Oak Ridge Today

Activists ask federal officials to build UPF underground at Y-12

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Uranium Processing Facility

Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)

The proposed multi-billion-dollar building that would process uranium at the Y-12 National Security Complex should be buried below ground, an Oak Ridge nonprofit organization and a Washington, D.C.-based group told federal safety officials in a Monday letter.

The groups planned to make their request during an all-day meeting and public hearing of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in Knoxville on Tuesday. The board is meeting in two sessions from 8 a.m. to noon and 2 to 6 p.m. today (Tuesday) at the Knoxville Convention Center.

The Monday letter was from the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in Washington, D.C. Among the dozen signatories is Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, a group that has long been critical of the nuclear weapons work at Y-12. OREPA said the letter’s signatories represent thousands of members at sites across the country. [Read more…]

OREPA commemorates Nagasaki bombing with peace lantern ceremony

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Ralph Hutchison

Ralph Hutchison

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance will commemorate the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945, with a peace lantern ceremony this evening at Sequoyah Hills Park in Knoxville.

The ceremony begins at 8 p.m. and will include Buddhist drumming and chanting, traditional Japanese folk dancing, music, shadow puppets, and, at 8:45pm, the launching of peace lanterns, a press release said. [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters work to change nuclear policy, prevent another Hiroshima

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OREPA Peace Cranes at Y-12

Sharon O’Hara-Bruce of Lake Orion, Mich., ties a peace crane to a fence set up in front of the Y-12 National Security during a Tuesday morning ceremony recalling the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II.

A few dozen demonstrators from across the eastern United States gathered near the Y-12 National Security Complex on Tuesday morning to remember the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II 68 years ago.

Some traveled hundreds of miles by bicycle and car to get to Oak Ridge, where they questioned the nation’s current energy policy and preparations for nuclear war. Four riders arrived after a 458-mile, nine-day “Bikes Not Bombs” trip from Cincinnati to Oak Ridge.

“It’s consciousness-raising and concern for the priorities of our society,” said Tim Kraus of Cincinnati, part of the support group for the “Bikes Not Bombs” trip, which was organized by Footprints for Peace. “What we’re doing is not sustainable.” [Read more…]

Tuesday morning ceremony near Y-12 recalls Hiroshima bombing

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OREPA Protest at Y-12 National Security Complex

A Tuesday morning ceremony in front of the Y-12 National Security Complex will recall the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. Y-12 enriched uranium for the bomb. Pictured above are protesters at last year’s annual event.

A Tuesday morning ceremony near the Y-12 National Security Complex will recall the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, organizers said.

The annual event at the front of Y-12 includes a Names and Remembrance Ceremony. It’s sponsored by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance.

Organizers say they will “raise voices in solidarity with survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima who say, ‘Never Again!’” [Read more…]

Y-12 protester temporarily released for funeral; officials don’t comment on whether she returned to prison

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Megan Rice and Michele Naar-Obed

Megan Rice, left, was convicted on two federal charges in May after breaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28, 2012, and vandalizing a uranium storage building with two other protesters. She was temporarily released last week to attend her brother-in-law’s funeral. Rice is pictured above outside U.S. District Court in Knoxville with Michele Naar-Obed, wife of one of the other protesters, Greg Boertje-Obed.

U.S. and Georgia officials did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday and Wednesday on whether peace protester Megan Rice, who has been convicted of destroying government property at the Y-12 National Security Complex, returned to prison in the Peach State this week after a five-day release to attend the funeral of her brother-in-law in New York.

But on Tuesday, Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said he assumed Rice had returned to the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga.

“I assume she reported, or we’d have heard from someone trying to locate her,” Hutchison said in a Tuesday evening e-mail. “I know she was returning to Atlanta last night en route to Ocilla. That’s the last I heard.” [Read more…]

Peace group wants fence removed from longtime Y-12 protest area

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Y-12 Fence on Scarboro Road

The temporary fence erected at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex encloses an area, pictured above, that has been used for protests and vigils for years. An Oak Ridge organization that wants to eradicate nuclear weapons has asked a federal court to order the removal of the fence before an Aug. 6 ceremony.

Calling it an assault on their First Amendment rights, an Oak Ridge organization has again asked a federal court to order officials to remove a fence that blocks an area long used for protests, vigils, and demonstrations in front of the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, which opposes Y-12’s nuclear weapons production work, filed the preliminary injunction in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Friday. The lawsuit, which amends a complaint filed in April, names new U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz as the sole defendant.

OREPA wants the U.S. Department of Energy to reopen a small grass field near Y-12’s main entrance at East Bear Creek and Scarboro roads before an annual Aug. 6 demonstration. If it is left in place, the temporary fence erected April 1 would cause “irreparable harm” to First Amendment rights—including the rights of free speech, peaceful assembly, and the ability to petition the government for a redress of grievances, OREPA said. [Read more…]

Responding to traffic delays, Y-12 asks for volunteers to start work later beginning July 8

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Y-12 National Security Complex Traffic

Responding to morning traffic delays, particularly at its east entrance on Bear Creek Road, the Y-12 National Security Complex has asked some employees to volunteer to start their work day later after July 8.

