Controlled burns of grassland areas are scheduled starting this week and continuing through April at East Tennessee Technology Park and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The controlled burns were announced by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.
Beginning this week and continuing through April, the controlled burns will take place, weather permitting, at: [Read more…]
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded at $2.1 million fixed-price contract to a small business based in Michigan, CTI and Associates, to perform asset recovery and demolition work at the old electrical switchyard at ETTP. (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)
Traffic on Highway 58 and Highway 95 could be affected for two weeks starting Thursday by large, slow-moving equipment removing parts from a former electrical switchyard at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge.
The work is being done by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. It’s part of the ongoing cleanup work at ETTP, the former K-25 site.
Workers are removing, disposing, and recycling components from a former ETTP electrical switchyard, known as K-732 Switchyard.
“For the next two weeks, this project requires the use of a specialized trailer on public highways to transport three large condensers that each weighs approximately 110 tons,” a press release said. “Motorists transiting the area during this time should be alert for slow-moving vehicles and expect occasional delays.” [Read more…]
Melanie Kent
Melanie M. Kent was recently named deputy assistant manager for administration in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.
In her new position, Kent will support the assistant manager for administration in developing and executing policies and plans for public relations, real estate and personal property management, multiple activities involving ORO’s management of the 33,000-acre DOE federal reservation in Oak Ridge, and management and operation of some 28 federally-owned facilities, a press release said.
It said Kent brings a wealth of knowledge, skills, and abilities to her new position that will assist managers in the organization to improve the quality and delivery of critical business and technical services provided to clients in Oak Ridge and the DOE’s Office of Science program throughout the United States.
“I am pleased to see Melanie in this role at ORO,†said Don Thress, acting ORO manager. “She is a seasoned manager, whose experience and forward-thinking will be of great value to the administration program.” [Read more…]
A plan to temporarily close Clark Center Park and Bull Bluff Road in Oak Ridge on Monday, Nov. 30, and on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, for tree removal was postponed due to weather. (File photo)
A plan to temporarily close Clark Center Park and Bull Bluff Road in Oak Ridge on Monday, November 30, and on Tuesday, December 1, for tree removal was postponed due to weather, officials said.
The U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office had identified the trees as potential safety hazards for travelers and visitors on the road and throughout Clark Center Park.
But the tree removal was delayed by rain.
“The temporary closure for the tree removal work will resume once the weather clears in the near future, and the public will be advised at that time,” a press release said.
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One of two large picnic areas at Clark Center Park. The park also includes a small playground, two ball fields, boat ramp, fishing trails, and beach. (File photo)
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office will temporarily close Clark Center Park and Bull Bluff Road in Oak Ridge from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on both Monday, November 30, and again on Tuesday, December 1.
The temporary closure is due to tree removal that has been identified as potential safety hazards for travelers and visitors on the road and throughout Clark Center Park, which is in south Oak Ridge. Closure of the road during this work allow performance of the work in the most safe and efficient manner, a press release said.
The Oak Ridge Office roads and grounds contractor will allow any emergency vehicles access in the event of an emergency while the work is being performed. Normal opening of Bull Bluff Road and Clark Center Park will resume on December 2 at 5 a.m.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office is starting a controlled burn of a small forestland area on the Oak Ridge Reservation for prescribed burning at the East Tennessee Technology Park and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Beginning Monday, November 16, weather permitting, a controlled burn was expected to take place on approximately four acres south of West Bear Creek Road near the DOE Central Training Facility southeast of ETTP.
The planned burn is being conducted as an effort to reduce the risk of wildfires and will be overseen by the State of Tennessee Division of Forestry, which maintains fire control equipment, certified burn managers, and trained personnel at the burn area with the support of the Oak Ridge Fire Department and the ORNL forester, a press release said.
Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
William A. Robinson
A Veterans Day program on Tuesday will feature a former prisoner of war who is a retired U.S. Air Force captain.
William A. Robinson will be the featured speaker at the 10 a.m. program on Tuesday, November 10, at the American Museum of Science and Energy. It’s hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.
The program is titled “To Those Who Watch for Us.” It’s in “honor of the courageous men and women who serve and have served in our nation’s armed forces,” a press release said.
