Oak Ridge Today

No damage reported on Oak Ridge Reservation after earthquake

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The Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above. (Photo courtesy CNS Y-12)

No damage was reported on the Oak Ridge Reservation after a 3.8 magnitude earthquake was reported about 30 miles northeast of Oak Ridge on Monday, January 20.

The earthquake was felt in Oak Ridge and other communities, and it vibrated homes and windows here. The earthquake was reported by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Two lower magnitude 2.4 and 2.8 earthquakes were also reported on Sunday, January 19, and Tuesday, January 21, respectively, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in its most recent report.

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Earthquake of 3.8 magnitude reported in East Tennessee

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Image courtesy U.S. Geological Survey

Note: This story was last updated at 3:35 p.m.

An earthquake of 3.8 magnitude was reported in East Tennessee on Monday afternoon.

The earthquake was felt in Oak Ridge at about 2:12 p.m. Monday, where it rattled homes and windows.

It was centered in Campbell County about one kilometer east of Fincastle, Tennessee, northeast of LaFollette, which is northeast of Oak Ridge, at a depth of about 35.4 kilometers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Map: How common are earthquakes in the area?

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The recent 4.4 magnitude earthquake near Decatur that was felt in Oak Ridge, and other reported earthquakes since then, made us wonder: How common are earthquakes in the area?

Minor earthquakes, those that can’t be felt, are fairly common, according to a customized search of data available through the U.S. Geological Survey.

There were 247 earthquakes in a roughly three-year period in an area outlined by a custom-drawn map that includes much of East Tennessee and part of western North Carolina.

But with one exception, all of the earthquakes were 3.0 magnitude or less. Earthquakes that weak are generally not felt. [Read more…]

Updated: Park Service will not provide visitor services during shutdown

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Note: This story was updated at 1:50 p.m.

The National Park Service will not provide visitor services during the partial government shutdown that started Friday night, and that could affect programs in Oak Ridge and other national parks in the area. But Manhattan Project Park locations at three sites, including Oak Ridge, will remain open to the public and continue to provide visitor services.

Oak Ridge is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which is part of the National Park Service. The park, which is about three years old, commemorates the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. Besides Oak Ridge, two other sites are part of the park: Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

In Oak Ridge, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park is based at the Children’s Museum on West Outer Drive. The park includes programs such as historical films, celebrations, and programs, and informative hikes and bicycle rides with rangers.

The National Park Service did not respond to two inquiries this week, but a program scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Oak Ridge will presumably be canceled. That program was intended to discuss secrecy, security, and spies during the Manhattan Project. It was scheduled for this afternoon (Saturday, December 22) at the Turnpike Gatehouse in west Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Earthquake in East Tennessee felt in Oak Ridge

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A U.S. Geological Survey Community Internet Intensity Map after a 4.4 magnitude earthquake near Decatur, Tenn., on early Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (Image courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)

A U.S. Geological Survey Community Internet Intensity Map after a 4.4 magnitude earthquake near Decatur, Tenn., early Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. (Image courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m.

The earthquake near Decatur early Wednesday morning was felt in Oak Ridge, according to social media reports. Oak Ridge Today readers reported feeling the earthquake in other communities such as Clinton, Hardin Valley, Harriman, Oliver Springs, Sevier County, and Atlanta.

The 4.4 magnitude earthquake was also felt in other areas across the Southeast, including in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina.

Some people in the region described it as like a train or truck driving by, and they said homes shook, and doors and windows rattled. Some said it woke them up, and others said they didn’t feel it. (Oak Ridge Today did not feel it.)

The earthquake was reported about nine kilometers underground at 4:14 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was 11 kilometers north-northeast of Decatur. Oak Ridge is about 45 miles northeast of Decatur.

It was reported to be the largest in Tennessee since a 4.7 magnitude earthquake in Maryville in 1973 and the second strongest on record in East Tennessee. The Maryville earthquake 45 years ago was the strongest in East Tennessee. [Read more…]

UPF lawsuit: NNSA considering new, supplemental environmental impact statement for Y-12

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The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The sign at the main entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

With a lawsuit pending, federal officials are considering whether a new or supplemental environmental impact statement is needed for the Y-12 National Security Complex after design plans changed for the Uranium Processing Facility, the largest federal construction project in Tennessee since World War II.

As part of the process, the National Nuclear Security Administration is preparing what is known as a supplement analysis, or SA. A draft of the new SA has been issued, and you can read it on the Y-12 website.

Comments on the draft supplement analysis can be submitted through June 20.

The final new supplement analysis and a record of decision could be issued by July 27, although the schedule is subject to change, according to a joint status report filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on May 11. The record of decision is expected to say whether a new or supplemental environmental impact statement is required for Y-12.

