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EPA picks Oak Ridge to apply for new loan program for new water plant

Posted at 2:36 pm July 23, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak-Ridge-Water-Treatment-Plant-2009-1

The Oak Ridge Water Treatment Plant is pictured on Pine Ridge above the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has invited the City of Oak Ridge to apply for a new federal loan program for the city’s proposed new water plant, a press release said.

The City of Oak Ridge water plant is one of 12 projects in nine states to apply for more than $2 billion in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Loans, the EPA said in a press release Wednesday. The projects were selected from a group of 43 projects that submitted letters of interest to EPA in April 2017.

“Rebuilding America’s infrastructure is a critical pillar of the president’s agenda,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. “These large-scale projects will improve water quality for 20 million Americans, especially those communities that need it the most—such as rural and urban communities.”

The press release said the City of Oak Ridge will design and construct a new 16 million-gallons-per-day membrane treatment plant and associated equipment to replace the existing decades-old conventional treatment plant, which is currently at capacity and beyond its useful life.

Among the city’s water plant customers are Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.

“This project will provide sufficient capacity to meet the city’s water needs by continuing the production and delivery of safe potable drinking water to its customers,” the EPA press release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: City of Oak Ridge, EPA, Lamar Alexander, loan program, Mark Watson, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Scott Pruitt, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Loans, Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program, water plant, water treatment plant, WIFIA, Y-12 National Security Complex

Y-12‘s Biology Complex would be top priority if excess cleanup funding available

Posted at 1:41 pm July 23, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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)

 

If excess funding is available, the federal cleanup program in Oak Ridge has a top priority: the Biology Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The budget request submitted to Congress by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, May 23, included $225 million for high-risk excess contaminated facilities at Y-12 and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

It’s not clear how much of that money might be used in Oak Ridge, if the president’s budget request were approved. Officials said the allocations would be determined by U.S. Department of Energy headquarters.

But the Oak Ridge cleanup program, known as environmental management, has taken steps to ensure that some projects here, such as the planned demolition of Y-12’s Biology Complex, are “in a good position” if money becomes available.

On Friday, Jay Mullis, acting manager for the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or EM, said the Biology Complex would be a primary priority if Y-12 gets some portion of the $225 million proposed by the Trump administration.

“Provided there is excess funding, that would be the building we would go after,” the Oak Ridge EM program said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge Office, Science, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, ARRA, Biology Complex, Chuck Fleischmann, Congress, DOE, DOE Office of Science, Donald Trump, EM, environmental management, Excess Contaminated Facilities Initiative, House Appropriations Committee, House Energy and Water Subcommittee, Jay Mullis, Lamar Alexander, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Oak Ridge cleanup, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Senate Appropriations Committee, Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, Trump administration, U.S. Department of Energy, UCOR, URS-CH2M, Y-12 National Security Complex

Senate bill recommends $8 million for K-25 historic preservation work

Posted at 10:39 am July 23, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

K-25 Historic Preservation Footprint at ETTP

An image showing the footprint of the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park or Heritage Center. Built during World War II to enrich uranium, the K-25 Building has been demolished but its “footprint” has been preserved. This image shows the footprint at center, the K-25 History Center on the second floor of the city-owned fire station, front right, and the Equipment Building and Viewing Tower at front left. (Graphic by David Brown/U.S. Department of Energy)

 

A bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday recommends $8 million for K-25 historic preservation work.

If approved, the funding would help preserve the historic contributions that the K-25 Site made to the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

The historic preservation work is required under a 2012 agreement that allowed the complete demolition of the K-25 Building, which was once the world’s largest building under one roof.

The 2012 agreement allowed workers to demolish the North Tower at the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge. Historic preservationists had lobbied for years to save the North Tower.

In exchange for the complete demolition of K-25, the agreement, announced in August 2012, called for a replica equipment building, a viewing tower, and a history center at a city-owned fire station. It also included an online virtual museum and a $500,000 grant to buy and stabilize the historic Alexander Inn in central Oak Ridge, which has since been converted into an assisted living center. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Front Page News, Government, K-25, K-25, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Alexander Inn, atomic bombs, East Tennessee Technology Park, Energy and Water Development Appropriations, Fiscal Year 2018 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, gaseous diffusion, Hanford, Heritage Center, historic preservation, House Appropriations Committee, Jay Mullis, K-25 Building, K-25 Historic Preservation, K-25 History Center, K-25 site, Lamar Alexander, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, non-defense environmental cleanup, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Senate Appropriations Committee, Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, World War II

Senate bill also rejects Trump’s science cut, increases funding instead

Posted at 8:39 am July 20, 2017
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, talks to reporters after touring Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Hardin Valley Road on Monday, May 22, 2017. Also pictured is U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, center, a Tennessee Republican, and ORNL Director Thom Mason. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, center, a Tennessee Republican, is pictured above with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday, May 22, 2017. Also pictured is former ORNL Director Thom Mason. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

An appropriations bill approved by a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday rejects the Trump administration’s proposal to cut $919 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science in the fiscal year that starts October 1.

