Oak Ridge Today

DOE not responding to questions about budget, Perry’s advocacy

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Energy Secretary Rick Perry drives a 3D printed personal utility vehicle at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Hardin Valley Road on Monday, May 22, 2017. His passenger is Craig Blue, director of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs at ORNL. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Energy Secretary Rick Perry drives a 3D printed personal utility vehicle at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Hardin Valley Road on Monday, May 22, 2017. His passenger is Craig Blue, director of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs at ORNL. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy is not responding to questions about Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s advocacy of Oak Ridge or the fiscal year 2018 budget request.

The only question from Oak Ridge Today that DOE has answered is: Will the department have a teleconference to discuss the budget request with reporters? The answer was “no.”

DOE, which could have a funding decrease under President Donald Trump’s budget request, has not responded to any specific questions about the budget itself. Oak Ridge Today has tried about a dozen times in the past month to reach someone in the public affairs office at DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C., using emails, phone calls, and on Wednesday night, a five-part tweet to active Twitter accounts for Perry and the DOE press staff.

Oak Ridge Today has sought information from the department since Trump sent the fiscal year 2018 budget request to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. Among other things, the news website has wanted to make sure that it is correctly interpreting the preliminary budget numbers published online by DOE. (See here, here, and here for more information about the budget request.)

According to the information Oak Ridge Today has received and reviewed, some Oak Ridge programs and sites could see funding increases under the president’s budget request, while others could see decreases. The programs and sites that could benefit include the environmental management program (the cleanup work at federal sites), Oak Ridge Office, and Y-12 National Security Complex. Those that could lose funding are DOE’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information, or OSTI; Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which is managed by ORAU; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oak Ridge Today has sent specific questions about funding for most of these programs and sites to the public affairs office at DOE headquarters, but no spokespeople have responded, not even to acknowledge that the messages were received or to reply with a “no comment.”

Oak Ridge Today has also tried to follow up on Perry’s pledge to be a strong advocate for at least some programs in Oak Ridge. Perry made the pledge at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday, May 22. The pledge came after he toured ORNL, the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, and Y-12. During his visit to Oak Ridge and Hardin Valley, Perry learned about the planned Uranium Processing Facility and nuclear weapons work at Y-12, the environmental management program, and advanced manufacturing, 3D printing, materials science research, and supercomputing at ORNL. [Read more…]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry coming to Oak Ridge on Monday

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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…]

deBeauclair named deputy manager at DOE Oak Ridge Office

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Geoffrey G. deBeauclair (Photo courtesy DOE)

Geoffrey G. deBeauclair (Photo courtesy DOE)

 

Geoffrey “Geoff” G. deBeauclair has been named deputy manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office/Integrated Support Center. The appointment was effective May 1, a press release said.

It’s one of DOE’s most diverse field locations, the press release said. As deputy manager, deBeauclair will help Oak Ridge Office Manager Ken Tarcza manage the Oak Ridge Integrated Support Center. That center provides critical mission support services locally and nationally in the areas of personnel, finance, budget, procurement, legal, security and emergency management, and employee health and safety, the press release said.

“He will also be responsible for advancing ORO’s responsibilities for management of the 32,000-acre Oak Ridge Reservation, which will include addressing cross-cutting issues and among major activities, including the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, East Tennessee Technology Park, and Y-12,” the press release said. [Read more…]

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

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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…]

With WIPP re-opening, DOE Oak Ridge plans to start shipping transuranic waste again

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An underground waste facility in southeastern New Mexico that has been shut down for more than three years after a salt truck fire and radiological release will start accepting transuranic waste again in April from places like Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge expects to send 24 shipments of the transuranic, or TRU, waste by January 2018 to the U.S Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, near Carlsbad, New Mexico. (Photo by DOE Oak Ridge Office)

An underground waste facility in southeastern New Mexico that was shut down for about three years after a salt haul truck fire and radiological release will start accepting transuranic waste again in April from places like Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge expects to send 24 shipments of the transuranic, or TRU, waste by January 2018 to the U.S Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, near Carlsbad, New Mexico. (Photo by DOE Oak Ridge Office)

 

An underground waste facility in southeastern New Mexico that was shut down for about three years after a salt haul truck fire and radiological release will start accepting transuranic waste again in April from places like Oak Ridge.

Oak Ridge expects to send 24 shipments of the transuranic, or TRU, waste by January 2018 to the U.S Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, near Carlsbad, New Mexico, according to the DOE Oak Ridge Office.

The shipments to be accepted starting in April will be the first received at the facility since the fire and radiological release in February 2014, WIPP said. There was an official re-opening event on Monday, January 9, with remarks by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.

