Oak Ridge Today

Stabilization of hot cells facility at ORNL completed

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ORNL Hot Cell Stabilization

Installation of the permanent electrical equipment at the 3026 facility has been completed, marking the final step of the stabilization activities at the building. (Photo courtesy DOE/UCOR)

UCOR has finished installing permanent electrical equipment at the 3026 hot cells facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

This action completes all scheduled tasks under the 3026 Hot Cells Transition and Stabilization Phase, the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office reported in the December issue of Public Involvement News.

UCOR took over the 3026 Hot Cells project at the request of DOE. The stabilization activities were con- ducted to help “downgrade” the facility from a Hazard Category 3 nuclear facility to a radiological facility, the Oak Ridge Office said. This downgrade, which has been approved by DOE, will make the facility less costly to maintain.

UCOR is DOE’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge.

ORUD ‘near miss’: Light fails, fixture overheats, insulation paper ignites

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Oak Ridge Utility District Fire

Oak Ridge firefighters investigate a report of smoke at Oak Ridge Utility District on Thursday morning. They found a hot ceiling tile and determined a light ballast had apparently failed, causing a fixture to overheat and igniting insulation paper. (Submitted photos)

The Oak Ridge Fire Department called it a “near miss.”

Firefighters responded at about 6:40 a.m. Thursday to a report of smoke at the Oak Ridge Utility District office building on South Jefferson Circle. The source of the smoke was initially believed to be a motor on a heat and air unit that had failed, but fire crews using a thermal imaging camera located a hot ceiling tile in an office, an ORFD press release said.

“It appears that a light ballast had failed, causing the fixture to overheat, which ignited the paper backing on the insulation lying directly on top of the recessed light,” the release said. “The paper burned along the insulation for approximately five feet until the insulation came into contact with a sprinkler pipe, where it self-extinguished. There was no damage, smoke or water, to the building, and the burned insulation was removed by the firefighters.” [Read more…]