The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the availability of a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for Off-Site Depleted Uranium Manufacturing, which analyzes the potential impacts associated with depleted uranium manufacturing at facilities located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Jonesborough, Tennessee.
NNSA is providing an approximately 30-day comment period on the Draft EA and public comments should be submitted no later than August 30, 2024. Written comments may be mailed to NNSA NEPA Document Manager, Attn: DU Draft EA, P.O. Box 2050, Oak Ridge, TN 37831 or submitted by email to [email protected]. Comments will not be accepted over the telephone.
The entrance sign at Y-12 National Security Complex at Bear Creek Road and Scarboro Road is pictured above on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex was supposed to be completed by 2025 for no more than $6.5 billion, but that might no longer be the case.
In the past week, federal officials said construction projects across the country, including UPF, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain delays, inflation, labor shortages, and increased labor costs. Those factors have led to higher construction costs and longer project timelines, the federal officials said.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
Y-12 Site Manager Gene Sievers talks about the plant’s new fire station and emergency operations center during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A new fire station and emergency operations center at the Y-12 National Security Complex will replace “severely outdated” buildings that were constructed in the 1940s, about eight decades ago. The new buildings will improve working conditions, consolidate operations now conducted in separate places, and provide ample space for large equipment like fire trucks, federal officials and Y-12 leaders said during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday.
Workers at the plant, which manufactures components for the nation’s nuclear weapons, among other activities, have been talking about the new facilities for at least 13 years. The start of construction was celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony in April 2021. The new buildings, reported to have cost $68 million, are part of a “huge transformation,” an effort to modernize the site.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
Consolidated Nuclear Security, which operates Y-12 National Security Complex, had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Emergency Response Training Facility on Monday, Jan. 9, 2023. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A new center in west Oak Ridge will train law enforcement officers how to respond to radiological emergencies or potential thefts of radioactive materials.
The Y-12 National Security Complex had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Emergency Response Training Facility on Monday, January 9.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A federal safety board has asked for a report and briefing after 15 exothermic (heat-producing) reactions of uranium materials were reported at the Y-12 National Security Complex between 2016 and 2021.
The report and briefing have been requested by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, which wants a response from the National Nuclear Safety Administration. The NNSA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy and oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons work, including at Y-12.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
Depleted uranium hexafluoride storage cylinders at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth, Ohio, Conversion Facility. (Photo from U.S. Government Accountability Office report)
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates it could cost at least $7.2 billion to convert and dispose of tens of thousands of cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride, a dangerous, corrosive waste byproduct of the uranium enrichment process. Some of the waste came from the former K-25 site in Oak Ridge and is now stored in Ohio, but a portion of the converted depleted uranium could eventually be returned to Oak Ridge for use in nuclear weapons.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:
Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831
We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.
We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription.
Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!
Depleted uranium hexafluoride storage cylinders at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth, Ohio, Conversion Facility. (Photo from U.S. Government Accountability Office report)
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates it could cost at least $7.2 billion to convert and dispose of tens of thousands of cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride, a dangerous, corrosive waste byproduct of the uranium enrichment process. Some of the waste came from the former K-25 site in Oak Ridge and is now stored in Ohio, but a portion of the converted depleted uranium could eventually be returned to Oak Ridge for use in nuclear weapons.
DOE’s Office of Environmental Management has had about 67,000 cylinders of the depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) stored at two conversion facilities in Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio. The facilities convert the DUF6 into two primary products, depleted uranium oxide (a more stable chemical form) and hydrofluoric acid, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Depleted uranium hexafluoride storage cylinders at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth, Ohio, Conversion Facility. (Photo from U.S. Government Accountability Office report)
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates it could cost at least $7.2 billion to convert and dispose of tens of thousands of cylinders of depleted uranium hexafluoride, a dangerous, corrosive waste byproduct of the uranium enrichment process. Some of the waste came from the former K-25 site in Oak Ridge and is now stored in Ohio, but a portion of the converted depleted uranium could eventually be returned to Oak Ridge for use in nuclear weapons.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased the LeMond Carbon building at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge. The building is pictured above in August 2016.
Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Dec. 30 to correct that the building has been purchased.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased a building in west Oak Ridge that has been the site of two major industrial announcements, one by CVMR and the other by LeMond Composites. Both projects had promised at least $125 million in investments and hundreds of jobs, but neither has proceeded as expected.
In the five or six years since those announcements, there have been few signs of activity at the facility when Oak Ridge Today has stopped by, although company executives have held out hope, when contacted, that their projects could still proceed.
