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President Obama nominates defense aide for DOE deputy secretary

Posted at 10:46 pm July 8, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall (Photo courtesy Stanford University)

President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, a presidential aide and national security official, to become deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would replace Daniel Poneman, who is stepping down from the No. 2 job this fall after five years.

Sherwood-Randall currently serves as special assistant to the president and White House coordinator for defense policy, countering weapons of mass destruction, and arms control, a position she has held since 2013. She served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2013.

The New York Times reported that Sherwood-Randall, 54, would bring a background in nuclear weapons and nonproliferation strategy to the department, which has split responsibilities for energy strategy and the country’s weapons and counter-proliferation work. It would be her third job in the Obama administration.

Daniel B. Poneman

Daniel B. Poneman

The newspaper said Sherwood-Randall oversaw the effort to get chemical weapons out of Syria and the development of the administration’s policy for dealing with the nuclear arsenal.

Poneman has been U.S. deputy secretary of energy since May 2009, and he also served as chief operating officer under former Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Poneman has been focused on nuclear safety and proliferation, among other issues, the Times said. He briefly served as acting secretary in 2013 before the confirmation of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Government, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: arms control, Barack Obama, chemical weapons, Council on Foreign Relations, Daniel Poneman, defense policy, deputy secretary, DOE, Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, energy stratgeyc, Ernest Moniz, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Joseph R. Biden Jr., national security, National Security Council, New York Times, nonproliferation, nuclear arsenal, nuclear safety, nuclear weapons, Pentagon, Stanford University, Steven Chu, Syria, U.S. Department of Energy, weapons of mass destruction, White House

Photo: White House science adviser gives lecture at ORNL

Posted at 10:44 am March 17, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

John Holdren and Thom Mason at ORNL

White House science adviser John Holdren, right, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason are pictured above. (ORNL photo/Jason Richards)

John Holdren, assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, delivered the fourth talk of the Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series in Science, Technology, and Policy on Thursday at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The lecture series started in November at in the Iran Thomas Auditorium at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source. Other speakers have included former Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Filed Under: Federal, Government, Media, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Photos, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series in Science Technology and Policy, John Holdren, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, science, Spallation Neutron Source, Steven Chu, technology, Thom Mason, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Former energy secretary compares global warming path to Russian roulette, with gun pointed at knee

Posted at 8:04 pm February 17, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Steven Chu on Global Warming at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

During a lecture at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, former Energy Secretary Steven Chu compares global warming to Russian roulette, but with the gun pointed at a kneecap.

Former Energy Secretary Steven Chu sounded an alarm about global warming during a visit to Oak Ridge last week, comparing the current path to Russian roulette, but with the gun pointed at a knee—and with more bullets added each decade.

“Every decade you put in a bullet and you pull the trigger,” said Chu, a Stanford University professor who won a Nobel Prize in physics in 1997. “After four or five more decades, it could be fully loaded.”

The longest-serving secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, Chu gave a lecture at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Wednesday.

The globe is warming, and we might not feel the full effect of the greenhouse gases emitted by humans for another half-century or more, after the ocean has been warmed, Chu said.

“We’re going to glide to a temperature that we’re not really sure about, but I can guarantee that it’s warmer than it is today because of that ocean,” Chu said. “The damage that we’ve done today will not be seen for at least 50 years.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Slider, Top Stories, Weather, Weather Tagged With: Alaska, batteries, carbon capture, carbon sequestration, carbon tax, emissions, Energy Secretary, energy use, global warming, greenhouse gases, Greenland, ice masses, Nobel Prize, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, physics, Russian roulette, Stanford University, Steven Chu, temperature increase, U.S. Department of Energy

Nobel Laureate launches Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series at ORNL

Posted at 10:53 pm October 28, 2013
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Albert Fert

Albert Fert

Three more Nobel winners, former Intel chairman among nine confirmed speakers

Four Nobel Laureates are among nine lecturers who will be participating in the new Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series in Science, Technology, and Policy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Albert Fert, recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics, opens the series on Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. in the Iran Thomas Auditorium at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source.

