Oak Ridge Today

Council to consider contract to evaluate water plant

Posted at
By 6 Comments

Oak-Ridge-Water-Treatment-Plant-2009-1

The Oak Ridge Water Treatment Plant is pictured on Pine Ridge above the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider hiring an engineering company to evaluate the city’s 70-year-old water plant. There are questions about whether Oak Ridge and the U.S. Department of Energy should continue to invest money in the water plant, build a new one at a new site, or consider other alternatives.

The Council on Monday will consider awarding a $98,250 contract to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. of Knoxville to evaluate the plant. Jacobs Engineering has offices in Oak Ridge.

The city’s 1940s-era water treatment plant is on Pine Ridge above the Y-12 National Security Complex, and it provides water to businesses and residents of Oak Ridge, as well as to DOE.

“The plant is currently 70-plus years old and continues to show signs of aging despite efforts over the last 15 years to modernize and upgrade,” said Shira McWaters, the new Oak Ridge Public Works director. “Many of the plant’s assets are near or have exceeded their useful life cycle and require replacement or major rehabilitation.”

Discussions about the future of the current plant came up as the city and DOE negotiated a contract extension for water supplied to Y-12 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [Read more…]

Federal spending bill includes money for Y-12 water plant, reduces UPF spending

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Y-12 Water Treatment Plant Announcement

In May 2013, state and federal officials announce a plant to treat mercury-contaminated water at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Pictured from left are Mark Whitney, Robert Martineau, Lamar Alexander, Dave Huizenga, and Stan Meiburg.

The $1 trillion federal spending bill passed by Congress last week provides money for a water treatment plant that would help reduce mercury contamination in Oak Ridge, and it includes less money for the Uranium Processing Facility than President Obama had requested, Sen. Lamar Alexander said Thursday.

The U.S. Senate approved the spending bill in a 72-26 vote after the House passed it 359-67. Alexander and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann voted for it, while Sen. Bob Corker voted against it. All are Tennessee Republicans, and Fleischmann’s district includes Oak Ridge.

Alexander said the spending bill provides $16 million less than Obama had requested in his budget for the UPF, a multi-billion-dollar building that would replace old buildings at the Y-12 National Security Complex as part of a years-long effort to update the 811-acre site, consolidate operations, and cut the plant’s high-security “footprint” from 150 acres to 15. [Read more…]

Council approves water, sewer rate increases

Posted at
By 7 Comments

Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday approved water and sewer rate increases that will take effect January 2014 and January 2015. (File photo)

There was much opposition online, and in phone calls to city hall, but few public objections to back-to-back utility rate increases at a Monday night Oak Ridge City Council meeting.

The Council voted in two separate 6-1 votes to raise water and sewer rates in January 2014 and again in January 2015. The increases range from 8 percent to 15 percent.

The new rate hikes, which will be considered on second and final reading in October, would result in water bills that could go up by a minimum of $1.35 per month in January 2014 and then another $1.19 per month in 2015. Sewer bills would increase a minimum of $2.78 per month next year and then rise another $2.13 per month the following year. [Read more…]

Cleanup work shifts to mercury as new Y-12 water treatment plant announced

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Y-12 Water Treatment Plant Announcement

State and federal officials announce a plant to treat mercury-contaminated water at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Pictured from left are Mark Whitney, Robert Martineau, Lamar Alexander, Dave Huizenga, and Stan Meiburg.

Cleanup work in Oak Ridge could shift from radiological contamination to mercury contamination, and a new $120 million water treatment plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce mercury as workers tear down four contaminated buildings that were used to make nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s, officials announced Friday.

“This water treatment plant is a major step in addressing one of the biggest problems we have from the Cold War era—mercury once used to make nuclear weapons getting into our waterways,” said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican. He said mercury contamination can cause brain and nervous system damage in people who eat contaminated fish.

Alexander was at Y-12 on Friday along with other federal and state officials to help announce the new water treatment plant, which will be at the head of East Fork Poplar Creek on the south side of Y-12’s main production area. The plant would be connected to a Y-12 storm water system, and it could begin operating in 2019. It would be able to treat 1,500 gallons of mercury-contaminated water per minute. [Read more…]

Alexander questions energy secretary nominee about Oak Ridge mercury cleanup

Posted at
By 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…]