The LeMond Carbon Facility is on Palladium Way at Horizon Center. The NNSA plans to use the building for the development organization at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.
The sale price was $6.9 million, and the NNSA had 18 months to buy the building under an option-to-purchase agreement, the first of its kind for the agency. The sale was completed December 15. The NNSA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, and it maintains the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, among other activities.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:Basic
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge TodayP.O. Box 6064Oak Ridge, TN 37831 We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here. We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!
The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased the LeMond Carbon building at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge. The building is pictured above in August 2016.
Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Dec. 30 to correct that the NNSA has purchased the LeMond building.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased a building in west Oak Ridge that has been the site of two major industrial announcements, one by CVMR and the other by LeMond Composites. Both projects had promised at least $125 million in investments and hundreds of jobs, but neither has proceeded as expected.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased the LeMond Carbon building at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge. The building is pictured above in August 2016.
Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Dec. 30 to correct that the building has been purchased.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased a building in west Oak Ridge that has been the site of two major industrial announcements, one by CVMR and the other by LeMond Composites. Both projects had promised at least $125 million in investments and hundreds of jobs, but neither has proceeded as expected.
In the five or six years since those announcements, there have been few signs of activity at the facility when Oak Ridge Today has stopped by, although company executives have held out hope, when contacted, that their projects could still proceed.
The LeMond Carbon Facility is on Palladium Way at Horizon Center. The NNSA plans to use the building for the development organization at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.
The sale price was $6.9 million, and the NNSA had 18 months to buy the building under an option-to-purchase agreement, the first of its kind for the agency. The sale was completed December 15. The NNSA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, and it maintains the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, among other activities.
The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.Already a member? Great! Thank you! Sign in here.Not a member? No problem! Subscribe here:Basic
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to: Oak Ridge TodayP.O. Box 6064Oak Ridge, TN 37831 We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here. We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!
Safeguards and Security personnel from Y-12 National Security Complex, the Pantex Plant, and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office were recently honored with 2020 Nuclear Security Enterprise security awards, a press release said.
The winners included Willis Ray, Dwayne Cunningham, and Ramiro Alaniz from Pantex; Kevin Mattern from Y-12; and Tim Alvarado, Blaine Westlake, and Dan Reeves of NPO.
Alaniz, Alvarado, Cunningham, Mattern, and Reeves were recognized as members of the NNSA 2020 Security Team of the Year. They were among 23 members of the Design Basis Threat Implementation Team, which was made up of contractors and federal personnel from every site in the NSE, plus the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Security Policy, who received this award, the press release said.
The Design Basis Team team finished the most comprehensive analysis of security risk ever completed in support of the U.S. DOE/NNSA mission, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.
“The team’s work resulted in security analysis that is more consistent, transparent, and understandable than ever before,” it said.
The Joe L. Evins Federal Building is pictured above in Oak Ridge on Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The executive order issued by President Joe Biden in September requires federal employees to be fully vaccinated by November 22, the U.S. Department of Energy said. DOE said 84 percent of the department’s federal workforce was, at the time, fully vaccinated.
To comply with the November 22 deadline, DOE’s employees must complete their vaccinations by November 8. This would apply to the first Johnson & Johnson shot, a one-shot vaccine, or the second Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech shots, both two-shot vaccines. People aren’t considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after the final dose of a vaccine.
The U.S. Department of Energy notified its staff of the vaccine requirement on Tuesday last week.
“Protecting your health and safety is our top priority,” DOE told its staff. “To help ensure this, President Biden issued an executive order requiring all federal employees to be fully vaccinated by November 22, 2021. This applies to all federal employees regardless of remote, telework, or onsite reporting status, except in limited circumstances in which an employee may be exempt due to a legally required accommodation.”
The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, and Nevada environmental regulators have agreed to a settlement after classified low-level waste shipped west from the Y-12 National Security Complex allegedly violated waste acceptance criteria at the Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas, according to documents posted online.Â
The waste shipments from Y-12 received significant publicity in news stories in 2019 after Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak demanded answers from the U.S. Department of Energy about what were described as unapproved waste shipments. The shipments were incorrectly labeled, according to a letter sent that summer to former Energy Secretary Rick Perry by Sisolak and U.S. senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen. Sisolak said he learned about the shipments from Y-12 to Nevada from Dan Brouillette, who was then deputy energy secretary.