Instead of cutting, the Senate bill would actually increase funding for the Office of Science, boosting it to $5.55 billion in fiscal year 2018. That would be again a record funding level in a regular appropriations bill, according to U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican who often advocates for the federal sites in Oak Ridge and chairs the Senate subcommittee.

Like the Senate this week, the House Appropriations Committee last week also rejected President Donald Trump’s request to cut DOE’s Office of Science.

Unlike the Senate bill, though, the House bill would keep funding flat at $5.39 billion, the same as in the current fiscal year. That level of funding was also a record in a regular appropriations bill, Alexander said in May.

The Office of Science is the nation’s largest supporter of research in the physical sciences.

The president’s budget request, submitted to Congress on May 23, would cut Office of Science funding by about 17 percent, dropping it to $4.47 billion.

Keeping Office of Science funding flat, or even increasing it, could be important to several of the federal sites in Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an Office of Science lab, and the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, or OSTI, is an Office of Science unit. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: 3D printing, advanced manufacturing, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Appalachian Regional Commission, appropriations bill, Army Corps of Engineers, ARPA-E, CASL, Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, Dianne Feinstein, DOE, DOE Environmental Management, Donald Trump, East Tennessee Technology Park, EERE, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, environmental management, ETTP, House Appropriations Committee, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER, Jeanne Shaheen, Lamar Alexander, Lindsey Graham, Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, national laboratory, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Oak Ridge airport, Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Office of Science, Office of Science Integrated Support Center, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, ORNL, OSTI, Senate bill, Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, Susan Collins, Thom Mason, Titan, Trump administration, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium processing facility, Y-12 National Security Complex

House bill keeps DOE Office of Science spending flat, increases NNSA funding

Posted at 2:02 pm July 18, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by ORNL

 

Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

A House bill approved Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s proposed funding cut of about $900 million for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science.

Instead of cutting, the House Appropriations Committee bill would keep spending flat for the Office of Science, holding it at $5.39 billion in the next fiscal year, the same as in the current fiscal year.

That could be good news for DOE Office of Science laboratories and offices here, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, or OSTI.

Separately, the House bill recommends a funding increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration. That’s something that the Trump administration had also proposed. The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within DOE, and its activities include nuclear weapons work, nuclear nonproliferation efforts, and naval reactors. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is an NNSA site.

“Issues of national and economic security are continually on the forefront of the minds of all Americans,” said U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge. “Last week, the House Appropriations Committee, on which I serve, approved the Fiscal Year 2018 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill. I was proud to help direct additional funding towards the national security programs at Y-12.

“Additionally, funding levels included in this legislation will allow for cleanup of high risk excess facilities at Y-12. This is the first step in a long process, and I want to assure my constituents that I will continue fighting to ensure that Y-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and environmental management activities get the funding needed to continue their critical missions.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: DOE, East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Front Page News, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Reservation, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, ARPA-E, budget request, Chuck Fleischmann, DOE Oak Ridge Office, DOE Office of Science, DOE spending, Donald Trump, East Tennessee Technology Park, EERE, EM, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, environmental cleanup, environmental management, House Appropriations Committee, House bill, K-25, Lamar Alexander, Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Mike Simpson, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, nuclear facility cleanup, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Reservation, Office of Science, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, ORNL, Pantex Plant, Rodney Frelinghuysen, Trump administration, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium processing facility, West End Protected Area Reduction Project, Y-12 Biology Complex, Y-12 National Security Complex

President’s budget would close NOAA lab that has Oak Ridge division

Posted at 12:43 pm July 12, 2017
By John Huotari 4 Comments

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9:20 a.m. July 13.

The Trump administration’s budget request for the next fiscal year would close a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration air research laboratory that has a division in Oak Ridge, according to budget documents posted online.

The budget request for fiscal year 2018, which starts October 1, would close NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory, or ARL, which has headquarters in College Park, Maryland. The Air Resources Laboratory has satellite campuses in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Mercury, Nevada. Those satellite campuses would also close, according to the documents, which were posted by the NOAA Budget Office.

