Oak Ridge Today

Energy Communities Alliance publishes recommendations for Trump transition team

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The Energy Communities Alliance, an organization whose members include local governments adjacent to or affected by U.S. Department of Energy activities, has submitted its transition priorities and recommendations for the incoming Trump administration. They are included in “A Roadmap for Successful Local Government and Community Engagement.”

The document includes nine key priorities, each with their own set of recommendations, for the new administration to adopt as it engages in discussions regarding ongoing U.S. Department of Energy operations and performance, a press release said.

Here are the nine priorities, grouped into three areas: [Read more…]

First of its kind, Oak Ridge’s federal re-industrialization program celebrates 20 years

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east-tennessee-technology-park-2020-rendering-1

A rendering of East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, in 2020, when cleanup there is scheduled for completion. ETTP offers robust infrastructure and multiple parcels spanning hundreds of acres, capable of attracting and supporting large-scale industry, according to DOE. (Photo courtesy DOE)

 

Note: This is an edited version of a story by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

A re-industrialization program that was the first of its kind and converts federal property to private-sector use celebrated 20 years this month.

The re-industrialization program was designed to attract new industries and jobs to a former uranium enrichment complex.

Through the program, the U.S. Department of Energy has transferred hundreds of acres to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, or CROET, and the City of Oak Ridge to create two private-sector industrial parks, the 1,200-acre Heritage Center and the 1,000-acre Horizon Center.

Heritage Center is at the former K-25 site, which was built during World War II and was once used to enrich uranium in west Oak Ridge. Horizon Center is a few miles east of Heritage Center. [Read more…]

Local environmental board meets with federal, state agencies to discuss cleanup mission

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The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board holds its annual planning meeting in August 2016 with U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. (Submitted photo)

 

In August, members of a citizen’s advisory board met with representatives of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to consider key issues for Oak Ridge Reservation cleanup in fiscal year 2017, which begins in October.

The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board held its 2016 Annual Planning Meeting in Townsend, Tennessee, on August 6. The Saturday meeting brought together members of the Oak Ridge board, leadership from DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM, and liaisons from federal and state regulatory agencies to review cleanup accomplishments in FY 2016 and discuss priorities for FY 2017.

ORSSAB is a federally chartered citizens’ panel that provides recommendations to OREM on its environmental management activities at DOE sites locally. OREM encourages public participation in federal projects and meets regularly with the Oak Ridge board, as well as with other citizen and stakeholder groups within the community to gather public perspectives regarding a diverse cleanup mission that addresses legacy nuclear waste at sites across the Oak Ridge Reservation through numerous activities, including waste disposition, long-term stewardship, and site restoration. [Read more…]

City representatives attend Energy Communities Alliance conference, meet with DOE officials

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Watson Klaus and Hope at DOE Headquarters

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, left, and City Council member Chuck Hope, right, meet with David Klaus, the U.S. Department of Energy under secretary for management and performance, at DOE Headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

Oak Ridge City Councilman Chuck Hope and City Manager Mark Watson recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a conference sponsored by the Energy Communities Alliance, or ECA. The ECA is the membership organization of local governments that host or are located near U.S. Department of Energy sites. The ECA supported attendance at the meeting with travel grants to the participants.

The two-day conference focused on DOE’s Environmental Management program. DOE staff made presentations on topics such as waste disposition, accomplishments in the cleanup mission, fiscal year 2017 budget planning, and a “view from the secretary’s office,” a press release said.

Additional sessions were held on the local government role in cleanup agreements, and working with local communities to improve contracting, the press release said. Hope helped lead a session on fiscal year 2017 appropriations and implications for DOE cleanup, while Watson was a panelist in a session on the future of DOE contracting. [Read more…]

Demolition starts on last of big five uranium-enriching buildings at K-25

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K-27-Demolition-Start-Feb-8-2016

A high-reach machine is used to start demolishing the four-story, 10-acre K-27 Building on Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. K-27 is the last of the big five uranium-enriching buildings at the former K-25 site, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park or Heritage Center. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Demolition started Monday on K-27, the last of the big five uranium-enriching buildings at the former K-25 site, and officials expect the work to be complete by the end of the year.