Waste shipments from Y-12 were suspended that July. They remained suspended for almost two years. Shipments of low-level waste resumed in May this year, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Work continues to obtain approval to dispose of weapons-related material, the DNFSB said.
The settlement agreement, which was signed in June, addresses reimbursement and factual findings, and it includes, as an attachment, information about how the shipments from Y-12 allegedly violated waste acceptance criteria at NNSS.
The rest of this story, which you will read only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:
Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831
We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.
We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription.
Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!
The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 2:40 p.m.
The U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, and Nevada environmental regulators have agreed to a settlement after classified low-level waste shipped west from the Y-12 National Security Complex allegedly violated waste acceptance criteria at the Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas, according to documents posted online.Â
The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, and Nevada environmental regulators have agreed to a settlement after classified low-level waste shipped west from the Y-12 National Security Complex allegedly violated waste acceptance criteria at the Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas, according to documents posted online.Â
The waste shipments from Y-12 received significant publicity in news stories in 2019 after Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak demanded answers from the U.S. Department of Energy about what were described as unapproved waste shipments. The shipments were incorrectly labeled, according to a letter sent that summer to former Energy Secretary Rick Perry by Sisolak and U.S. senators Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen. Sisolak said he learned about the shipments from Y-12 to Nevada from Dan Brouillette, who was then deputy energy secretary.
Waste shipments from Y-12 were suspended that July. They remained suspended for almost two years. Shipments of low-level waste resumed in May this year, according to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Work continues to obtain approval to dispose of weapons-related material, the DNFSB said.
The settlement agreement, which was signed in June, addresses reimbursement and factual findings, and it includes, as an attachment, information about how the shipments from Y-12 allegedly violated waste acceptance criteria at NNSS.
The rest of this story, which you will read only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
Upper East Fork Poplar Creek is pictured above at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge on Friday, May 22, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
More than 4,000 fish and crayfish were killed by chlorinated water and mercury at the Y-12 National Security Complex in two series of incidents in 2018 and 2021.
The rest of this story, which you will read only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:
Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831
We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.
We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription.
Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!
Upper East Fork Poplar Creek is pictured above at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge on Friday, May 22, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
More than 4,000 fish and crayfish were killed by chlorinated water and mercury at the Y-12 National Security Complex in two series of incidents in 2018 and 2021.
The rest of this story, which you will read only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
If you prefer to send a check, you may do so by mailing one to:
Oak Ridge Today P.O. Box 6064 Oak Ridge, TN 37831
We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.
We also accept donations. You can donate here. A donation of $50 or more will make you eligible for a subscription.
Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support!
Upper East Fork Poplar Creek is pictured above at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge on Friday, May 22, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
More than 4,000 fish and crayfish were killed by chlorinated water and mercury at the Y-12 National Security Complex in two series of incidents in 2018 and 2021.
The first series of incidents was likely caused by the release of mercury while crews were cleaning up and removing equipment at the Alpha-4 Building on the west side of Y-12, according to scientists and officials. Alpha-4 is the most contaminated of the four major mercury-contaminated buildings at Y-12. Millions of pounds of mercury were used at Y-12 decades ago to produce nuclear weapons parts. Removing mercury-contaminated buildings, equipment, and soil remains one of the top challenges of cleaning up the Oak Ridge Reservation.
Upper East Fork Poplar Creek is pictured above at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge on Friday, May 22, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
More than 4,000 fish and crayfish were killed by chlorinated water and mercury at the Y-12 National Security Complex in two series of incidents in 2018 and 2021.
The rest of this story, which you will read only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.
The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The Y-12 National Security Complex has deployed a system to counter unauthorized drones. Y-12 produces parts for nuclear weapons and stores highly enriched uranium, among other guarded national security missions.
Oak Ridge Today reported in November 2018 that Y-12 was one of four sites housing special nuclear materials where the National Nuclear Security Administration was deploying systems to counter drones. Deployed by the Office of Defense Nuclear Security, the systems have the capability to detect, identify, track, and intercept unsanctioned and suspicious drones, the NNSA said in 2018. At that time, one system had already been deployed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
The NNSA announced in a press release Monday that the system to counter unauthorized drones had been deployed at Y-12. The Y-12 system is intended to detect, identify, and track potentially malicious threats posed by drones, the NNSA said.
“The National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office (NPO) is announcing this deployment and the airspace restriction to the public to minimize the threat of unauthorized UAS (unmanned aircraft system) flights over Y-12,†said Teresa Robbins, NPO manager. “This will enhance our ability to effectively protect this vital national security facility.â€
