Oak Ridge Today

ORNL, NETL sign research agreement on new ways to use coal

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U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steve Winberg looks on as Acting National Energy Technology Laboratory Director Sean Plasynski, left, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thomas Zacharia shake hands after signing a research agreement on new ways to use coal on Friday, March 2, 2018. (Photo courtesy NETL)

U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steve Winberg looks on as Acting National Energy Technology Laboratory Director Sean Plasynski, left, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thomas Zacharia shake hands after signing a research agreement on new ways to use coal on Friday, March 2, 2018. (Photo courtesy NETL)

 

Two U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories with energy research expertise, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have agreed to pursue research that could find new ways to use coal, a press release said.

ORNL and the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, signed the agreement, a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, on Friday, March 2.

The two labs are joining forces to pursue research on new ways to use coal to create innovative high-value products, the press release said.

U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy Steve Winberg attended the signing event.

“The MOU signed today signals the Department’s continued commitment to enhancing the use of our coal resources,” Winberg said. “The depth and breadth of scientific knowledge across the DOE enterprise, especially at our national labs, is what allows for this kind of innovative partnership.” [Read more…]

Feinstein: President’s budget request could lead to 1,600 layoffs at ORNL

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by ORNL

 

Note: This story was updated at 12:20 p.m. June 28.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday said the president’s budget request for the next fiscal year could lead to a 33 percent workforce reduction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. About 1,600 of the lab’s roughly 4,800 employees could be laid off, the senator’s office said.

Feinstein, a Democrat from California, and other members of the Senate Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a Republican who is chair of the subcommittee, had a budget hearing with new Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Wednesday afternoon, June 21.

Across the U.S. Department of Energy, a workforce of 29,000 employees could be reduced by 23 percent at labs such as ORNL that are managed for DOE and not for the National Nuclear Security Administration, Feinstein said. (The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within DOE.) That would be a reduction of 6,700 employees at the non-NNSA, non-weapons labs, the senator said.

“Every non-NNSA lab would see drastic employment cuts under this proposed budget,” said Feinstein, the ranking Democratic member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. “We must change this budget.”

The potential layoffs at DOE labs would be the result of a budget request submitted by President Donald Trump to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. But the president’s budget request has not yet been approved by Congress, and it has run into bipartisan opposition. Some legislators have declared the budget request “dead on arrival,” and others have said they won’t even review some proposed cuts such as a 30 percent funding reduction for the State Department. [Read more…]

Alexander: Bill raises Office of Science funding to highest-ever, includes UPF, supercomputing, cleanup funding

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

A bill approved by a U.S. Senate subcommittee on Tuesday would give $5.144 billion to the federal agency that oversees work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It’s the highest level of funding ever for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, which oversees 10 national labs, including ORNL, federal officials said.

The bill would also provide $430 million for the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which will “continue to keep this project on time and on budget,” according to a press release from the office of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

Alexander’s office also said the legislation would provide funding for:

  • a new mercury treatment plant in Oak Ridge,
  • cleanup of nuclear facilities that are no longer in service,
  • nuclear infrastructure at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and
  • advanced computing, which supports the new Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The bill was unanimously approved on a voice vote by the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development on Tuesday afternoon. Alexander is chair of that subcommittee, and he said the approval shows that there is bipartisan support for energy research, waterways, and national security. [Read more…]