ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tennessee, June 17 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following news: By Bradley Hicks Mike Metzger holds a unique position in the world. A system engineer at AEDC Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Maryland, he is among a handful of people familiar with the Tunnel 9 heater system and the only system engineer ever assigned to it. The system is used to store and heat the nitrogen gas needed for testing operations at the facility. This, however, is soon to change. M  more

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tennessee, June 17 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following news: By Bradley Hicks Can man-made technology not only survive some of the harshest conditions in the known cosmos but also continue to perform its mission? SSL, a company under contract to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has called upon Arnold Engineering Development Complex to find out. Bao Hoang, SSL project manager, commented that, "AEDC has very unique test capabilities and engineering expertise that  more

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tennessee, June 17 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following news: The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) conducted a successful flight test for a program that the AEDC 10-foot vacuum (10V) chamber at Arnold Air Force Base has supported for nearly a decade. MDA, in cooperation with the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, U.S. Northern Command, and elements of the U.S. Air Force Space Command's 30th, 50th and 460th Space Wings, conducted the  more

WASHINGTON, June 18 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following news release: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has completed its Final Safety Evaluation Report for an Early Site Permit application from Tennessee Valley Authority for the Clinch River Nuclear Site. The report concludes there are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing the permit for the site, approximately five miles southwest of Oak Ridge, Tenn. The approximately 600-page report describes the agency's  more

WASHINGTON, June 21 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 54127) involving the Watts Bar power reactor in Tennessee: INOPERABILITY OF CONTAINMENT SHIELD BUILDING "At 1340 EDT on June 20, 2019, a breach in excess of allowable margin in the Unit 2 Shield Building annulus was identified. T.S. LCO 3.6.15, Condition A was entered. The breach is expected to be repaired within the 24 hours allowed LCO time. "No other equipment issues were identified. "The  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, June 17 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: An online tool developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory provides architects and engineers a fast and efficient way to assess the performance of a building's envelope design before construction begins. The Building Science Advisor allows builders to evaluate the moisture durability of the envelope, or exterior, of residential buildings. "Most buildin  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, June 17 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Researchers have pioneered a new technique using pressure to manipulate magnetism in thin film materials used to enhance performance in electronic devices. They used neutron scattering at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source to explore the spacial density of atoms and observe how magnetism in a lanthanum-cobalt-oxide film changed with applied pr  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, June 17 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Oak Ridge National Laboratory physicists studying quantum sensing, which could impact a wide range of potential applications from airport security scanning to gravitational wave measurements, have outlined in ACS Photonics the dramatic advances in the field. "Quantum-enhanced microscopes are particularly exciting," ORNL's Ben Lawrie said. "These quantum sensors can   more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, June 18 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management issued the following news release: EM recently awarded its Oak Ridge Site cleanup contractor $12.5 million for its performance from Oct. 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019, amounting to 95 percent of the available fee. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) recently issued its six-month fiscal 2019 fee determination scorecard for UCOR after completing its evaluation of the cont  more

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, June 13 -- The Tennessee Valley Authority issued the following news release: * * * - TVA must move material from coal ash ponds to a lined landfill or recycle it. * * * The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III today announced a settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) of a lawsuit against TVA and the management of coal combustion residuals at its Gallatin plant. "We are pleased to bri  more

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, June 19 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, D. Michael Dunavant, issued the following news release: D. Michael Dunavant, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, announced today that a federal grand jury has returned two indictments charging disbarred Memphis attorney Keith L. Dobbs, 39, with a total of sixty-seven federal felony violations. In addition, one indictment seeks the forfeiture of at least $406,533.00 in criminal proce  more

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, June 19 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, D. Michael Dunavant, issued the following news release: Memphis Goodwill Industries, Inc. will pay $150,000 to the United States to resolve allegations that it submitted claims that falsely certified compliance with regulations involving contracts it had entered into for services rendered to the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the General Services Administration pursuant to t  more

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tennessee, June 17 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following news: By Bradley Hicks A multiyear, multimillion dollar effort has led to the successful reactivation of von Karman Gas Dynamics Facility (VKF) Wind Tunnel D at Arnold Air Force Base, officially ending a period of dormancy for the tunnel that exceeded its original run. Tunnel D is operated, managed and scheduled by members of the Air Force Research Laboratory High Speed Experimentation Branch (AFRL/RQHX) at A  more