Oak Ridge Today

You can see the future home of the K-25 History Center on Thursday

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A rendering of the K-25 History Center at the Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4 at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

A rendering of the K-25 History Center at the Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4 at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

 

A celebratory event on Thursday will formally launch a project to commemorate the history of the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a uranium-enrichment site that was once known as K-25 and built to help make the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

Thursday’s celebration will be followed by a public tour from 2 to 4 p.m.

Co-sponsored by the City of Oak Ridge, the event is part of the city’s 75th Anniversary celebration. It will feature a walk-through of the future home of the K-25 History Center, which will be located in the city’s Fire Station Number 4 at the East Tennessee Technology Park. The U.S. Department of Energy and URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, DOE’s lead cleanup contractor, will unveil plans and the layout for the History Center before construction starts, a press release said.

Large graphics placed throughout the building will provide the visitor a preview of the finished center, the press release said. [Read more…]

UCOR recognized for industry safety leadership

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The National Safety Council has named URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, known as UCOR, as one of its 2017 Industry Leader Award winners for safety performance. The award, a component of the NSC Occupational Awards Program, recognizes outstanding safety achievements of NSC members, a press release said.

Participants in the NSC 2017 Occupational Excellence Achievement Award (based on 2016 calendar year data) are automatically entered into the running for the Industry Leader Award, the press release said.

“Only the top 5 percent of members earn the recognition based on the best self-reported performance for its North American Industry Classification System code, lowest total incidence rate, and employee work hours,” the release said.

“We are pleased to receive this prestigious recognition from the National Safety Council,” said Ken Rueter, UCOR president and project manager. “This is yet another in a series of recent awards that recognize UCOR and underscore our commitment to a strong safety culture. [Read more…]

UCOR wins international innovation award

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URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC’s Gary Kephart and Bill Evans, far left, accept the Innovation Award from the event hosts. (Photo courtesy DOE Office of Environmental Management)

URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC’s Gary Kephart and Bill Evans, far left, accept the Innovation Award from the event hosts. (Photo courtesy DOE Office of Environmental Management)

 

The federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge was among 11 international winners of the Environmental Health and Safety Innovation Awards.

URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, is the cleanup contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

UCOR was the public sector category winner, DOE said in a story published by the Office of Environmental Management on June 28. The award highlights the company’s use of sensors, drones, information technology, wearables, and occupational health and safety software in cleanup projects at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Y-12 National Security Complex, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“They’ve done a tremendous job fostering a culture where employees are encouraged to approach and perform sensitive and complex projects in new and creative ways,” said Jay Mullis, OREM acting manager. “Our mission is reaping the benefits as we continue making progress while helping keep the workforce safe.” [Read more…]

Business leaders support new life for Friendship Bell

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Pictured above are Alan Tatum, left, and Ken Rueter. (Photo by UCOR)

Pictured above are Alan Tatum, left, and Ken Rueter. (Photo by UCOR)

 

Submitted

When Ken Rueter and Alan Tatum met beside the iconic Friendship Bell in Bissell Park recently, they took a moment to reflect on the importance of preserving what the Bell symbolizes to the Oak Ridge community.

Tatum, an accelerator systems and stable isotopes group leader at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is co-chair of the International Friendship Bell Advisory Committee along with Pat Postma. Rueter is President and Project Manager of URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, cleanup contractor for the East Tennessee Technology Park and other sites on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation. Both men serve on the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Advisory Board.

The occasion of their May meeting was UCOR’s donation of $15,000 toward an effort to construct a new peace pavilion for the 8,300-pound bronze bell. Cast in Japan in 1993, the bell was dedicated at its current location in 1996 as a 50th anniversary landmark for the creation of the City of Oak Ridge, home to nuclear production facilities that helped end World War II. The bell symbolizes the bonds of peace and friendship that have been forged by Oak Ridge and Japan in the decades since the war ended. [Read more…]

UCOR awards 25 mini-grants for local school projects

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URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) on Monday, May 15, 2017, announced 20 winners from five East Tennessee counties in the 2017 UCOR Education Mini-Grant Program, which recognizes and supports excellence in teaching. (Photo courtesy UCOR)

URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) on Monday, May 15, 2017, announced 20 winners from five East Tennessee counties in the 2017 UCOR Education Mini-Grant Program, which recognizes and supports excellence in teaching. (Photo courtesy UCOR)

 

URS | CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) on Monday announced 20 winners from five East Tennessee counties in the 2017 UCOR Education Mini-Grant Program, which recognizes and supports excellence in teaching.

Awarded annually since 2012, grant funds assist classroom teachers in developing specific projects or curricula, focusing primarily on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), a press release said.