“The Wigner lectures aim to invigorate scientific discovery and technological innovation and to initiate productive scientific policy debate,” said Thom Mason, laboratory director. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: Ada Yonath, Amit Goyal, Arun Majumdar, C.N.R. Rao, Craig Barrett, Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series, Eugene Wigner, Frances Arnold, Graphite Reactor, materials research, Nobel Laureate, Nobel Prize, Novel Directions for Spintronics: Spin-orbitronics and Magnetic Skyrmions, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Peter Grünberg, Science Technology and Policy, Siegfried Hecker, Steven Chu, Thom Mason, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan

Alexander questions energy secretary nominee about Oak Ridge mercury cleanup

Posted at 10:40 am April 10, 2013
By John Huotari 2 Comments

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Tuesday questioned energy secretary nominee Ernest Moniz on whether the cleanup of mercury contamination in Oak Ridge would be a priority under his leadership, a press release said.

“One of the biggest cleanup problems we have from the Cold War era is mercury contamination of waterways in Oak Ridge,” said Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

The release said Alexander also asked Moniz to support a planned water treatment facility.

Alexander was referring to about 200,000 gallons of mercury that arrived at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge during the 1950s and 1960s, when the United States was developing nuclear weapons as a defense against the Soviet Union. Alexander said it will cost billions of dollars to clean it up. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Government, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: cleanup, Cold War, East Fork Poplar Creek, Energy and Natural Resources Committee, energy secretary nominee, Lamar Alexander, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, mercury, mercury contamination, nuclear weapons, Oak Ridge, physicist, secretary, Steven Chu, U.S. Department of Energy, water treatment plant, waterways, Y-12 National Security Complex

President Obama nominates MIT scientist for energy secretary

Posted at 4:40 pm March 4, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

President Barack Obama has nominated a physicist and director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to serve as his next energy secretary.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Ernest J. Moniz would replace Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, as secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Chu announced Feb. 1 that he would not serve a second four-year term in the Obama administration.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Government, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Energy Secretary, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA administrator, Ernest J. Moniz, Gina McCarthy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, President Barack Obama, Steven Chu, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, U.S. Department of Energy, White House budget director

Energy Secretary Chu will not serve a second term

Posted at 4:55 pm February 1, 2013
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Steven Chu

Steven Chu

After serving one term, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Friday morning that he will not serve a second four-year term in the Obama administration.

In an announcement posted on the U.S. Department of Energy website, Chu said he will continue to serve as secretary through the ARPA-E Summit at the end of February and may stay beyond that “so that I can leave the department in the hands of the new secretary.” ARPA-E stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

Chu said he would like to return to an academic life of teaching and research, and he informed President Barack Obama of his decision to return to California shortly after the Nov. 6 election.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Government, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: ARPA-E, Barack Obama, clean energy, Energy Secretary, Obama administration, renewable energy, second term, Steven Chu, U.S. Department of Energy

Experts recommend federalizing guard forces at DOE nuclear weapons sites, nonprofit says

Posted at 1:05 pm January 14, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Note: This story was updated at 12:42 p.m. Jan. 15.

Three experts have recommended that guard forces be federalized at federal sites where bomb-grade uranium is stored, according to a nonprofit watchdog organization based in Washington, D.C.

Peter Stockton, senior investigator at the Project On Government Oversight, said U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu asked the experts—Norm Augustine, C. Donald Alston, and Richard Meserve—to review the physical security of the entire nuclear weapons complex after the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: National Nuclear Security Administration, Special Sections, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex, Y-12 Security Breach Tagged With: guard forces, Mike Turner, nuclear weapons site, Peter Stockton, POGO, Project on Government Oversight, Steven Chu, U.S. Department of Energy

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Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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