Oak Ridge Today

UT professor to discuss U.S.-Russian relations on Tuesday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Michael R. Fitzgerald

Michael R. Fitzgerald

Michael Fitzgerald, professor of political science at the University of Tennessee, will discuss relations between the United States and Russia at Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

Lunch with the League starts at noon Tuesday, April 18, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. The church is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Fitzgerald served on the faculty of the University of Missouri before he joined UT in Knoxville in 1978. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees in political science at the University of Oklahoma. After he graduated from the Honors College at Western Michigan University in 1969, he served in the U.S. Army, including a tour of duty in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division, during which he received two Bronze Star Medals for meritorious service, a press release said.

“Relations between the United States and the Russian Federation steadily have declined over the past two decades,” Fitzgerald said in the press release. “Tensions between the world’s most prominent nuclear powers have risen to levels unseen since the worst days of the Cold War. A survey of the causes and contours of the deteriorating current impasse in U.S.-Russian relations leads to the conclusion that we are well into a second Cold War fraught with all the uncertainty and danger that defined the first. Effectively dealing with Putin’s geopolitical strategy to, once again, make Russia internationally relevant requires realistic thinking about Russian history, culture, and politics.” [Read more…]

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

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

tennessine-logo-final

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…]

Recognizing Tennessee’s contribution, Tennessine could be name of new chemical element

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

ORNL Berkelium-249

Berkelium-249, contained in the greenish fluid in the tip of the vial, was crucial to the experiment that discovered element 117. It was made in the research reactor at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo by ORNL)

 

Note: This post was last updated at 11:45 a.m.

Tennessine is among the names proposed for four new elements. If approved, the name would recognize the contributions of Tennessee research centers—Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Tennessee—in the discovery of one of four new superheavy elements: 113, 115, 117, and 118.

Tennessine (Ts) is proposed for element 117.

The discovery of the four new elements was announced in January, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory played a role in discovering two of them. The elements have been added to the periodic table, filling the seventh row, or period.

Twenty-two milligrams of a very pure synthetic material produced at ORNL were used in the discovery of two of the new chemical elements. [Read more…]

Sister City Support Organization has annual meeting Oct. 22

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Sister City Support Organization has scheduled the annual meeting for Thursday, October 22, at 6:30 p.m. in the Robertsville Middle School cafeteria.

Buffalo Tours, the California agency that is coordinating the 25th anniversary trip to Japan in July, is sending a representative to preview the trip and take deposits. SCSO will also have a slide show of photos from the 2015 exchange with Naka shi, Japan; discuss recent developments in their relationship with Obninsk, Russia, and elect officers. A member of the Friendship Bell structure renovation committee will give a status report on this project.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Middle School Exchange with Naka shi, Japan, the Sister City Support Organization is planning a visit to Naka and tour of Japan.

“We are inviting any interested Oak Ridgers to join us,” a press release said. “It is especially important that we have representatives of the Oak Ridge city government and schools, SCSO members, previous Naka middle school travelers and host families. This is your turn to have the ‘Naka experience’ that so many students have enjoyed for 25 years.” [Read more…]

Chief engineer for U.S. ITER at ORNL to give project overview on Tuesday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Brad Nelson

Brad Nelson

The chief engineer for the U.S. ITER Project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will give a project overview on Tuesday.

Brad Nelson is the chief engineer for the U.S. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project. His Tuesday talk will be the first in a series of three presentations on the U.S. ITER project to Friends of ORNL, with Hans Vogel speaking on April 8 and Graeme Murdoch speaking on May 13.

The New Yorker published a story on ITER in its March 3 edition titled “A Star in a Bottle” by Raffi Khatchadourian.

Nelson’s Tuesday presentation during a Friends of ORNL luncheon lecture starts at noon at the University of Tennessee Resource Center in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Corker calls for continued commitment to nuclear modernization

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

U.S. Senator Bob Corker

Bob Corker

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker has called on the Obama administration to maintain its commitment to nuclear modernization in next year’s budget and include the necessary funding in the fiscal year that starts in October.

Corker, a Tennessee Republican, made the request after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed support for resources to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Corker is the ranking member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.