There was a site-wide environmental impact statement, or EIS, prepared for Y-12 in 2011. About five years later, in 2016, there was a supplement analysis prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act. It was connected to the decision by the NNSA and U.S. Department of Energy to not prepare a new or supplemental environmental impact statement after the NNSA decided on a new multi-building design for the UPF, rather than a single-building design, as part of an effort to keep project costs down, among other considerations. [Read more…]

ORNL: High-resolution modeling assesses impact of cities on river ecosystems

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A new study from Oak Ridge National Laboratory shows the far-reaching impacts of U.S. cities’ energy consumption on regional ecosystems. Urban areas cover only about 5 percent of the Southeast’s landscape, but cities’ water and energy infrastructures often extend well beyond urban areas as power plants (represented as black dots) are distributed throughout the entire region. (Credit: Ryan McManamay/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

A new study from Oak Ridge National Laboratory shows the far-reaching impacts of U.S. cities’ energy consumption on regional ecosystems. Urban areas cover only about 5 percent of the Southeast’s landscape, but cities’ water and energy infrastructures often extend well beyond urban areas as power plants (represented as black dots) are distributed throughout the entire region. (Credit: Ryan McManamay/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

 

New mapping methods developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory can help urban planners minimize the environmental impacts of cities’ water and energy demands on surrounding stream ecologies, a press release said.

In an analysis published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an ORNL-led team used high-resolution geospatial modeling to quantify the effects of land, energy, and water infrastructures on the nation’s rivers and streams.

Using streamflow data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the researchers mapped changes to natural hydrology to assess how infrastructure development and competition over water resources affects the environment at a national scale. Their data-driven approach sheds light on the extent to which water resources and aquatic species are affected by urban infrastructures and could help cities curb their burden on regional ecosystems, the press release said.

The results indicate that urban land transformation and electricity production together affect 7 percent of U.S. streams, which influence habitats for more than 60 percent of all North American freshwater fish, mussel, and crayfish species, the release said. [Read more…]

Roane State selected as Center for Academic Excellence in Geospatial Sciences

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Roane State Community College, working in partnership with Oak Ridge Associated Universities, was recently selected as a designated Center for Academic Excellence in Geospatial Sciences.

Roane State, which offers one-year and two-year programs in geographic information systems, or GIS, was the only community college chosen for the program and joins 17 CAE GS academic institutions nationwide. Organized by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, the CAE GS program is a new endeavor designed to cultivate centers of academic excellence in geospatial sciences such as GIS.

“We are honored that our GIS program is recognized among several outstanding universities,” said Diane Ward, Roane State’s vice president of student learning. “The college’s selection for the program is a great example of the key role community colleges play in science, technology, engineering, and math education.” [Read more…]

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…]

Strategy to manage contaminated groundwater on DOE reservation to be discussed tonight

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A citizens’ panel will discuss a strategy document tonight that outlines possible solutions for managing contaminated groundwater on the federal reservation in Oak Ridge.

It’s the focus of a 6 p.m. meeting of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board. The strategy document was developed to address problems with contaminated groundwater on the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Reservation.

The meeting is in the DOE Information Center in the Office of Science and Technical Information on Oak Ridge Turnpike. The public is welcome to attend. OSTI is between Science.gov Way and Melton Lake Drive. [Read more…]

Kentucky earthquake shakes homes in East Tennessee

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Kentucky Earthquake

A 4.3-magnitude earthquake west of Whitesburg, Ky., early Saturday afternoon rattled homes from Cincinnati to Atlanta. There were no initial reports of major injuries or damage. Whitesburg is northwest of Johnson City. (Image courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey)

An earthquake that measured 4.3 on the Richter Scale struck west of Whitesburg, Ky., at 12:08 p.m. Saturday, shaking homes from Cincinnati to Atlanta, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter was in southeastern Kentucky about 96 miles north-northeast of Knoxville, USGS Geophysicist Paul Caruso said. He wasn’t sure how long it lasted.

Caruso said a 4.3-magnitude earthquake could cause chandeliers to swing and books to fall off shelves near the epicenter, but he wouldn’t expect any major casualties or major damage. They generally occur in quakes with a magnitude of 5.5 or greater, Caruso said.

Caruso said the earthquake was at a shallow depth of about one mile underground.

People in and around Oak Ridge and Knoxville immediately began posting about the quake on social media early Saturday afternoon, but it’s not clear if it caused any damage in East Tennessee.

About an hour after the earthquake, Lt. Ken Sexton of the Whitesburg Fire Department said the department had had no reports of damages or injuries so far. But buildings shook, and people were scared, Sexton said.

The quake was about eight miles west of Whitesburg, which is northwest of Johnson City. It’s mountainous coal mining country, Sexton said.

Caruso said it’s not possible to predict if and when there might be aftershocks, but they are always smaller than the earthquakes themselves. The USGS reported one 2.5-magnitude aftershock at 1:37 p.m. about 10 miles southeast of Hazard, Ky.

The USGS says earthquakes do not occur frequently in most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains, but they are typically felt over a much larger region than they are in the West.

For more information and a map of the epicenter, see the U.S. Geological Survey’s earthquake page at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000dqhx#summary.

Note: This story was last updated at 7:48 p.m.