A new center in west Oak Ridge will train law enforcement officers how to respond to radiological emergencies or potential thefts of radioactive materials.
The Y-12 National Security Complex had a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Emergency Response Training Facility on Monday, January 9.
Railroad tracks at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, have emerged as a potential “deal-killer” for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport.
On Tuesday, Oak Ridge city leaders said a new company in west Oak Ridge might want to use the rail line to ship materials, but the tracks run through and roughly perpendicular to where the airport runway would be. Officials had expected the rail line, which had been “very inactive,” to be transferred.
The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday postponed a vote on a rezoning that could allow a large apartment complex along South Illinois Avenue.
City Council members said a 96-page traffic study for the project appeared to be from July, but they had only received it recently.
More than 300 volunteers placed 1,225 veterans’ wreaths at Oak Ridge Memorial Park on December 17 as part of National Wreaths Across America Day.
The day was commemorated at about 3,700 locations across the country, a press release said.
“Our heroes were remembered and honored as volunteers safely placing a total of 2.7 million veterans’ wreaths on headstones nationwide, while saying each name out loud,” the press release said. “Wreaths Across America would like to thank the community, dedicated volunteers, generous sponsors, essential truck drivers, area officials, and members of the media for coming together in unity and supporting those who have protected our freedom. Each person has played an important part in the mission to remember the fallen, honor those that serve and their families, and teach the next generation the value of freedom.”
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch represented the city at its third annual Wreaths Across America Ceremony.
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Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch was appointed without opposition to a fifth two-year term on Monday, and Council member Jim Dodson was appointed to his first two-year term in a 4-3 vote.
Gooch is starting his third four-year term on Oak Ridge City Council. He has been mayor since being elected to Council in 2014. He had no opposition on Monday.
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch is seeking a fifth two-year term as mayor. Gooch has asked the other six members of Oak Ridge City Council to re-appoint him to that position on Monday. He is the only council member seeking to be appointed mayor.
Meanwhile, there are two candidates for mayor pro tem, which is like vice mayor. Council members Jim Dodson and Chuck Hope have both asked to be appointed to that position.
The council member who had been mayor pro tem, Rick Chinn, did not seek re-election in November after two four-year terms on council.
In his letter of intent for mayor, Gooch said Oak Ridge is headed in the right direction, with good news across the city from Elza Gate in the east to The Preserve in the west.
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The City of Oak Ridge broke ground Wednesday on its new water treatment plant, which could cost $78.3 million.
The new plant will use a technology known as ultrafiltration membranes, a type of purification that uses very fine membranes. It will be along the Clinch River at the city’s water intake off Pumphouse Road south of Bethel Valley Road.
“This plant provides every drop of water to our 31,000 residents from Elza Gate on the east, to the Preserve on the west, and to all (U.S. Department of Energy) facilities, most notably Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex, which will soon include the new Uranium Processing Facility,” said Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch. “Our new plant will produce high-quality drinking water and deliver it through new pipelines more reliably and efficiently than current operations.”
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The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday will consider rezoning 110 acres at Horizon Center for a nuclear fuel fabrication company.
The property (Lot 6a) has been purchased from the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board by TRISO-X LLC, a nuclear fuel company that announced expansion plans in Oak Ridge in April 2022, the city staff said. The company said it hopes to bring hundreds of highly skilled, high-paying jobs to the Oak Ridge area and further “Oak Ridge’s well-earned reputation as the center of U.S. nuclear innovation and excellence.”
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory shared their intriguing studies of wireless charging and seawater batteries, among other novel projects, with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm during a tour on Monday.
Granholm was in East Tennessee to highlight the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed Congress and was signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, and the president’s Build Back Better agenda, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week but hasn’t been approved by the Senate yet.
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch will discuss the future of the outdoor pool on a local television show this evening.
The “Between The Lines” talk show is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, July 29, on BBB-TV, Comcast Channel 12. It will be online at bbbtv12.com and broadcast in Campbell County on Comcast Channel 230.
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More than 4,000 fish and crayfish were killed by chlorinated water and mercury at the Y-12 National Security Complex in two series of incidents in 2018 and 2021.
The first series of incidents was likely caused by the release of mercury while crews were cleaning up and removing equipment at the Alpha-4 Building on the west side of Y-12, according to scientists and officials. Alpha-4 is the most contaminated of the four major mercury-contaminated buildings at Y-12. Millions of pounds of mercury were used at Y-12 decades ago to produce nuclear weapons parts. Removing mercury-contaminated buildings, equipment, and soil remains one of the top challenges of cleaning up the Oak Ridge Reservation.
Note: This story was updated at 8 p.m.
Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn, who proposed closing the city’s outdoor pool two years ago, objected to spending any money on the pool on Monday. That meant the city could not, at least for now, buy more chlorine for the large, unique pool on Providence Road, near Oak Ridge High School.
