Oak Ridge Today

DOE commits to three-year, $4.5 million groundwater study in Oak Ridge

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Daniel Goode and SSAB Groundwater Strategy Presentation

Daniel J. Goode, a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, briefs members of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on a new groundwater strategy for the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to spend $4.5 million during the next three years to study groundwater contamination on the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The reservation includes three federal sites—East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex—that have been involved in missions ranging from scientific research to uranium enrichment to nuclear weapons work. That work has sometimes included the use of hazardous substances such as mercury and technetium-99, a slow-decaying radioactive metal.

The $4.5 million in funding will help implement a new groundwater strategy developed by DOE with help from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The strategy, which was presented to the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board in November, will help guide future cleanup decisions, said Sue Cange, deputy manager for environmental management in DOE’s Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]

Knoxville man dies in crash on Bethel Valley Road

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A Knoxville man died in a Wednesday night crash on Bethel Valley Road east of Spallation Drive at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, authorities said.

John Kirkpatrick was driving eastbound in a 2001 Honda CRV when it apparently went off the south side of Bethel Valley Road and hit a tree, the Oak Ridge Police Department said after an initial investigation. Kirkpatrick was the vehicle’s only occupant, and he was found dead at the scene, a press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL, DOE, Roane State, Borchers to take part in STEM Night at Woodland

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Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers

Representatives from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Roane State Community College—as well as Superintendent Bruce Borchers—will take part in a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Night for students at Woodland Elementary School on Thursday.

The STEM Night for students is being hosted by the Woodland Parent Teacher Organization, a press release said. It will be in the school’s gymnasium. Borchers will kick off the event with opening comments at 5:15 p.m. Thursday.

A press release said Borchers is pursuing avenues to make Oak Ridge “the” premier STEM school district in the country. [Read more…]

ORNL deputy director to discuss lab’s sustainability program Tuesday

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Melissa Voss Lapsa

Melissa Voss Lapsa

A deputy director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will discuss the lab’s award-winning sustainability program during a Tuesday luncheon lecture.

The presentation by Melissa Voss Lapsa, deputy director of ORNL’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center, starts at noon Tuesday at the University of Tennessee Resource Center on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Lapsa has more than 18 years of experience conducting market research, policy analysis, and institutional and consumer behavior research aimed at deploying cost-effective energy-efficient technologies, a press release said. In addition, Lapsa leads the ORNL Sustainable Campus Initiative. The goal of that initiative is to integrate energy and resource efficiency, cutting-edge technologies, operational and business processes, and institutional behavior to achieve sustainability at work, home, and in the community, the release said. [Read more…]

Christen leads ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences

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Hans M. Christen

Hans M. Christen

Hans M. Christen of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been named director of ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers.

Christen joined ORNL in 2000 and led the Thin Films and Nanostructures group from 2006 to 2013. In 2013, he became associate director within the Materials Science and Technology Division and has managed the DOE Materials Sciences and Engineering Program since 2011.

His research has focused on the effects of epitaxial strain, spatial confinement, and interfacial mechanisms on the properties of complex-oxide thin films, in particular ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, and multiferroic perovskites. He has authored more than 150 scientific publications and several patents, is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and has served on a number of National Science Foundation and DOE review panels. [Read more…]

ORNL-UT researchers invent ‘sideways’ approach to 2-D hybrid materials

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heterostructure-anping

ORNL and UT researchers have invented a method to merge different 2-dimensional materials into a seamless layer. This colorized scanning tunneling microscope image shows a single-atom sheet composed of graphene (seen in blue) combined with hexagonal boron nitride (seen in yellow).

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville have pioneered a new technique for forming a two-dimensional, single-atom sheet of two different materials with a seamless boundary.

The study, published in the journal Science, could enable the use of new types of 2-D hybrid materials in technological applications and fundamental research.

