Frank Munger: Haul road not hot despite rad traffic
Thousands of truckloads of low-level radioactive waste have been shipped from the former K-25 uranium-enrichment site to the U.S. Department of Energy's nuclear landfill in Oak Ridge over the past few...
View ArticleFrank Munger: Sherry leaving government, not Oak Ridge
Ted Sherry is leaving federal service, but he's not leaving Oak Ridge.
View ArticleFrank Munger: Oak Ridge plants manage for tough times
The past decade has been pretty doggone prosperous for Oak Ridge's government operations, so a downturn of sorts was inevitable. So far, most of the key programs are surviving a tightening federal...
View ArticleFrank Munger: Pay freeze doesn't halt raises at Y-12
Based on comments I've received, some employees at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant clearly felt like they'd been victimized by the pay freeze at U.S. Department of Energy plants. Those feelings seemed...
View ArticleFrank Munger: Y-12/Pantex HQ could go to Amarillo
Oak Ridge is a big deal within the U.S. Department of Energy, playing host to a diverse mix of facilities and programs that range from nuclear weapons to science research and environmental cleanup....
View ArticleFrank Munger: Ted the fed tries life as a contractor
Ted Sherry said he didn't want to leave Oak Ridge, and he didn't. He just swapped valleys, jumping from Bear Creek to Bethel.
View ArticleFrank Munger: Signs that Y-12 dispute nearing a resolution?
Construction of Y-12's new high-security storage facility was completed in 2009, and it is now loaded with the nation's primary stockpile of bomb-grade uranium.
View ArticleFrank Munger: When Jaguar becomes Titan, how fast will it be?
Buddy Bland, the director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Leadership Computing Facility, said the Jaguar supercomputer occupies a space that's the size of a basketball court.
View ArticleFrank Munger: Supercomputing is as simple as 3, 2, 1
Energy Secretary Steven Chu has a Nobel Prize in Physics on his resume. Enough said. The guy is brilliant. So, it's difficult enough to ask him a question that's worthy of his attention, let alone...
View ArticleFrank Munger: Changes in warhead rehab could impact Y-12
The 10-Year Site Plan for the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge makes a number of assumptions in projecting the plant's workload over the next decade. The first assumption on the list is: "Life...
View ArticleFrank Munger: Union workers to vote on contract extension at ORNL
Hourly workers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will vote Thursday on a possible three-year contract extension with UT-Battelle, the managing contractor at ORNL.
View ArticleFrank Munger: ORNL exec praises unions for commitment to lab
After Oak Ridge National Laboratory's union workers last week approved a three-year contract extension, ORNL Deputy Director Thomas Zacharia praised the hourly employees for their cooperation and...
View ArticleFrank Munger: Smash 'em, bust 'em, that's the custom
A sort of nuclear version of demolition derby takes place daily on the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge reservation.
View ArticleFrank Munger: Not secret: microwaves still not ready at Y-12
I've been writing about Y-12's plans to introduce microwaves into the weapons program for so long that it seems like old news. But it's still a work in progress.
View ArticleFrank Munger: DOE had a long way to go in going green
Earlier this week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its updated list of Top 50 Green Power Partnership organizations, which voluntarily use clean, renewable electricity "from resources...
View ArticleFrank Munger: K-25 preservation could become battle royal
The newly released report by the National Park Service, which strongly recommends saving a piece of the historic K-25 uranium-enrichment facility, gave new energy to some preservationists who thought...
View ArticleFrank Munger: 'Superfund' lies in data of the beholder
The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge office is spending about $3 million in Recovery Act money on a project that may ultimately redefine the boundaries of federal property included on the...
View ArticleFrank Munger: The strange case of Trench 13
One of the strangest episodes in the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge cleanup program — and there have been quite a few strange episodes — occurred on Aug. 8, 2005.
View ArticleFrank Munger: Politics could slow Y-12/Pantex contract
With this being an election year, there are questions about whether the National Nuclear Security Administration will award the huge contract consolidating management of the Y-12 and Pantex nuclear...
View ArticleFrank Munger: USEC's centrifuge project continues high-wire act
The financial future of USEC Inc.'s American Centrifuge Project — and, in turn, the Oak Ridge role in research and manufacturing of centrifuge machines for the project — continues to ride the edge of...
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