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Y-12, Pantex employees celebrated for inventions, patents

Posted at 4:19 pm January 11, 2022
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

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

Employees at Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, were recently celebrated for inventions and patents.

Y-12 employees filed eight invention disclosures during fiscal year 2021, a press release said. The inventions ranged from environmental and electrical load controllers to diagnostic tools, sensors, and unique material processes. Among those recognized were Eric Spurgeon, Justin Holland, Rachel Bachorek, Robert Cole, Ed Ripley, and Jacob Miller, the press release said.

At Pantex, Stephen Jones and Brian Harlow filed an invention disclosure for laser pulse shaping for a laser-powered bed fusion printer.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Ashley Stowe, Bill Tindal, Consolidated Nuclear Security, Ed Ripley, Eric Spurgeon, Erik Nygaard, Gene Sievers, inventions, Jacob Miller, James Kiggans Jr., Jeff Preson, Jeff Yarbrough, Jeff Yokum, Jennifer Palmer, Justin Holland, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pantex Plant, patents, Patrick Moehlen, Paul Menchhofer, Peter Angelo, Rachel Bachorek, Robert Cole, Roland Seals, Rusty Hallman, Scott Aase, technology transfer, Vincent Lamberti, Y-12 National Security Complex

NNSA purchases LeMond building

Posted at 7:03 pm December 29, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment


LeMond-Composites-Building-Aug-30-2016-2-Web

The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased the LeMond Carbon building at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge. The building is pictured above in August 2016.

 

Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Dec. 30 to correct that the building has been purchased.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased a building in west Oak Ridge that has been the site of two major industrial announcements, one by CVMR and the other by LeMond Composites. Both projects had promised at least $125 million in investments and hundreds of jobs, but neither has proceeded as expected.

In the five or six years since those announcements, there have been few signs of activity at the facility when Oak Ridge Today has stopped by, although company executives have held out hope, when contacted, that their projects could still proceed.

The LeMond Carbon Facility is on Palladium Way at Horizon Center. The NNSA plans to use the building for the development organization at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The sale price was $6.9 million, and the NNSA had 18 months to buy the building under an option-to-purchase agreement, the first of its kind for the agency. The sale was completed December 15. The NNSA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, and it maintains the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, among other activities.

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LeMond-Composites-Building-Aug-30-2016-2-Web

The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased the LeMond Carbon building at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge. The building is pictured above in August 2016.

 

Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Dec. 30 to correct that the building has been purchased.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has purchased a building in west Oak Ridge that has been the site of two major industrial announcements, one by CVMR and the other by LeMond Composites. Both projects had promised at least $125 million in investments and hundreds of jobs, but neither has proceeded as expected.

In the five or six years since those announcements, there have been few signs of activity at the facility when Oak Ridge Today has stopped by, although company executives have held out hope, when contacted, that their projects could still proceed.

The LeMond Carbon Facility is on Palladium Way at Horizon Center. The NNSA plans to use the building for the development organization at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The sale price was $6.9 million, and the NNSA had 18 months to buy the building under an option-to-purchase agreement, the first of its kind for the agency. The sale was completed December 15. The NNSA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, and it maintains the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, among other activities.

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Filed Under: Business, Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge, Premium Content, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: carbon fiber bicycle, CVMR, Greg LeMond, Horizon Center, Jim McConnell, LeMond Carbon, LeMond Companies, LeMond Composites, LeMond Real Estate LLC, metal refining, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex

NNSA awards Y-12, Pantex contract

Posted at 2:43 pm November 29, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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

A contract worth $2.8 billion per year has been awarded to Nuclear Production One LLC to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced the contract award on Monday.

NPOne is a limited liability company that consists of Fluor Federal Services Incorporate and AECOM Energy and Construction, an Amentum company, a press release said.

“For over 40 years, the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas has been the nation’s primary nuclear weapon assembly, disassembly, and life-extension center,” NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby said in the press release. “The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, has been strengthening our national security and reducing the global threat from weapons of mass destruction since 1943. I look forward to NPOne helping us accomplish our mission.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: contract, Y-12 National Security Complex

Mercury cleanup: COLEX equipment deactivated at Y-12

Posted at 7:54 pm November 8, 2021
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge workers remove mercury and mercury-contaminated solids from process pipes in the column exchange, or COLEX, equipment at the Alpha-4 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Submitted photo)

Crews are nearly finished deactivating the second of three collections of old, mercury-contaminated equipment around the Alpha-4 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The project addresses potential environmental risks and moves the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management a step closer to preparing one of Y-12’s largest high-risk contaminated facilities for demolition, the press release said.