The Oak Ridge campus is on South Illinois Avenue, in a historic building that was once an emergency hospital and then a health department. It now houses the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD. The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division is one of several field divisions of the Air Resources Laboratory. The ARL in turn is part of NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

There are 33 employees at the Oak Ridge campus, including NOAA and ORAU workers. The primary focus of the ATDD is to maintain NOAA’s Climate Reference Network, a network of weather stations across the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, to monitor climate change.

The Oak Ridge division also works with other NOAA groups that study the formation of tornadoes, using unmanned aerial vehicles to understand tornado formation. It also works with the Air Resources Laboratory headquarters on air quality modeling and forecasting.

The NOAA budget request, which has not been approved by Congress, proposes zeroing out funding and employment at the Air Resources Laboratory, cutting base funding from about $4.7 million and 34 full-time equivalents (FTE) to $0 and zero FTE. President Donald Trump submitted his administration’s budget request to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, Government, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: air chemistry, Air Resources Laboratory, ARL, ATDD, Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, budget request, Climate Reference Network, Dianne Feinstein, Donald Trump, Lamar Alexander, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, NOAA Budget Office, NOAA budget request, NOAA weather and air chemistry research, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORAU, Trump administration, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex

While here in May, Secretary Perry made his first visit to UPF

Posted at 12:49 pm July 3, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Pictured above from left are Uranium Processing Facility Federal Project Director Dale Christenson, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Secretary Rick Perry, Rep. Chuck Fleischman, and UPF Project Director Brian Reilly. (Photo by NNSA)

Pictured above from left are Uranium Processing Facility Federal Project Director Dale Christenson, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Secretary Rick Perry, Rep. Chuck Fleischman, and UPF Project Director Brian Reilly. (Photo by NNSA)

 

Note: This story was originally published by the National Nuclear Security Administration on May 24.

While he visited Oak Ridge in May, new Energy Secretary Rick Perry made his first visit to the planned Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, a project that has been described as the single largest government investment in Tennessee since World War II.

Perry visited the UPF project with U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and Representative Chuck Fleischmann, both Tennessee Republicans, and UPF Federal Project Director Dale Christenson and UPF Project Director Brian Reilly.

Christenson and Reilly provided an update on the project’s progress and discussed key upcoming milestones, including achieving 90 percent design by September 2017, the National Nuclear Security Administration said in a post published May 24. Y-12 is an NNSA site. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Brian Reilly, Chuck Fleischmann, Dale Christenson, Lamar Alexander, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Rick Perry, UPF, uranium processing facility, Y-12 National Security Complex

Proposal to eliminate ARC wouldn’t affect current airport funding, but could affect future funding

Posted at 3:27 am May 31, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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 Oak Ridge Airport project has received $2 million in funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission, and that money wouldn’t be affected by the president’s proposal to eliminate the independent agency in the next fiscal year, a spokesperson said.

But future funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission will depend upon what Congress decides to do with ARC and whether it continues funding the commission, said Becky Huckaby, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.

The budget request released by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, May 23, proposes to eliminate the Appalachian Regional Commission and other independent agencies, providing funding only for the orderly closure of the agencies. The request would apply to Fiscal Year 2018, which starts October 1.

ARC is one of the funding sources for the Oak Ridge Airport, which could cost an estimated $35 million to $40 million and have a mix of state and federal funding, and local funding from the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, or MKAA. Besides ARC, other direct and indirect funding sources include the U.S. Department of Energy, which would provide the land; the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA; the Tennessee Aeronautics Commission; and the Tennessee Department of Transportation. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Top Stories Tagged With: Appalachian Regional Commission, ARC, Becky Huckaby, budget request, Chuck Fleischmann, FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, Heritage Center, K-25 site, Lamar Alexander, Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, MKAA, Oak Ridge airport, President Donald Trump, president's budget request, Tennessee Aeronautics Commission, Tennessee Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy

Energy Secretary Rick Perry coming to Oak Ridge on Monday

Posted at 3:53 pm May 19, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Rick Perry

Rick Perry

 

Energy Secretary Rick Perry is coming to Oak Ridge on Monday at the invitation of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, a Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, will also attend.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Perry, a former Texas governor, as the 14th United States energy secretary on March 2. (You can see his biography here.) This will be his first trip to Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Government, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Centrus Energy, Chuck Fleischmann, DOE, East Tennessee Technology Park, Energy Secretary, Lamar Alexander, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, ORAU, Rick Perry, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex

Not clear yet where National Park Service will go when AMSE closes

Posted at 9:51 pm April 30, 2017
By John Huotari 4 Comments

former-sears-roebuck-co-oak-ridge-jan-2-2017-web

An agreement signed Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, by the U.S. Department of Energy and City of Oak Ridge calls for the American Museum of Science and Energy missions to be relocated within about one year to 18,000 square feet of space in a two-story building that once housed a Sears Roebuck store next to JCPenney at Main Street Oak Ridge. It’s not yet clear if the National Park Service, which has shared space with AMSE, will also move into this building. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

It’s not clear yet where the National Park Service will go when the American Museum of Science and Energy building closes at the end of the year, but a federal official said the Park Service will stay in Oak Ridge.