“One of UCOR’s primary objectives is to support and encourage education initiatives,” said Ken Rueter, UCOR president and project manager. “The UCOR Mini-Grant Program enables teachers to enhance their students’ educational experiences. Selected projects funded by our program give students a greater insight into the essential STEM subjects in fun and exciting ways.”

Applications were screened and awardees selected using a blind process that prevented members of the selection panel from knowing the names of the teachers or the schools. Schools in Roane, Anderson, Loudon, Knox, and Morgan counties were eligible to submit proposals. [Read more…]

MMC: Renovations under way on third Hospitality House for visiting patients, families

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To help the renovation efforts, employees from National Strategic Protective Services, or NSPS, have put in many hours of hard labor at Methodist Medical Center’s soon-to-be third Hospitality House. (Submitted photo)

To help the renovation efforts, employees from National Strategic Protective Services, or NSPS, have put in many hours of hard labor at Methodist Medical Center’s soon-to-be third Hospitality House. (Submitted photo)

 

The Methodist Medical Center Foundation and the Hospitality Houses are adding a third Hospitality House near Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.

The Hospitality Houses are located just minutes from MMC, and they primarily serve patients and families visiting for cancer care, wound care, intensive care, cardiac critical care, or certain short stays related to specific tests and procedures. There are no charges for guests staying at the Hospitality Houses. All costs are covered by charitable contributions raised through annual fundraising events and by food and related necessities donated by caring individuals, area churches, civic clubs, and businesses, a press release said.

Last year, 211 guests spent 1,787 nights in Methodist’s two existing Hospitality Houses. They came from 18 Tennessee counties and 14 different states. One guest with a family member in Intensive Care Unit came all the way from France, the press release said. [Read more…]

UCOR awards mini-grants for local school projects

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UCOR Education Mini-Grants

UCOR has announced 20 winners in its Education Mini-Grant Program. Schools in Anderson, Knox, Loudon, Knox, Morgan, and Roane counties were eligible to submit proposals. (Photo submitted by UCOR)

 

UCOR has announced 20 winners in its Education Mini-Grant Program.

The Mini-Grant Program was designed to recognize and support excellence in teaching by providing funds to assist classroom teachers for specific projects or curricula, focusing primarily on science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, a press release said.

Schools in Anderson, Knox, Loudon, Knox, Morgan, and Roane counties were eligible to submit proposals. Applications were screened and awardees selected using a blind process that prevented members of the selection panel from knowing the names of the teachers or the schools.

The UCOR Mini-Grant committee has selected the following projects for 2016: [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…]

UCOR donates to United Way, Boys & Girls Club

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UCOR-United-Way-Anderson-County-December-2015

UCOR executives Harold Conner, left, and Ken Rueter, center, present a check to United Way of Anderson County representatives Gene Patterson, Naomi Asher, and Jim Dodson. (Submitted photo)

 

UCOR, the federal government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, recently donated about $30,000 to United Way of Anderson County and Boys and Girls Club of the Clinch Valley.

A $27,209 donation to United Way of Anderson County represented about one-quarter of the more than $100,000 raised in the company’s 2015 United Way Campaign.

UCOR donated $4,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of the Clinch Valley. The club serves an active membership of more than 750 youth from six to 17 years of age through extended services and programs. The contribution is in keeping with UCOR’s commitment to supporting local children’s advocacy programs, a press release said. [Read more…]

UCOR repairs water leak at Oak Ridge Research Reactor at ORNL

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Oak-Ridge-Research-Reactor-Pool-Valve-Workers-December-2015

Workers turn off the valves after draining of the pool was completed at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor at ORNL. (Photo by UCOR)

 

Workers have repaired a water leak at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, officials said this week.

The completion of the work was announced by UCOR, a federal cleanup contractor and partnership between URS and CH2M Oak Ridge LLC.

The seep was detected in the reactor’s pool in September 2014. While it did not pose any immediate dangers to workers or the environment, it prompted quick action by the U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees ORNL. DOE asked UCOR, its prime cleanup contractor, to develop and implement a solution to remedy the seep, a press release said. [Read more…]

UCOR recognizes small businesses at awards ceremony

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Karen Reeve and Tim Melberg

Karen Reeve, UCOR small business manager, and Tim Melberg, UCOR supply chain manager, present the 2015 UCOR Small Business Awards. (Photo courtesy UCOR)

 

UCOR, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor for the Oak Ridge Reservation, presented awards to seven small businesses at its annual Small Business Awards ceremony, held Monday, July 27, at the Double Tree Hotel in Oak Ridge.

The categories and winners are: [Read more…]