The column exchange, or COLEX, structures are connected to the four-story 500,000-square-foot Alpha-4 building, which was used for uranium separation from 1944 to 1945. Workers finished installing the COLEX equipment in 1955 for lithium separation, a process that required large amounts of mercury. A significant amount of the mercury was lost into the equipment, buildings, and surrounding soils, and its cleanup is one of EM’s top priorities.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Alpha-4, COLEX, column exchange, Dan Macias, DOE, mercury, mercury cleanup, Mercury Treatment Facility, Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy, UCOR, Y-12 National Security Complex

Security professionals at Oak Ridge, Amarillo honored

Posted at 12:44 pm November 2, 2021
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Safeguards and Security personnel from Y-12 National Security Complex, the Pantex Plant, and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Production Office were recently honored with 2020 Nuclear Security Enterprise security awards, a press release said.

The winners included Willis Ray, Dwayne Cunningham, and Ramiro Alaniz from Pantex; Kevin Mattern from Y-12; and Tim Alvarado, Blaine Westlake, and Dan Reeves of NPO.

Alaniz, Alvarado, Cunningham, Mattern, and Reeves were recognized as members of the NNSA 2020 Security Team of the Year. They were among 23 members of the Design Basis Threat Implementation Team, which was made up of contractors and federal personnel from every site in the NSE, plus the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Security Policy, who received this award, the press release said.

The Design Basis Team team finished the most comprehensive analysis of security risk ever completed in support of the U.S. DOE/NNSA mission, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.

“The team’s work resulted in security analysis that is more consistent, transparent, and understandable than ever before,” it said.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Blaine Westlake, Bradley A. Peterson Contractor Security Professional of the Year, Dan Reeves, Design Basis Team, DOE, Dwayne Cunningham, Jeffrey Johnson, Kevin Mattern, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Nuclear Security Enterprise, Pantex Plant, Ramiro Alaniz, security awards, Security Manager of the Year, Tim Alvarado, U.S. Department of Energy, Willis Ray, Y-12 National Security Complex

CNS contributes $100,000 in community grants to 17 nonprofits

Posted at 8:29 am October 11, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A Consolidated Nuclear Security Community Investment grant funded a therapist for Willow Brook Elementary School in Oak Ridge.  (Submitted photo)

Submitted

Awards recommended by Y-12 employees in 2021 focused on at-risk youth, food insecurity, mental health, and aid to frontline workers

Consolidated Nuclear Security, in partnership with East Tennessee Foundation, recently awarded 17 grants totaling $100,000 to nonprofit organizations in 10 East Tennessee counties: Anderson, Blount, Campbell, Claiborne, Hamblen, Knox, Monroe, Roane, Scott, and Sevier.

The CNS Employee Investment Advisory Committee at Y-12 National Security Complex reviewed dozens of grant proposals this year, conducted staff interviews, and made site visits before recommending funding based on the committee’s four focus areas for the year: at-risk youth, food insecurity, mental health, and aid to frontline workers.

With the latest round of community investment grants, Consolidated Nuclear Security topped $880,000 of investment in the East Tennessee community during the last five years, a press release said.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Education, Front Page News, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: CNS, CNS Community Investment Fund, Consolidated Nuclear Security, East Tennessee Foundation, grants, Jason Bohne, Michael McClamroch, Willow Brook Elementary School, Y-12 National Security Complex

Two men charged with abuse of corpse

Posted at 6:27 pm October 8, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Two Oak Ridge men have been charged with abuse of a corpse and failure to report a death in Anderson County after a woman’s body was allegedly found covered by blankets in the back seat of a vehicle in east Roane County in February.

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Two Oak Ridge men have been charged with abuse of a corpse and failure to report a death in Anderson County after a woman’s body was allegedly found covered by blankets in the back seat of a vehicle in east Roane County in February.