Since the closure three years ago, Oak Ridge workers have continued processing waste and developed innovative storage solutions until shipping can resume to WIPP, said Ben Williams, spokesperson for the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

Oak Ridge Today last reported on TRU waste in December 2015, when North Wind Solutions took over the operation of the Transuranic Waste Processing Center, which is south of Bethel Valley Road on Highway 95 in southwest Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

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

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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…]

First of its kind, Oak Ridge’s federal re-industrialization program celebrates 20 years

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east-tennessee-technology-park-2020-rendering-1

A rendering of East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, in 2020, when cleanup there is scheduled for completion. ETTP offers robust infrastructure and multiple parcels spanning hundreds of acres, capable of attracting and supporting large-scale industry, according to DOE. (Photo courtesy DOE)

 

Note: This is an edited version of a story by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

A re-industrialization program that was the first of its kind and converts federal property to private-sector use celebrated 20 years this month.

The re-industrialization program was designed to attract new industries and jobs to a former uranium enrichment complex.

Through the program, the U.S. Department of Energy has transferred hundreds of acres to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, or CROET, and the City of Oak Ridge to create two private-sector industrial parks, the 1,200-acre Heritage Center and the 1,000-acre Horizon Center.

Heritage Center is at the former K-25 site, which was built during World War II and was once used to enrich uranium in west Oak Ridge. Horizon Center is a few miles east of Heritage Center. [Read more…]

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

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protomet-nov-22-2016-web

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…]

City Council, DOE manager to discuss relations, hiring, housing; water rates also on agenda

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Kenneth R. Tarcza

Kenneth R. Tarcza (Photo courtesy DOE Oak Ridge Office)

 

Some members of the Oak Ridge City Council and some residents have had a few concerns related to the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors, including whether the DOE sites are doing enough to encourage new employees to live in Oak Ridge and whether DOE is paying enough on its payments in lieu of taxes to the City of Oak Ridge.

A more recent concern is whether DOE is paying enough for water supplied by the city to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, which are both federal sites.

On Tuesday, the Oak Ridge City Council could discuss these issues as it meets in a non-voting work session with Kenneth R. Tarcza, manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Operations. The work session, which is open to the public, starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane (behind the Kmart shopping center).

Among the DOE-related items on the agenda are a discussion and review of city-DOE relations, local hiring for DOE projects, housing, and “other related issues.” [Read more…]

Council wants to roughly triple proposed water rate at ORNL, Y-12

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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)

 

Note: This story was updated at 6:50 p.m.

Some Oak Ridge City Council members have questioned whether the federal government is paying enough for municipal water at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex, and on Monday, four of them proposed roughly tripling a potential new high-volume water rate at the two federal sites in 2017.

The new water rate would apply to water consumption over 20 million gallons per month, which would limit it to ORNL and Y-12. The two sites use a total of more than 100 million gallons of water per month.

The new rate is expected to go into effect in April 2017 only if Oak Ridge and the U.S. Department of Energy aren’t able to agree on a contract for water at ORNL and Y-12 by the end of March. Those two federal sites now pay a flat annual rate but could default to what is known as a retail rate if the contract lapses.

The city staff had proposed a new default rate of $1.08 per thousand gallons for consumption over 20 million gallons starting January 1, 2017. The following year, in 2018, the staff had proposed a $1.35 rate.

But four City Council members—Rick Chinn, Charlie Hensley, Trina Baughn, and Chuck Hope—voted to raise the $1.08 rate in 2017 to $3 per 1,000 gallons. Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Smith, and Council member Kelly Callison voted against the increase. [Read more…]

DOE remains interested in transferring Clark Center Park to city

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Clark Center Park Water View

A view of Melton Hill Lake near a boat ramp and between two picnic areas at Clark Center Park in south Oak Ridge in July 2014. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy remains interested in transferring Clark Center Park to Oak Ridge, and the city continues to discuss that possibility with the federal government even though it could be a strain on municipal finances, officials said Tuesday.

The property could be transferred at no cost to the city. But one of the questions raised two years ago about the potential property transfer was whether Oak Ridge could afford to take over the 80-acre park.

That appears to remain a concern. It costs DOE about $300,000 per year to operate the park, which is in south Oak Ridge on Melton Hill Lake.

“Monetarily, it’s difficult for us right now,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said Tuesday.

In 2014, there were Oak Ridge City Council meetings and public meetings about the future of the park and the potential transfer to the city. [Read more…]

Tarcza named manager at DOE Oak Ridge Office

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Kenneth R. Tarcza

Kenneth R. Tarcza (Photo courtesy DOE Oak Ridge Office)

 

Kenneth R. Tarcza has been named manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office Integrated Support Center.

The announcement was made Tuesday by DOE’s Office of Science.

Prior to retiring in 2015 as a colonel with the U.S. Army, Tarcza served as the chief of staff for the U.S. Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command, which executes the vast majority of the Army’s science and technology programs, a press release said. In that role, he was responsible for a broad range of functions—administration, finance, safety, legal, and resource management.

Most recently, he served with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, where he oversaw research on site as well as with academia. [Read more…]