In a press release, he said President Barack Obama agreed to provide the “full and necessary funding to upgrade and modernize the United States’ aging nuclear arsenal” during the Senate debate in 2010 over the New START Treaty with Russia. [Read more…]

Final milestone in U.S.-Russian partnership converting nuclear warheads into fuel

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Ernest Moniz

Ernest Moniz

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Russia has converted 500 metric tons of highly enriched uranium—the equivalent of 20,000 nuclear warheads—and the resulting low enriched uranium, or LEU, has been delivered to the United States, fabricated into nuclear fuel, and used in nuclear power plants to generate nearly 10 percent of all U.S. electricity for the past 15 years, federal officials said.

That’s roughly half of all commercial nuclear energy produced domestically during that period, a U.S. Department of Energy press release said.

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz announced the final LEU shipment on Thursday.

The LEU was derived from Russian weapons-origin highly enriched uranium, or HEU, under the 1993 U.S.-Russia HEU Purchase Agreement, commonly known as the Megatons to Megawatts Program, the press release said. [Read more…]

NNSA partners with Russia to recover ‘dirty bomb’ material

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

WASHINGTON, D.C.— The National Nuclear Security Administration, in partnership with the Russian Federation, has successfully completed the removal of 14 Russian radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs, from the Northern Sea Route. These devices, which contain high-activity radioactive sources, powered navigational beacons along Russia’s northern coastline. With this removal, the U.S. Department of Energy has completed its efforts to recover RTGs along the Northern Sea Route, a press release said.

RTGs were used for many years in Russia to generate electrical power at remote locations, including lighthouses and navigational beacons. The 14 RTGs recently recovered by DOE contain more than one million curies of strontium-90, a high-activity radioisotope that could be used in a dirty bomb. [Read more…]

U.S., international partners remove last weapons-grade uranium from Hungary

Posted at
By 4 Comments

Highly Enriched Uranium Removed from Hungary

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Monday that all remaining highly enriched uranium has been removed from Hungary. (Photos courtesy National Nuclear Security Administration)

Note: This story was updated at 6:23 a.m. Nov. 6.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Department of Energy announced Monday that all remaining highly enriched uranium has been removed from Hungary.

There was enough material removed in the multi-year international effort to fuel nine nuclear weapons, DOE said in a press release.

The removal of the highly enriched uranium, or HEU, was coordinated between Hungary, the United States, the Russian Federation, and the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA.

Hungary is the 12th country to completely eliminate HEU since President Barack Obama announced an international effort in 2009 to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world, the release said. [Read more…]

Alexander concerned about consequences of striking Syria

Posted at
By 1 Comment

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Saturday said he is concerned about the possible long-term consequences of an American military attack on Syria in retaliation for the Assad’s regime suspected use of chemical weapons.

The senator, a Tennessee Republican, was responding to President Barack Obama’s announcement that he would seek congressional authorization before launching a military strike on Syria.

A press release from Alexander’s office said the senator participated in a briefing by telephone with Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan Rice, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper immediately after the president’s announcement. [Read more…]

US, international partners remove last highly enriched uranium from Vietnam

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Vietnam HEU Removal

A worker prepares a special container carrying highly enriched uranium before loading onto a cargo plane for repatriation to Russia. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

Official in the United States, Vietnam, and Russia announced this month that they have removed 11 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, or HEU, from the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute in Dalat, Vietnam.

“With this shipment, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam became the eleventh country from which all HEU has been removed since President Obama’s 2009 announcement in Prague of an international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world,” the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration said in a press release. “The U.S. will work with our international partners to remove the remaining HEU from another country by the end of 2013 in support of this global effort and the goals of the Nuclear Security Summits.” [Read more…]

More than 475 metric tons of Russian highly enriched uranium eliminated

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Deliveries are 95 percent complete, represents 19,000 nuclear warheads converted to civilian use

WASHINGTON, D.C.–The National Nuclear Security Administration on Monday announced it has monitored the elimination of more than 475 metric tons of Russian highly enriched uranium, or HEU, under a landmark nuclear nonproliferation program, commonly known as Megatons to Megawatts.

The rough equivalent of 19,000 nuclear weapons has been permanently eliminated, the NNSA said in a press release. [Read more…]