The rest of this story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or contributor to Oak Ridge Today.

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Filed Under: Anderson County, Courts, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Premium Content, Roane County Tagged With: abuse of a corpse, Anderson County Criminal Court, Anderson County grand jury, Bretanie Shacole Davis, Carlos Lavern Bell, conspiracy to abuse a corpse, Daniel Herrera, Dave Clark, failure to report a death, Jason Robbins, Marvell Moore, Matt Tuck, Michael Dewayne Partin, Oak Ridge Police Department, ORPD, RCSO, Roane County Sheriff’s Office, tampering with evidence, theft, violation of a protective order, Y-12 National Security Complex

DOE: Feds must be fully vaccinated by Nov. 22

Posted at 7:47 pm October 1, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Joe L. Evins Federal Building is pictured above in Oak Ridge on Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The executive order issued by President Joe Biden in September requires federal employees to be fully vaccinated by November 22, the U.S. Department of Energy said. DOE said 84 percent of the department’s federal workforce was, at the time, fully vaccinated.

To comply with the November 22 deadline, DOE’s employees must complete their vaccinations by November 8. This would apply to the first Johnson & Johnson shot, a one-shot vaccine, or the second Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech shots, both two-shot vaccines. People aren’t considered fully vaccinated until two weeks after the final dose of a vaccine.

The U.S. Department of Energy notified its staff of the vaccine requirement on Tuesday last week.

“Protecting your health and safety is our top priority,” DOE told its staff. “To help ensure this, President Biden issued an executive order requiring all federal employees to be fully vaccinated by November 22, 2021. This applies to all federal employees regardless of remote, telework, or onsite reporting status, except in limited circumstances in which an employee may be exempt due to a legally required accommodation.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: COVID-19, DOE, Front Page News, Health, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Ben Williams, DOE, executive order, fully vaccinated, Joe Biden, Kevin Liao, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Steven Wyatt, U.S. Department of Energy, UCOR, vaccination, Y-12 National Security Complex

Events to mark Hiroshima, Nagasaki anniversaries, call for nuclear abolition

Posted at 4:10 pm August 5, 2021
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

OREPA Peace Cranes at Y-12
Sharon O’Hara-Bruce of Lake Orion, Mich., ties a peace crane to a fence set up in front of the Y-12 National Security during a previous ceremony recalling the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. (File photo)

Events planned in Oak Ridge and Knoxville on Friday and Saturday will commemorate the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, near the end of World War II, as organizers call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

“There is a new energy for abolition,” said Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. “Here and around the globe, actions and events will echo the demand of the international community in the Ban Treaty: nuclear weapons states give up their weapons.”

A press release from OREPA cited the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Under that treaty, the international community outlawed nuclear weapons, organizers said. The treaty was passed by 122 nations in June 2017 and entered into this past January, the press release said.

“There are only two possible endings to the story of nuclear weapons,” said Beatrice Fihn, director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, 2017 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. “Either we end nuclear weapons, or they will us. There is no other possible ending.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, National Nuclear Security Administration, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: bombings, Hiroshima, Knoxville, Nagasaki, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, Ralph Hutchison, Y-12 National Security Complex

For members: Big change for Y-12 water permit is Mercury Treatment Facility

Posted at 10:18 am July 12, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

 

The biggest change for a water discharge permit drafted for the Y-12 National Security Complex is the construction and operation of a Mercury Treatment Facility, a state official said Tuesday.

The mercury treatment facility, which is under construction and could begin operating next year, is expected to capture and treat most of the mercury released as old, unused mercury-contaminated buildings, equipment, and soils are demolished and removed, especially on the west side of the nuclear weapons production site.

Millions of pounds of mercury were used at Y-12 in the 1950s and early 1960s to produce nuclear weapons parts. Roughly 60,000 pounds is estimated to remain in buildings and equipment, and an unknown amount was released into soils and sediments. About 1.3 million pounds is unaccounted for. Mercury is a top pollutant of concern on the federal Oak Ridge Reservation.

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The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

 

The biggest change for a water discharge permit drafted for the Y-12 National Security Complex is the construction and operation of a Mercury Treatment Facility, a state official said Tuesday.