By rethinking a traditional method of growing materials, the researchers combined two compounds—graphene and boron nitride—into a single layer only one atom thick. Graphene, which consists of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal, honeycomb-like rings, has attracted waves of attention because of its high strength and electronic properties. [Read more…]

ORNL researchers, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair elected APS fellows

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ORNL APS Fellows

From left, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers Michael S. Smith and Viatcheslav V. Danilov and University of Tennessee-ORNL Governor’s Chair Steven Zinkle have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society. (Submitted photo)

Two researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a University of Tennessee-ORNL Governor’s Chair professor have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society.

The ORNL researchers are Viatcheslav V. Danilov of the Research Accelerator Division and Michael Scott Smith of the Physics Division. Steven J. Zinkle, formerly of ORNL and now a UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair, was recognized for his work during a 28-year career at the national laboratory.

Danilov was recognized by his APS peers “for fundamental and creative solutions to a wide range of accelerator physics issues, including laser stripping ring injection, integrable beam dynamics, space charge and instabilities.” [Read more…]

New security contractor for DOE Oak Ridge receives ‘commendable’ rating

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Joe L. Evins Federal Building

The Joe L. Evins Federal Building is one of three federal facilities protected by National Strategic Protective Services LLC in Oak Ridge.

The new security contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy in Oak Ridge has received a “commendable” rating for its performance protecting federal facilities.

National Strategic Protective Services LLC, a joint venture of Triple Canopy Inc. and Securiguard Inc., provides protective force services at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Joe L. Evins Federal Building, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“DOE recognized NSPS for its ability to quickly adapt and respond to customer needs while seamlessly assuming responsibility as the Oak Ridge protective force services provider in March 2013,” a press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL to lose 189 workers through voluntary separations by Dec. 31

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Central Campus

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s central campus is pictured above. (Courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Dept. of Energy)

One hundred eighty-nine employees at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will go off the payroll at the end of this month as part of a workforce reduction announced in September.

ORNL had received permission to reduce its staff by up to 475 employees, but in September, officials said they hoped they wouldn’t have to make that many cuts.

The voluntary separation program, or VSP, was part of the lab’s response to federal budget pressures. ORNL has also implemented other belt-tightening measures during the past few years. [Read more…]

ORNL devises recipe to fine-tune silica rod diameters

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By controlling the temperature of silica rods as they grow, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could be setting the stage for advances in anti-reflective solar cells, computer monitors, TV screens, eye glasses, and more.

The goal of fabricating fixed-size one-dimensional silica structures and being able to precisely control the diameter during growth has long eluded scientists. Now, Panos Datskos and Jaswinder Sharma have demonstrated what they describe as the addressable local control of diameter of each segment of the silica rod.

“In nature, many intricate structures develop and grow in response to their environments,” said Sharma, a Wigner Fellow and corresponding author of the Angewandte Chemie International Edition paper that outlines the process. “For example, in addition to genotype, shell shape is also controlled by the local environment in many oysters and scallops.” [Read more…]

AMSE’s operating contract with for-profit could be replaced by nonprofit

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American Museum of Science and Energy

The American Museum of Science and Energy on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above.

The contract with the for-profit company that runs the American Museum of Science and Energy will change from quarterly to monthly starting Jan. 1, and a museum expert could be hired on an interim basis to assess the museum, its place in the community, and a logical new operating structure.

The museum is now funded by the U.S. Department of Energy at a cost of about $1.5 to $1.6 million per year, said David Keim, communications director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Revenues from the gift shop, admissions, and programs add up to about $300,000 per year.

But officials have long said that the department should not be operating the museum.

“It’s always been a government-funded operation,” Keim said. But, “DOE is not in the museum business.”

In June, a group of museum directors brought to Oak Ridge from around the country recommended that the museum be run by a community-based nonprofit organization—not DOE and not a for-profit company, Keim said. [Read more…]

Terry Payne, an ORNL program manager, named Anderson County Chamber chair

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Terry Payne

Terry Payne

Terry Payne, a program manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been named board chairman for the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce in 2014.

Payne is a research and development, or R&D, program manager at ORNL, where he has been employed for the past 30 years, a press release said. He has managed R&D Programs in the areas of energy management, isotope separation, and environmental management.

Payne was instrumental in creating numerous partnership between ORNL and small businesses that were funded by Small Business Innovation Research, the press release said. [Read more…]