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"On Monday, the Department of Energy (DOE) Inspector General (IG) released a report on why it has been taking so long for DOE to secure the stock of Uranium-233 (U-233) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The stock of U-233, a highly radioactive isotope with dangerous properties, still sits in a "deteriorating" ORNL facility even though DOE began planning to dispose of the material back in 2001. As some of you may recall, POGO actually has some pretty direct experience with this material. During a 2005 site visit, POGO investigators were able to park in front of the ORNL building that held the 1,000 cans of U-233 and walk around for about 15 minutes before guards finally approached them and escorted them from the area. We determined that ORNL was the most vulnerable site in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex."

Ward Plummer, a distinguished scientist with joint appointments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, said Thursday that ORNL has eliminated his lab position - effective June 30. "ORNL terminated me," Plummer said. "I got terminated without a review."

Ward Plummer, a distinguished scientist with joint appointments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, said today that ORNL had eliminated his lab position - effective June 30. "ORNL terminated me," Plummer said. "I got terminated without a review."

Yesterday, POGO sent a letter to the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Health, Safety, and Security (HSS) urging it to provide oversight and enforcement of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) beryllium exposure prevention policies. These policies were designed to prevent Lab workers' exposure to beryllium, which can lead to the development of the incurable and potentially fatal lung disease, chronic beryllium disease. Recently, POGO received a tip that ORNL is not in compliance with its beryllium prevention plan. ORNL's plan was born out of Beryllium Controls at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (IG-737), a damning 2006 DOE Inspector General (IG) report which found that ORNL "did not properly manage activities relating to beryllium contamination." In our letter, we expressed concern that HSS did not follow up on these issues when they were previously brought to the office's attention.

"Here's the staff memo today from ORNL Director Thom Mason, explaining the separation of benefits between ORNL and Y-12. It is followed by a Q&A on the separation, which includes the split up of the pension fund. The change is supposed to take place sometime later this summer, according to the lab. Y-12 has not responded to multiple requests for info. SEPARATION OF BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION"

If set off in a place like New York City, a nuclear bomb could "totally disrupt" the United States' economy and society, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory director said. Local employees are working to try to prevent that from happening, said Larry Satkowiak, ORNL director of global security and nonproliferation programs. He said about 150 Oak Ridge National Laboratory employees are involved in a variety of efforts designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, including inspections, international negotiations and export controls, and removal of hazardous equipment and materials from countries like Libya and Iraq.

"March 22 and 23 Energy Secretary Steven Chu will make his first visit as Secretary to the Department of Energy's two sites in eastern Tennessee. During his two-day visit, Secretary Chu will meet with the staff of the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), participate in a dedication ceremony marking the completion of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (HEUMF) at Y-12, and tour the ORNL facility. On Monday, March 22, Secretary Chu and National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Tom D'Agostino will be joined by House Representatives Zach Wamp and Lincoln Davis at the Y-12 National Security Complex. They will take part in the dedication ceremony for the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility (HEUMF). "

DeNuke Services announced that it received a blanket ordering agreement for support of environmental compliance and waste management at ORNL. The BOA with UT-Battelle is for one year, with four one-year options, according to John Coffman, president of DeNuke. "It's primarily providing technical personnel to support their EM (environmental management) and their cleanup program -- health and safety, waste management, project oversight," Coffman said.

"The budget request for Oak Ridge National laboratory is about $1.65 billion, based on what I'm told by lab officials and seeing in budget info released by the administration. The actual budget request for ORNL is about $1.18 billion, but once you add the work for other agencies, such as NOAA and DOD, etc., the total budget is expected to be about $1.65 billion. Energy and nonproliferation are key areas. I'm still working to get information on Y-12. I'm told there is a full allotment in place for the Uranium Processing Facility, perhaps in the range of $130 million, but I haven't found any documents that say that -- at least not yet. NNSA chief Tom D'Agostino is supposed to have a media briefing at 4 p.m."

This link will send you to the ORNL action where 37 people were arrested.

"Despite its new international business strategy that halts plans to import foreign waste for burial, EnergySolutions will continue processing radioactive waste from other countries at its Bear Creek facility in Oak Ridge, a spokesman confirmed today. "Currently we process waste in Oak Ridge and then send all the waste back to the country of origin and will continue to do so," Mark Walker of EnergySolutions said by e-mail. I'm seeking clarification on Walker's comments about sending all of the waste back to the country of origin, because it was my understanding that much of the radioactively contaminated metals that EnergySolutions processed at Oak Ridge was smelted and formed into blocks used for shielding at nuclear facilities -- such as the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL."

According to the latest statistics on the Dept. of Labor's Website for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, claimants from Tennessee have received a total of $911,110,674 in compensation and medical bills paid. That's largely due, of course, to worker claims related to the government's Oak Ridge nuclear facilities (particularly K-25, Y-12, and ORNL). The total is far and away the most of any state, although it's certainly not a stat to be proud of. It means a lot of people got sick working in Oak Ridge.

One of the more interesting and challenging waste sites on the DOE reservation is Trench 13, which is the topic of today's column at Knoxnews.com. It's located at the far end of an ORNL burial ground known politely as Solid Waste Storage Area No. 5.

About 30 employees were evacuated this morning because of elevated radiation readings inside the Holifield facility.

Remote-handled transuranic waste resulting from decades of research activities at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now being readied for safe, long-term storage out of state. Specially designed rooms called hot cells enable this environmental legacy to be safely sorted and packaged into containers with robotic arms, avoiding all human contact and supporting worker safety.

Shiny new campus lies in shadow of lethal legacy from past

The 2009 federal budget was late in arriving, but the Omnibus bill brought some good news to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. I had a chance to talk with ORNL Director Thom Mason Thursday, and he was pretty upbeat -- especially about the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The U.S. involvement in ITER got a lift after a huge disappointment at the start of this fiscal year. U.S. ITER, which is headquartered in Oak Ridge, got $124 million in funding for the rest of the year, Mason said, and that's a really big deal for the ITER folks.

Gary Gilmartin, executive director of the Oak Ridge Energy Parks Initiative, is the speaker at the June 25 membership meeting of ETEBA (Energy, Technology and Environmental Business Association). According to info distributed by ETEBA, Gilmartin will speak on the Tennessee Valley Nuclear Energy Coalition, a partnership of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, ORNL, Y-12 and TVA. "The partners plan to make the Tennessee Valley Corridor a center of excellence for nuclear research, technology and power generation," the ETEBA release said. Gilmartin, in his role as executive director of the Energy Parks Initiative, is working with CROET to develop a pilot energy park in Oak Ridge.

That's the cover headline on the lastest issue of the ORNL Review, which identifies those challenges as: Carbon Reduction; Conservation; Bioenergy; Electric Vehicles, Nuclear; Battery Storage; Interactive Grid; Sequestration; Fusion; and Non-Proliferation. "As the nation's largest energy research facility, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is playing a leading role in addressing of energy's '10 Big Problems.' Our strategy is grounded in the belief that no single technology and no single energy source can alone provide the volume of energy capable of sustaining both the quality of our lives and the viability of our planet," ORNL's Billy Stair said in the R&D magazine's intro. It's an interesting read.