It could relocate to a two-story building that once housed Sears Roebuck at Main Street Oak Ridge, the former Oak Ridge Mall. That’s where the U.S. Department of Energy’s public education and outreach missions, now housed at the American Museum of Science and Energy, are moving.

But the National Park Service hadn’t committed to moving there as of April 17, said Niki Nicholas, site manager of the Oak Ridge unit of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The NPS needs more information, Nicholas said in response to questions after a Monday afternoon presentation to AAUW, or American Association of University Women. (A reader had told Oak Ridge Today of an April 17 letter reportedly sent from the Manhattan Project National Historical Park to federal officials at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which manages AMSE.)

Nicholas said the National Park Service has several options in Oak Ridge, including Main Street Oak Ridge. But she declined to elaborate on the precise number of options, where they might be, or what organizations or businesses might be co-located in those buildings. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Community, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: American Museum of Science and Energy, AMSE, atomic weapons, Chuck Fleischmann, City of Oak Ridge, Claire Sinclair, DOE, DOE Public Education and Outreach Center, Donald Trump, Hanford, Heritage Center, K-25, Lamar Alexander, Los Alamos, Main Street—Oak Ridge, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, National Park Service, Niki Nicholas, NPS, Oak Ridge Mall, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, ORNL Site Office, RealtyLink, Sears Roebuck, TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Interior, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

Site prep could start this year for mercury treatment plant at Y-12

Posted at 10:02 am April 28, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Y-12 Mercury Treatment Facility

The Mercury Treatment Facility that will be at the east end of Y-12 National Security Complex could start operating in 2022. (Image by David Brown/U.S. Department of Energy)

 

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

Site preparation could start later this year for the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex as the U.S. Department of Energy prepares for demolition and cleanup work at the nuclear weapons plant.

DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or OREM, expects to complete demolition and cleanup work at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, in 2020. It will then focus on the large-scale demolition work at Y-12.

Among the Y-12 buildings that could be demolished are Alpha 4, Alpha 5, and Beta 4, all large buildings where mercury, a toxic metal, was once used. The buildings used mercury to separate lithium for nuclear weapons. The lithium separation operations started in 1955 and ended in 1963.

But before that cleanup work can begin, OREM needs the Mercury Treatment Facility. The plant was first announced at a press conference featuring U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, about four years ago, in May 2013.

“This water treatment plant is a major step in addressing one of the biggest problems we have from the Cold War era—mercury once used to make nuclear weapons getting into our waterways,” Alexander said at the time. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge Office, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Alpha 2, Alpha 4, Alpha 5, Beta 4, cleanup, demolition, DOE, East Fork Poplar Creek, East Tennessee Technology Park, Environmental Management Disposal Facility, Excess Facilities Initiative, Headworks Facility, Jay Mullis, K-25, K-25 site, Lamar Alexander, Mark Whitney, mercury, mercury contamination, Mercury Treatment Facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Oak Ridge Reservation, OREM, Outfall 200, Sue Cange, U.S. Department of Energy, water treatment plant, West End Mercury Area, X-10, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

After Senate confirms Perry as energy secretary, Alexander invites him to Oak Ridge

Posted at 4:02 pm March 2, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

The United States Senate has confirmed former Texas Governor Rick Perry to serve as U.S. energy secretary, and Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, has invited him to Oak Ridge.

The Thursday afternoon vote to confirm Perry was 62 to 37. Alexander was one of the 62 senators voting to confirm Perry. So was Senator Bob Corker, also a Tennessee Republican.

“I’ve known Rick Perry for a long time and am pleased the Senate has voted to confirm him as energy secretary,” Alexander said in a statement. “He appreciates the role the Department of Energy plays in the management and modernization of our nuclear weapons—an important part of the work done at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. He also understands that national laboratories like the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are essential to maintaining our country’s brainpower advantage. I have invited him to come to Tennessee early this year to see firsthand the important work done in Oak Ridge.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Reservation, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Heritage Center, K-25, Lamar Alexander, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, ORAU, ORISE, OSTI, Rick Perry, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. energy secretary, United States Senate, Y-12 National Security Complex

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Classifieds

Availability of the draft environmental assessment for off-site depleted uranium manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the … [Read More...]

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

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