Oak Ridge Today

DOE secretary to attend AMSE land transfer ceremony on Dec. 30

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Ernest Moniz

Ernest Moniz

Note: This story was last updated at 12:10 p.m.

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will attend the land transfer ceremony for the American Museum of Science and Energy property in Oak Ridge next week.

The ceremony is scheduled for Friday, December 30. Also expected to attend are U.S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann and City of Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch.

It’s a signing ceremony to formally transfer the roughly 17-acre AMSE site from the U.S. Department of Energy to the City of Oak Ridge.

Under an agreement unanimously approved by Oak Ridge City Council on December 13, the city is then expected to transfer the property in two phases to a company set up by RealtyLink, the South Carolina firm building Main Street Oak Ridge at the site of the former Oak Ridge Mall. [Read more…]

George joins elite group as ORNL-UT Governor’s Chair

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Easo George becomes the 15th Governor’s Chair. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

 

Easo George, one of the world’s foremost authorities on advanced alloy development and theory, has been named the 15th Governor’s Chair at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee.

George comes from the Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, where he has been professor of materials design and director of the Center for Interface Dominated High Performance Materials since November 2014. Prior to that, he had a career of nearly three decades at ORNL, where he was a distinguished research staff member and head of the Alloy Behavior and Design Group. He was also a professor of materials science and engineering at UT since 2002, a press release said.

“I am honored to have been chosen for this position,” George said in the press release. “There is already tremendous synergy between ORNL and UT in advancing materials research, and I cannot wait to help build even more momentum.” [Read more…]

Knoxville company building $12 million plant in Hardin Valley

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Pictured above is Peter Hedger, chief executive officer of Magnum Venus Products, which is building a $12 million plant in Hardin Valley. (Submitted photo)

 

A Knoxville manufacturing company announced Thursday that it will build a $12 million plant in Hardin Valley that will create about 70 new jobs during the next five years.

The new Magnum Venus Products, or MVP, plant will be in the Hardin Business Park off Hardin Valley Road in west Knox County. Among other things, MVP makes high-tech pumps and works in the composites industry.

Construction of the new 80,000-square-foot plant will occur in two phases. The first 40,000-square-foot expansion phase will be completed next year, a press release said. The second phase of the expansion will add another 40,000 square feet.

Magnum Venus Products plans to occupy the new facility in the second half of 2017. [Read more…]

AMSE property could be transferred to city, then to developer

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The American Museum of Science and Energy is at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge. (File photo by Sara Wise)

 

Note: This story was updated at 2:45 p.m.

The American Museum of Science and Energy property could be transferred to the City of Oak Ridge and then to a developer under a resolution to be considered by Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday.

The City Council will consider whether to accept the 17.12-acre AMSE site from the U.S. Department of Energy during a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, December 13, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. The Council will also consider whether to enter into certain agreements with TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC. That company was set up by RealtyLink, the developer building Main Street Oak Ridge at the former Oak Ridge Mall.

The potential property transfer, the latest in a series of AMSE discussions dating back to at least 2003, was endorsed by City Council this summer as part of the Main Street Oak Ridge redevelopment. Council agreed to allow City Manager Mark Watson to negotiate the AMSE property transfer with DOE and RealtyLink.

On Monday, Watson said the city has submitted a property transfer proposal to DOE, and the federal government has accepted the terms. In order to take effect, the City Council has to approve it.

If the transfer is approved, TN Oak Ridge Illinois LLC would provide Oak Ridge with 18,000 square feet of space at Main Street Oak Ridge at no cost for 15 years. The city would pay no rent, maintenance, taxes, or utilities. [Read more…]

Tennessee Science on the Map: Fastest improving state on the Nation’s Report Card

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By Cathy Ginel

Have you ever run on a treadmill until you are out of breath? Have you ever gotten to a comfortable point and then pushed that speed up just a little more to give yourself a better workout? Tennessee science teachers are on the treadmill, have pushed themselves, are seeing results, and are gearing themselves up for more.

The Nation’s Report Card was recently released showing that Tennessee students grew faster than the national average in science. Tennessee is now ranked the fastest improving in the nation in science and has moved into the top 25 states in science. Tennessee has eliminated the achievement gap between male and female students and has narrowed the achievement gap between white, Hispanic, and black students in science. This encouraging news provided us with needed results and evidence that education changes in Tennessee are having a positive outcome with our students. Teachers are seeing results of their additional work and are pushing for even higher scores in the future. [Read more…]

Photos, video: See plans for the new International Friendship Bell Pavilion

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Design of the Peace Pavilion for the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell by Demian\Wilbur\Architects, Washington, D.C.

 

ORAU donated $100,000 on Friday, and organizers said they have now raised $525,000 in a drive to  build a new Peace Pavilion for the International Friendship Bell in Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge.

Organizers have said it could cost $750,000 to build a new structure for the 8,000-pound bronze bell.

The Japanese-style bell symbolizes unity between the United States and Japan. The two countries fought in World War II. Uranium enriched in Oak Ridge fueled the first atomic bomb used in wartime. It was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of the war. [Read more…]

First year: More than 80,000 visit three Manhattan Project Park sites in 2016

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The late Bill Wilcox by the International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge. (Courtesy of Friends of the International Friendship Bell via Atomic Heritage Foundation)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12 p.m. Dec. 8.