The program, scheduled from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday, is open to employees and the public. [Read more…]
Federal and contractor employees who worked on the project to remove irradiated components from a reactor pool gather to watch the transport of the shipment offsite for disposition. (Photo courtesy DOE Office of EM)
Water was found seeping from a pool at a former reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory one year ago, and in August, workers removed four irradiated components from the pool that produced about 96 percent of the radiation, federal officials said Thursday.
The four irradiated components weigh about 200 pounds each, said the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, or EM.
Water was found seeping from the reactor pool at the Oak Ridge Research Reactor during a routine inspection in September 2014. The facility, also known as Building 3042, is one of hundreds of Manhattan Project and Cold War-ear structures across the Oak Ridge Reservation monitored by the Oak Ridge Office of EM.
Nuclear research had not been conducted at the facility since 1988, but it still contained the highly irradiated components from those operations. The leak was causing the pool to lose the water that served as a protective, shielding agent for the irradiated components, officials said. [Read more…]
Note: This story was last updated at 3:30 p.m.
Construction on a mercury treatment plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex could start in 2018 and cost $146 million, a federal official said Wednesday.
The plant would treat mercury contamination that originates in the West End Mercury Area at Y-12, flows through storm drains, and enters Upper East Fork Poplar Creek at a point known as Outfall 200. East Fork Poplar Creek flows through Oak Ridge.
The U.S. Department of Energy has evaluated several alternatives for treating the mercury, including doing nothing. But DOE prefers an option that would treat 3,000 gallons of contaminated water per minute and store two million gallons of stormwater. It could reduce the flow of mercury, a toxic metal, by an estimated 84 percent. [Read more…]
Sue Cange, manager of the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, is pictured above after a community meeting in May on budget priorities. (DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management recently awarded a $3.7 million contract to Synergy Solutions Inc. for administrative support services.
Synergy Solutions is an 8(a) and small woman-owned business headquartered in Oak Ridge, a press release said.
The contract employs 11 staff members that provide administrative support services to the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. It has a one-year base period with four one-year options.
“We are very pleased to begin our partnership with Synergy Solutions,†said Sue Cange, manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. “Small businesses are an important element that helps us achieve our mission, and we are excited about the capabilities this local business offers our program.â€
Tasks performed under the contract include general office administration, technical editing and writing, graphics and design support, and records management.
Copyright 2015 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The last section of the K-31 Building at East Tennessee Technology Park was demolished on Friday, June 26. It’s the fourth of five buildings to be demolished where gaseous diffusion was once used to enrich uranium. (Photo by Lynn Freeny/DOE)Â
Demolition now complete on four of five gaseous diffusion buildings
Demolition of the large K-31 Building in west Oak Ridge means that 200 acres of flat land are now available for industrial development at East Tennessee Technology Park, officials said.
“It’s the largest parcel of land available at ETTP,†said Sue Cange, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.
Infrastructure is already in place, including water, sewer, roads, and electricity, Cange said. Also, ETTP is close to Interstate 40, a short rail line, and possibly an airport. (There are plans to build an airport at the site, which is also known as Heritage Center.)
K-31 is the fourth of five gaseous diffusion buildings demolished at ETTP. The site, which has also been known as K-25 and Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, was built during the Manhattan Project in World War II as part of a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs. Officials say it helped to win the Cold War, enriching uranium for commercial nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.
But operations ended in 1985, and the site was permanently shut down in 1987. DOE then began cleanup operations and—with the help of contractors, a nonprofit organization, and others–is converting it into a large private industrial park. [Read more…]
Johnathan Sitzlar
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office recently named Johnathan Sitzlar as director of the Facilities, Information, and Reservation Management Division, or FIRMD, in the Office of Assistant Manager for Administration at DOE-ORO.
In this position, Sitzlar directs a staff of 24 federal employees in the FIRMD with responsibility for the development and execution of a variety of programs including reservation management and infrastructure and facility management.
Sitzlar is directly responsible for all support services and reservation management issues on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation. His duties also include planning and executing programs for the federal workforce designed to provide a clean, safe work environment with all the necessary resources required for ORO employees and customer organizations to fulfill their assigned missions. [Read more…]