The mercury treatment facility, which is under construction and could begin operating next year, is expected to capture and treat most of the mercury released as old, unused mercury-contaminated buildings, equipment, and soils are demolished and removed, especially on the west side of the nuclear weapons production site.

Millions of pounds of mercury were used at Y-12 in the 1950s and early 1960s to produce nuclear weapons parts. Roughly 60,000 pounds is estimated to remain in buildings and equipment, and an unknown amount was released into soils and sediments. About 1.3 million pounds is unaccounted for. Mercury is a top pollutant of concern on the federal Oak Ridge Reservation.

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Filed Under: Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Premium Content, State, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Clean Water Act, Mercury Treatment Facility, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Outfall 200, TDEC, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Vojin Janjić, water discharge permit, Water Quality Control Act, Y-12 National Security Complex

For members: Y-12 waste had pressurized gases, ‘energetic material,’ but posed no safety risk

Posted at 7:06 pm July 9, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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

 

The waste shipped from the Y-12 National Security Complex that violated a solid waste permit in Nevada included small volumes of pressurized, non-flammable gases and an energetic material, but the shipments did not pose a safety risk, the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday.

“These items were contained within a sealed, thick steel assembly that was disposed within a large metal box,” DOE said in response to questions. “Though the presence of these internal items were not known at the time of disposal, they do not pose any safety risk because the inner assembly is capable of containing any release of the small volumes of pressurized gases and the energetic material.”

The Department of Energy and the State of Nevada resolved regulatory actions related to the unauthorized shipments of the classified low-level radioactive waste in June. Oak Ridge Today reported about the settlement agreement on Wednesday, and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection announced the agreement on Thursday. DOE also responded to questions about the shipments on Thursday, and the responses are included here.

At issue were 33 waste packages in 10 shipments from Y-12 to the Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas between January 2013 and December 2018. The shipments, which were quickly suspended, received publicity in July 2019 after Dan Brouillette, who was then deputy energy secretary, informed Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak about them. At the time, Nevada officials were already in a dispute with DOE about a half-ton of plutonium shipped to NNSS from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

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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. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The waste shipped from the Y-12 National Security Complex that violated a solid waste permit in Nevada included small volumes of pressurized, non-flammable gases and an energetic material, but the shipments did not pose a safety risk, the U.S. Department of Energy said Thursday.

“These items were contained within a sealed, thick steel assembly that was disposed within a large metal box,” DOE said in response to questions. “Though the presence of these internal items were not known at the time of disposal, they do not pose any safety risk because the inner assembly is capable of containing any release of the small volumes of pressurized gases and the energetic material.”

The Department of Energy and the State of Nevada resolved regulatory actions related to the unauthorized shipments of the classified low-level radioactive waste in June. Oak Ridge Today reported about the settlement agreement on Wednesday, and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection announced the agreement on Thursday. DOE also responded to questions about the shipments on Thursday, and the responses are included here.

At issue were 33 waste packages in 10 shipments from Y-12 to the Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas between January 2013 and December 2018. The shipments, which were quickly suspended, received publicity in July 2019 after Dan Brouillette, who was then deputy energy secretary, informed Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak about them. At the time, Nevada officials were already in a dispute with DOE about a half-ton of plutonium shipped to NNSS from the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

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Filed Under: Front Page News, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Premium Content, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: DOE, finding of alleged violation, Greg Lovato, low-level radioactive waste, NDEP, Nevada, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Nevada National Security Site, NNSS, settlement agreement, solid waste permit, Steve Sisolak, U.S. Department of Energy, Waste Management, waste shipments, Y-12 National Security Complex

Nevada announces settlement with DOE over non-compliant waste from Y-12

Posted at 1:28 pm July 8, 2021
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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

On Thursday, Nevada announced details of the settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy over low-level radioactive waste that was incorrectly identified and shipped from Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge to DOE’s Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas between 2013 and 2018.

Oak Ridge Today first reported about the settlement agreement on Wednesday. The Nevada announcement on Thursday provided additional information.

Here is Nevada’s announcement:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Nevada National Security Site, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: DOE, EPA, Greg Lovato, low-level radioactive waste, NDEP, Nevada, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Nevada Field Office, Nevada National Security Site, NNSS, solid waste, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, unapproved waste, Waste Management, waste shipment, Y-12 National Security Complex

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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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