Oak Ridge Today

Lake City picked for PlanET demonstration project

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Information from WYSH Radio

It has already been a banner week for Lake City.

On Monday, the Anderson County Commission’s Operations Committee voted to recommend purchasing the old Bank of America building in Lake City for $100,000 using part of the proceeds of the pending sale of county-owned land to the Hollingsworth Company for $303,000. The remaining $203,000 would be used as seed money for the start-up Anderson County Economic Development Fund. Supporters of the bank building purchase foresee using it as the new home of Coal Miners’ Museum as well as for storage and use as a satellite office for some county government entities.

Now, PlanET, a regional partnership of East Tennessee communities in Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon, and Union counties, has selected Lake City as one of its so-called Demonstration Project sites. The program will be funded through the Plan East Tennessee Grant and leverage in-kind services from the East Tennessee Community Design Center, or ETCDC, and the University of Tennessee School of Agriculture. [Read more…]

UT professors study dilemmas in sustaining red light camera programs

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Red Light Camera Study Table

This figure shows a list of measures and their effectiveness, safety impacts, and efficiency impacts. (Submitted image)

KNOXVILLE— It’s a common driving predicament: As you approach the intersection, the light is yellow. Do you hit the brakes or face a red light camera fine?

Some municipalities engineer their traffic signals to force drivers into this situation in an effort to generate revenue from the cameras.

Professors at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville have analyzed this issue to determine if traffic control measures intended to boost red light revenue—such as shortening yellow light time or increasing the speed limit on a street—compromise safety. [Read more…]

Personal computer inventor to join UT College of Engineering faculty

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Mark Dean

Mark Dean, co-inventor of the personal computer, will join the faculty of the College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville this fall. (Submitted photo)

KNOXVILLE—Mark Dean, co-inventor of the personal computer, will join the faculty of the College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville this fall.

Dean arrives at UT from IBM, where he most recently served as chief technology officer for IBM Middle East and Africa, based in Dubai.

He begins on Sept. 1 as the John Fisher Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. [Read more…]

President Obama nominates UT alumnus to key nuclear post on DNFSB

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Ken Mossman

Ken Mossman

KNOXVILLE—President Barack Obama recently nominated University of Tennessee alumnus Kenneth L. Mossman to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

Now a professor of health physics at Arizona State University, Mossman is an expert in radiation health and safety. He received his master’s degree in 1970 and doctorate in 1973, both in radiation biology, from UT and is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board for the College of Arts and Sciences. He established the Ken and Blair Mossman Professorship in Biomedicine, currently held by Associate Dean and Professor Cynthia Peterson.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board is a five-member executive branch agency with safety oversight of all U.S. nuclear weapons facilities. Its mission is to identify potential threats to public health and safety at the U.S. Department of Energy’s defense nuclear facilities and to make safety recommendations to the secretary of energy and to the president. Among other things, the DNFSB issues weekly reports on Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex. [Read more…]

Nazarewicz, Sumpter, Wullschleger named UT-Battelle Corporate Fellows

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UT-Battelle Corporate Fellows

From left are Witold Nazarewicz, Bobby Sumpter, and Stan Wullschleger. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Witold Nazarewicz, Bobby Sumpter, and Stan Wullschleger of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been selected as 2013 UT-Battelle Corporate Fellows.

The rank of corporate fellow—among the lab’s highest honors—recognizes the researchers’ significant accomplishments and continuing leadership in their scientific, engineering, and technological fields. The addition of Nazarewicz, Sumpter and Wullschleger brings the number of active corporate fellows at ORNL to 33 researchers. [Read more…]

Nuclear goes Hollywood: New film sheds light on old debate

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Pandora's Promise Panel Discussion

Jeff Binder, Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s associate lab director of nuclear science and engineering, answers an audience question during a panel discussion following a screening of “Pandora’s Promise” in Knoxville on Saturday. (Submitted photo)

By Scott Jones

About 300 people attended a showing of the new pro-nuclear film “Pandora’s Promise” and heard a panel discussion about nuclear energy on Saturday, including perspectives from Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff.

The lab worked with Regal Entertainment Group to bring the film to the Downtown West theater from July 19-25.

Few phrases carry the ideological weight of the words “nuclear power.” [Read more…]

Hoping to improve global security, UT launches Radiochemistry Center

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KNOXVILLE—Hypothetical scenario: A nuclear bomb is detonated in one of America’s most populated cities. Just as at a crime scene, the officials need to find the culprit.

Currently, the process of analyzing weapons debris to understand the performance or design of the device is painstakingly slow. But new research to be conducted at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville seeks to improve radiochemistry and nuclear forensics to enhance global security.

The new Radiochemistry Center of Excellence is being established through a $1.2 million grant from the National Nuclear Security Administration for the first year, with the potential for a total of $6 million for five years. The center will focus on research and education to advance UT and NNSA laboratories such as the nearby Y-12 National Security Complex, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The center will begin operating immediately. [Read more…]

‘Pandora’s Promise’ comes to Knoxville; panel discussion planned Saturday

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“Pandora’s Promise,” a new film about environmentalists’ support of nuclear energy as a solution to global climate change, will be shown in a limited Knoxville engagement this week, starting today (Friday, July 19) and ending Thursday, a media advisory said.

A panel discussion at 8:45 p.m. Saturday will include representatives of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USEC, and the University of Tennessee. It will follow the 7 p.m. showing of the film. [Read more…]

UT names solar nanotechnology expert, ORNL deputy as Governor’s Chair

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Ramamoorthy Ramesh

Ramamoorthy Ramesh

KNOXVILLE—Ramamoorthy Ramesh, an authority in the physics of functional materials, has been named the 12th University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair. He has also been appointed as deputy director for science and technology at ORNL.

Ramesh will serve as Governor’s Chair for Nanomaterials Engineering, based in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He began on June 1. [Read more…]

UT releases policy brief on selling TVA

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KNOXVILLE—The Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has released a policy brief summarizing factors the federal government should consider while making its decision of whether or not to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority.

In his proposed fiscal year 2014 budget, President Barack Obama suggested the federal government consider selling TVA. There are several factors that may affect the federal government’s final decision on the matter, including TVA’s ability to be self-sufficient and the absence of federal money in its programs since 1999. Mary English, Baker Center Fellow for Energy and Environmental Policy, summarizes these factors in the brief, titled “Should the Federal Government Sell TVA?”

[Read more…]

UT football coach helps ORNL kick off United Way campaign

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Butch Jones at ORNL United Way Kickoff

Fans of University of Tennessee football and supporters of the United Way had a chance to see UT coach Butch Jones, right, on Monday at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s United Way campaign kickoff. (ORNL photo by Jason Richards)

University of Tennessee football coach Butch Jones helped Oak Ridge National Laboratory kick off this year’s United Way campaign on Monday morning.

“United Way means everything,” Jones said after discussing leadership—and football—with several hundred workers at ORNL. “It’s a great way to give back to your community.”

He said United Way agencies help about 100,000 people in the Knoxville area. [Read more…]

Chinese supercomputer bumps ORNL’s Titan from No. 1 spot

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Tianhe-2 Lights

Lights on the Chinese Tianhe-2 supercomputer, which has a theoretical peak that is twice as fast as the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy Jack Dongarra)

A Chinese supercomputer has bumped the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory from the No. 1 spot on a semiannual ranking of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.

The Tianhe-2, which was developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, is capable of 33.86 petaflops, or more than 33,000 trillion calculations per second.

Now ranked No. 2, Titan was able to perform 17,000 trillion calculations per second, or 17.59 petaflops, according to the list published in November. [Read more…]