illinois Avenue. [Read more…]

Roads icy: Oak Ridge Schools, Roane State closed today

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A tractor-trailer jack-knifed on Interstate 40 West at mile marker 349 in Roane County. That roadway is closed, the Tennessee Department of Transportation said. I-40 East at MM 349 has one lane open. Roads are very icy in this area, TDOT said Monday morning, Jan. 8, 2018. The Oak Ridge/Gallaher Road exit is Exit 356. (Photo courtesy TDOT)

A tractor-trailer jack-knifed on Interstate 40 West at mile marker 349 in Roane County. That roadway is closed, the Tennessee Department of Transportation said. I-40 East at MM 349 has one lane open. Roads are very icy in this area, TDOT said Monday morning, Jan. 8, 2018. The Oak Ridge/Gallaher Road exit is Exit 356. (Photo courtesy TDOT)

 

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

Oak Ridge Schools are closed today as a layer of ice coated the ground in Oak Ridge, making roads and sidewalks slippery.

The schools had originally planned to open two hours late.

Other local school systems are also closed today (Monday, January 8) as the forecast had called for freezing rain or a wintry mix of precipitation around school arrival time this morning. Among the other school systems closed are Anderson County, Clinton, and Roane County. Roane State Community College is closed today as well (see here for more information). [Read more…]

Five receive Muddy Boot Awards

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Five people won Muddy Boot Awards this year. In the top row, from left, they are Tom Ballard, David Bradshaw, and Sue Cange. In the bottom row are David Millhorn, left, and Ken Rueter.

Five people won Muddy Boot Awards this year. In the top row, from left, they are Tom Ballard, David Bradshaw, and Sue Cange. In the bottom row are David Millhorn, left, and Ken Rueter.

 

Five people received Muddy Boot Awards this year. They include scientists, business leaders, government officials, and a man who has done a little of everything during his career, a press release said.

Here are the winners of the 2017 Muddy Boot Awards, which are from the the East Tennessee Economic Council:

  • Tom Ballard, who has had three careers—with the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and now Pershing Yoakley and Associates, and still finds time to “spread the gospel of innovation” with his daily Teknovation.biz newsletter.
  • David Bradshaw, another multi-tasker who has worked at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Technology 2020, and most recently Pinnacle Financial Partners, and who has also served as the mayor of Oak Ridge and chairs of dozens of community causes.
  • Sue Cange, whose career with the U.S. Department of Energy saw her rise from a new employee in the environmental management program to the acting head of that same program before joining the faculty at Vanderbilt University this fall and who, in many ways over the years, enabled the reindustrialization program at the East Tennessee Technology Park site.
  • David Millhorn, senior vice president of the University of Tennessee and a leader in the revitalization of both the university system and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
  • Ken Rueter, president of URS | CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), a relative newcomer to East Tennessee who brings energy to everything he does, whether it be the environmental stewardship programs at ETTP or his work building hiking and biking trails while supporting the Foothills Land Conservancy and the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

“The one common trait in these five individuals,” ETEC President Jim Campbell said, “is the passion they bring in their own way to the work they do. Their dedication is infectious, and it makes everyone around them better. Clearly each person has made East Tennessee a better place to work, to play, and to thrive.” [Read more…]

State appropriates $15 million that could be used for Oak Ridge Airport

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Image from a Billy Stair presentation on the Oak Ridge Airport project to Roane County officials at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.

Image from a Billy Stair presentation on the Oak Ridge Airport project to Roane County officials at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.

 

KINGSTON—Tennessee officials have appropriated $15 million that could be used for the proposed airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

The appropriation, which is pending approval of the Oak Ridge Airport by the Federal Aviation Administration, would be enough to cover about 33 percent to 38 percent of the current estimated project cost of $40 million to $45 million.

The appropriation was announced by Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John C. Schroer in a November 8 letter to members of the Tennessee General Assembly. Oak Ridge Today received a copy of the letter on Monday.

The $15 million that could be used for the Oak Ridge Airport is one half of a $30 million appropriation approved by the Tennessee General Assembly for the Aeronautics Economic Development Fund earlier this year, said Billy Stair, a former communications director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory who is now a consultant helping with the airport project. That half was to support the construction of new general aviation airports like the project in Oak Ridge, and Oak Ridge received all of the $15 million for general aviation airports, Stair said.

“MKAA (Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority) is the only public entity in the state with planning documents for a new airport currently under review,” Schroer said in his November letter to legislators. The $15 million will be allocated to the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, which would own and operate the Oak Ridge Airport, pending FAA approval. [Read more…]

Roane County Commission to discuss Oak Ridge Airport on Thursday, Dec. 7

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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.

 

The Roane County Commission will discuss the Oak Ridge Airport, which would be built at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, during a workshop next week.

The workshop is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, December 7, in the Qualls Commission Room at the Roane County Courthouse.

Oak Ridge Today reported in March that there are additional steps and approvals required, but if all goes well, construction on the airport could start in late 2018 or early 2019.

The airport could still cost an estimated $35 million to $40 million, officials said at the time. 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.

The MKAA General Aviation Committee approved an airport layout plan during a meeting at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa in March. The plan was going to be sent to the Federal Aviation Administration for review and approval after that meeting. The airport layout plan is a detailed document that includes runway lengths, approaches, runway ramps, and taxiways. [Read more…]