WASHINGTON, Dec. 16 -- The U.S. Department of Defense issued the following news story: Army Tech Sgt. Vernon McGarity spent the last few months of World War II in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. The actions that got him there helped the Allies win the critical Battle of the Bulge -- and earned him the Medal of Honor. McGarity was born Dec. 1, 1921, in rural Right, Tennessee. He worked with the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps before being drafted into the Army on Nov. 24, 1942,   more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Dec. 17 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: * * * - Products of nuclear transmutations are spotted with unprecedented detail * * * Ancient Greeks imagined that everything in the natural world came from their goddess Physis; her name is the source of the word physics. Present-day nuclear physicists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have created a GODDESS of their own--a detector pro  more

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 -- The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued the following order (MDL No. 2921): In Re: Allergan Biocell Textured Breast Implant Products Liability Litigation Transfer Order Before the Panel: Plaintiffs in two actions move under 28 U.S.C. Section 1407 to centralize this litigation in the Central District of California or, alternatively, the Middle District of Tennessee. This litigation currently consists of four actions pending in four districts, as listed on S  more

PEACHTREE CITY, Georgia, Dec. 13 -- The U.S. Department of Defense's Education Activity issued the following news release: Dr. Youlanda Washington, the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) Kentucky Community Superintendent, has selected Mrs. Michelle Brandt as the assistant principal for Mahaffey Middle School at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Mrs. Brandt is a veteran, who served as a medic in the United States Army. Before becoming a DoDEA teacher, Mrs. Brandt served as a long-term subs  more

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 54446) involving the Sequoyah power reactor in Tennessee: EMERGENCY DIESEL GENERATOR AUTOSTART DUE TO LOSS OF POWER TO 1B SHUTDOWN BOARD "At 0358 EST, on 12/16/2019, with Unit 1 in Mode 1 at 100 [percent] power and Unit 2 in Mode 1 at 47 [percent] power, a valid actuation of the Emergency Diesel Generators (EDG) occurred. The reason for the emergency diesel generator auto start was that the no  more

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following news release: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized the issuance of an Early Site Permit for Tennessee Valley Authority's Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tenn. The permit closes several site-related issues, including many environmental impacts, for small modular reactors at the site. The Commission authorized the agency's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation to issue the permit following a hearing (https  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Dec. 17 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management issued the following news release: EM (https://www.energy.gov/em/office-environmental-management) crews are deactivating Building K-1600, a former test and demonstration facility for uranium enrichment centrifuges at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP). (https://www.energy.gov/orem/cleanup-sites/east-tennessee-technology-park) The project is key to achieving Vision 2020 by paving  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Dec. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: George Flanagan, a nuclear engineer at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, didn't get to relax much between 1987 and 1990. The lab's major nuclear facility, the High Flux Isotope Reactor, had been shut down in November 1986 for a safety and management review, and it was a top priority for both DOE and ORNL to get it running again. Flanagan says  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Dec. 16 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Researchers led by the University of Manchester have designed a catalyst that converts biomass into fuel sources with remarkably high efficiency and offers new possibilities for manufacturing advanced renewable materials. Neutron scattering experiments at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory played a key role in determining the chemical and behav  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Dec. 19 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Gina Tourassi has been appointed as director of the National Center for Computational Sciences, a division of the Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The NCCS is home to the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, a Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility. The leadership change was made effective on Decemb  more

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee, Dec. 21 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration issued the following news release: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is now offering the use of "blended lanes" at select airports nationwide, to include Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport (CHA). Blended lanes provides TSA Precheck(R) (https://www.tsa.gov/precheck) screening to confirmed TSA Precheck(R) individuals and their accessible property at smaller airports th  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Dec. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: * * * - Using the Summit supercomputer at ORNL, an international team simulated * * * For nearly three decades, scientists and engineers across the globe have worked on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a project focused on designing and building the world's largest radio telescope. Although the SKA will collect enormous amounts of precise astronomical data in rec  more