The five buildings—K-25, K-27, K-29, K-31, and K-33—once used a process called gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Officials credit them for helping to win World War II and end the Cold War, and for playing significant roles in technological developments and the nuclear industry.

The K-25 site, which is now known as East Tennessee Technology Park or Heritage Center, was built during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first nuclear weapons. The site is now slowly being converted into a large industrial park.

“The majority of the property will be reused,” said Ken Rueter, president and project manager for UCOR, or URS |CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Williams named UCOR chief operating officer

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Fran-Williams

Fran Williams

Fran Williams has been selected as the chief operating officer for UCOR, the federal government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge.

Williams will fill the position vacated last month by Matt Marston, who left to accept a senior management position within AECOM, one of the parent companies of UCOR, or URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC.

Williams is returning to UCOR, where she previously served as manager of Environment, Safety, Health, and Quality Assurance, a press release said. She retired in 2015 after overseeing UCOR’s successful designation as a Star site in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Voluntary Protection Program. Star status recognizes the safest operating sites in the nation.

She also helped set the company on a course to achieve more than five million work hours without a lost-time accident, the press release said. [Read more…]

DOE director’s presentation to include discussion of proposed landfill near Y-12

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Laura Wilkerson

Laura Wilkerson

A Tuesday presentation by federal official Laura Wilkerson will include information on the proposed new Environmental Management Disposal Facility, a landfill that would be on the west side of the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Laura Wilkerson is a portfolio federal project director for the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. She will be the guest speaker at Lunch with the League at noon Tuesday, November 17, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Her presentation will focus on environmental management and waste management in Oak Ridge.

Lunch with the League is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. In a press release, the League said it has a position on waste disposal that addresses full disclosure of intent and public participation in the decision-making process.

“The League position is to protect the health of the community and environment,” the press release said. [Read more…]

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…]

Free community school focuses on waste disposal management

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Natalie Landry

Natalie Landry

Three Community School evening seminars on the topic of waste disposal management will be held at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church beginning Tuesday, September 15.

The second and third seminars are scheduled for the following Tuesdays, September 22 and September 29. All seminars will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and free child care will be provided. The church is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge and Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning have partnered to offer these seminars, a press release said. The Community School is made possible by a $20,000 Community Involvement Fund grant awarded to the Oak Ridge League by the New Mexico Community Foundation, and funded through the U.S. Department of Energy. A portion of the grant helped to fund an environmental program focusing on children at the ORUUC Rainbow Camp in June. [Read more…]

Fleischmann and Luján to lead House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus

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Chuck Fleischmann, Mark Whitney, and Ben Ray Lujan

From left to right are Chairman Chuck Fleischmann, Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Mark Whitney, and Co-Chairman Ben Ray Luján. (Submitted photo)

Chairman Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican, and Co-Chairman Ben Ray Luján, a New Mexico Democrat, announced on Thursday that they will serve as co-chairs of the House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus, which held its first meeting of the 114th Congress to discuss the importance of raising awareness of environmental management issues.

Fifty years of government nuclear weapons development stemming from the Manhattan Project during World War II has affected communities across the nation and resulted in the need for environmental cleanup at numerous sites, a press release said.

“Our nation has a tremendous nuclear history, and with that has come an important nuclear cleanup mission,” said Fleischmann, who represents the city of Oak Ridge. “I am excited today to host the first meeting of the 114th Congress’ Nuclear Cleanup Caucus with co-chair Lujan and members from across the country who have districts that are impacted.  I also want to thank Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Mark Whitney for taking part in this meeting. This Caucus will serve to promote the awareness of our nuclear legacy and build a stronger coalition to fight for the needs of our cleanup missions, and I am eager to get to work.” [Read more…]

Fleischmann to host first House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus meeting

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U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

The House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus, chaired by representatives Chuck Fleischmann and Ben Lujan, will host its first meeting of the 114th Congress on Thursday, February 12.

The Cleanup Caucus is a bipartisan group supporting the largest environmental cleanup program in the world, a press release said. The legacy of the Manhattan Project and the 50 years of government nuclear weapons development affects communities throughout our nation. The caucus’ primary mission is to raise awareness of these issues throughout the halls of Congress and around the nation. [Read more…]