Tag: Oak Ridge

Peter Stockton and Nick Schwellenbach, POGO.org “There are better odds that an asteroid would hit Oak Ridge than the likelihood that terrorists would have the access and time to build and detonate an IND [improvised nuclear device–pdf],” Y-12 National Security Complex spokesman Steven Wyatt told Los Angeles Times reporter Ralph Vartabedian in response to the…

Oakridger.com, October 10, 2006 Sunfish feeding (AP) — The Department of Energy is considering an unusual “ecological enhancement” approach to cleaning up a contaminated pond at a uranium-enrichment plant. The Energy Department is in the middle of a massive cleanup project at the K-25 plant site, preparing it for private use. But before the site…

Associated Press, October 10, 2006 OAK RIDGE (AP) — A small fire occurred late last month when workers inspected highly enriched uranium stored in a huge aging warehouse at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge. Officials said no one was injured and there was no release of radiation in the fire. The Washington-based…

WBIR.com, Knoxville, Tennessee, October 9 2006 The Department of Energy is considering an unusual way to clean up a contaminated pond at the former site of the K-25 uranium-enrichment plant in Oak Ridge. The Energy Department is in the middle of a massive cleanup project at K-25, preparing it for private use. But before the…

NEWSCHANNEL5.COM, OCTOBER 2, 2006 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Some 240 containers of highly enriched uranium have been relocated and consolidated at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge over the past year. Government officials said today this potentially will save (M) millions of dollars to guard them. The bomb-grade material had been stored in one of…

Associated Press, September 18, 2006 OAK RIDGE (AP) — The Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge is supporting a new Department of Energy initiative. It would redesign nuclear weapons parts so they could more easily be made and maintained in the future. The “Reliable Replacement Warhead” program is a departure from the current “life-extension…

EASYBOURSE ACTUALITE, SEPTEMBER 8, 2006 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP)–The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been cited for allowing unprotected employees to move old machine shop equipment contaminated with potentially fatal beryllium dust from a building at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant complex. “Individuals were allowed to enter and work in Building 9201-2 without protective equipment despite…

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AUGUST 14, 2006 The Energy Department is planning a second expansion of a nuclear waste landfill at Oak Ridge. It will bring waste capacity to 1.7 million cubic yards. That’s the maximum allowable under an agreement with environmental regulators. A spokesman for the department’s environmental contractor says the design for a fifth cell…

VOLUNTEER TV, KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, AUGUST 5, 2006 Few would deny that Oak Ridge stands as a symbol. Birthplace of the Manhattan Project that ushered in nuclear warfare. 61 years later, home to our country’s only nuclear weapons facility. This day, ground zero for those who believe it should close for good. Volunteer TV’s Whitney Daniel,…

MELISSA DiPANE, WATE NEWS, KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, AUGUST 5, 2006 OAK RIDGE (WATE) — Peace activists assembled Saturday in Bissell Park in Oak Ridge to demonstrate against the continued production of atomic weapons. This weekend marks the 51st anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Much of the work that went into producing…

May 30, 2006 OAK RIDGE (AP) — Workers at the Y-12 National Security Complex are dismantling nuclear warheads faster than ever before. They’re trying to comply with arms-control agreements and reduce a backlog of old warheads. Dan Linehan, a manager in the plant’s Directed Stockpile Work organization, says historically it’s been filler work. That’s changed…

ELIZABETH A. DAVIS, LEXINGTON HERALD OAK RIDGE, Tenn. – The federal government spent 18 months building the massive K-25 uranium enrichment plant in this once-secret city for the World War II-era Manhattan Project. Tearing it down has been much slower. After the plant shut down in 1987, nearly 10 years passed before work began to…

HANNAH HICKEY While the Cold War ended decades ago, its legacy will live for centuries in toxic waste. In remote corners of the country from Tennessee to the Pacific Northwest, dozens of federal laboratories struggle to clean up contaminants left from 50 years of weapons programs. New results show a promising technique for cleaning up…