Responding to morning traffic delays at its entrances, the Y-12 National Security Complex has asked some employees to volunteer to come into work later in the day starting July 8.

Significant traffic delays have been an issue since a lost driver who did not have a badge or permission to be at Y-12 said she was waved into the nuclear weapons plant on June 6.

Since then, Y-12 officials have said the plant has changed its approach to checking badges at the east and west gates. The more rigorous security checks are “here to stay,” B&W Y-12 General Manager Chuck Spencer said in a June 27 message to employees.

But the new procedures have led to traffic delays, particularly at the east entrance between 5:15 and 6:15 a.m., when vehicles can back up as far as the former Dean Stallings Ford on South Illinois Avenue. [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters guilty of two federal charges, jailed overnight

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The Fruit of Justice is Peace Slogan on HEUMF at Y-12

Three anti-nuclear weapons activists who sneaked into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28 splashed human blood and, quoting Proverbs, sprayed paint on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. The protesters also hammered the building, causing it to chip, and strung up crime scene tape. (Submitted photo)

KNOXVILLE—The Catholic nun, house painter, and laborer who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on a uranium storage building were found guilty on two federal counts Wednesday, one charging them with property depredation of more than $1,000 and the other alleging they willfully injured national defense premises.

The three protesters—Megan Rice, 83; Michael R. Walli, 64; and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57—were taken to the Blount County jail after the verdict was read at the end of a two-day trial in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. Dozens of courtroom supporters sang softly as the three anti-nuclear weapons activists were taken into custody after about 2.5 hours of deliberations by the nine men and three women on the jury panel.

Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli have a detention hearing on Thursday morning. Each faces up to 30 years in prison. [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters arrested during demonstration will not contest charges, group says

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OREPA March to Y-12

Three members of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance will not contest the charges filed against them during this April 6 march from the Oak Ridge Civic Center to the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Three members of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance will not contest charges filed against them for impeding the flow of traffic during an April 6 demonstration that ended at the Y-12 National Security Complex, the group said in a press release Monday.

The three OREPA members were arrested as about 70 protesters marched from the Oak Ridge Civic Center to Y-12 during an annual spring demonstration. [Read more…]

Moved to new spot, Y-12 protesters still demonstrate; three arrested

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OREPA Spring Demonstration at Y-12

Protesters say “no” to the proposed Uranium Processing Facility in a demonstration across from the Y-12 National Security Complex on Saturday.  The area traditionally used by the protesters has been blocked by a fence erected this week. Pictured above at left are Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli, two of the anti-nuclear weapons activists who penetrated the high-security Protected Area at Y-12 on July 28.

Forced to move to a new spot, protesters said three people were arrested on Saturday during an annual spring demonstration opposing the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

An area that has traditionally been used by the protesters near Y-12’s main entrance at Bear Creek and Scarboro roads was enclosed by a fence this week. So the protesters, who oppose Y-12’s nuclear weapons work, demonstrated across the street from the 811-acre plant.

Three of them were arrested during a mile-long march from the Oak Ridge Civic Center, where the demonstration started, and Y-12. They were Larry Coleman, 71, of Knoxville; Buddhist monk Gyoshu Utsumi, 60, of Newport; and Bill Ramsey, 65, of Asheville, N.C. All three were charged with impeding the flow of traffic, and they have been released from the Anderson County Detention Facility on $100-$200 bonds. [Read more…]

Y-12 fence that blocks protest area to remain up for now; judge questions lawsuit jurisdiction

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Y-12 Fence on Scarboro Road

The temporary fence erected at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex encloses an area, pictured above, that has been used for protests and vigils for years. Despite a court challenge Friday, the fence will stay up for now.

KNOXVILLE—The temporary fence that blocks a traditional protest area at the Y-12 National Security Complex will stay up for now.

A group that has used the grass field and small parking lot for protests and vigils near the Y-12 entrance at Bear Creek and Scarboro roads had sought to have the fence removed before an annual spring demonstration on Saturday. Workers started erecting it on Monday.

But the arguments about the fence and its alleged violations of the protesters’ First Amendment rights took a surprise turn in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Friday.

District Judge Curtis L. Collier quickly raised a question about whether the court has jurisdiction to address the complaint filed Wednesday by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, its board members, and people affiliated with the nonprofit organization. [Read more…]

Government should remove fence around Y-12 protest area by Saturday, group says in federal lawsuit

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Y-12 Fence on Scarboro Road

A coalition including the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance has asked a federal judge to order the removal of a temporary fence that encloses an area at the entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex that has been used for protests and vigils for years.

A new fence erected this week at the Y-12 National Security Complex allegedly violates their First Amendment rights, and a coalition that includes the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance wants the federal government to remove it before an annual spring demonstration on Saturday.

In a complaint filed Wednesday, the coalition also asks the U.S. District Court in Knoxville to deny the government from ever blocking a small area near the plant’s main entrance. That area includes a grassy field and small parking lot near the green Y-12 sign at the intersection of Bear Creek and Scarboro roads, and it has been used for protests and vigils for about 25 years.

The National Nuclear Security Administration announced plans to erect the fence along Scarboro Road last week, citing three trespassing incidents involving five people in the past year, including the July 28 security breach. Workers started setting up a temporary version of the fence on Monday. [Read more…]