More than 80,000 people have visited the three sites of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, according to a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C.

Besides Oak Ridge, the park includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

In Oak Ridge, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park has a volunteer or ranger at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge when the museum is open. The park also has activities. For example, there is a program on secrecy, security, and spies at the Oak Ridge Turnpike Gatehouse in west Oak Ridge on Saturday, December 17. And the park, in partnership with the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, will be featuring a Parks in Focus photography exhibit during the month of December. The photography exhibit is located in the Imagination Gallery at the museum located at 461 West Outer Drive.

Also, a virtual tour of the K-25 Building can be found at the new K-25 Virtual Museum website. And from March to November, admission to AMSE includes a three-hour bus tour of the Oak Ridge Reservation, including the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, New Bethel Church at ORNL, the visitor overlook at the East Tennessee Technology Park (former home to the K-25 gaseous diffusion building), and Y-12 New Hope History Center. [Read more…]

Officials celebrate sale of DOE land to IDB, which sold to Protomet, for economic development

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Protomet Corporation is pictured above in the Bethel Valley Industrial Park in south Oak Ridge on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Officials are celebrating the sale of federal land east of Oak Ridge National Laboratory that could be used to help an industrial company expand.

The 20-acre parcel had been owned by the U.S. Department of Energy in Oak Ridge. The property is adjacent to the Bethel Valley Industrial Park in south Oak Ridge and west of Protomet. The company had sought the property for a planned expansion.

The parcel was sold to the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, or IDB, on October 20.

The IDB, which served as a conduit, then sold the land to Protomet. The company is evaluating the site as one option as it plans for a $30 million expansion that could add 200 jobs over a five-year period. [Read more…]

Proposed DOE waste disposal site to be discussed at Lunch with the League on Tuesday

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Ellen Smith

Ellen Smith

The U.S. Department of Energy’s proposal for a new disposal site for waste from ongoing cleanups, and some concerns that have been raised regarding the DOE proposal, will be the subject of Ellen Smith’s presentation at Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

Lunch with the League is scheduled to start at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, December 6, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Smith is on the staff of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Environmental Sciences Division. She is a member of the Oak Ridge City Council, where she serves are mayor pro tem. [Read more…]

Name of new element, tennessine, recognizes state’s contributions, including at ORNL

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The recently discovered element 117 has been officially named “tennessine” in recognition of Tennessee’s contributions to its discovery, including the efforts of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and its Tennessee collaborators at Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee.

“The presence of tennessine on the Periodic Table is an affirmation of our state’s standing in the international scientific community, including the facilities ORNL provides to that community as well as the knowledge and expertise of the laboratory’s scientists and technicians,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said in a press release.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, or IUPAC, gave its final approval to the name “tennessine” following a year-long process that began December 30, 2015, when IUPAC and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics announced verification of the existence of the superheavy element 117. That was more than five years after scientists first reported its discovery in April 2010.

IUPAC validates the existence of newly discovered elements and approves their official names.

ORNL had several roles in the discovery, the most prominent being production of the radioisotope berkelium-249 for the search. [Read more…]

ORNL wins seven R&D 100 Awards

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A close-up look at the Open Port Sampling Interfaces for Mass Spectrometry, one of ORNL’s seven 2016 R&D 100 Award winners. (Image by ORNL)

 

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received seven R&D 100 Awards in recognition of their significant advancements in science and technology. The honorees were recognized on November 3 at the 54th annual R&D 100 Conference, which was sponsored by R&D Magazine.

The awards, known as the “Oscars of Invention,” honor innovative breakthroughs in materials science, biomedicine, consumer products, and more from academia, industry, and government-sponsored research agencies.

This year’s seven honors bring ORNL’s total of R&D 100 awards to 200 since their inception in 1963, a press release said.

ORNL researchers were recognized for the following innovations: [Read more…]

After acquiring more land, Protomet evaluating Oak Ridge for $30 million expansion

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Protomet Corporation is pictured above in the Bethel Valley Industrial Park in south Oak Ridge on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

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Jeff Bohanan

Protomet Corporation has purchased about 20 acres of former federal land on Bethel Valley Road in south Oak Ridge, and the company is evaluating that property as one option as it plans for a $30 million expansion that could add 200 jobs over a five-year period.

On Tuesday, Protomet founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bohanan said the company prefers to stay in Oak Ridge, but there is no guarantee. The 19.47-acre parcel on Bethel Valley Road will have to be cut and filled, and drainage will have to be redirected, Bohanan said. It’s not clear yet how much that work might cost.

Protomet needs about 100,000 square feet for its expansion, which was announced in February. Protomet now has 70 workers in a 40,000-square-foot building on eight acres, so the company could more than triple in size.

“The new facility will dramatically increase Protomet’s capacity and capabilities for the customers it serves,” Bohanan said. “We have already started purchasing equipment for the new facility, and some of it is already in use at our current facility.”

Protomet bought the Bethel Valley Road land from the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board for $103,000 on October 20. The property, which was previously owned by the U.S. Department of Energy, is west of Protomet and east of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“This is a big step in our ability to evaluate this site as an option,” Bohanan said. [Read more…]