WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that it expects to award up to eight discretionary grants for all-hazards emergency preparedness in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. The estimated total program funding available was cited as $64,250,605. The funding is open to state or territorial governments; state administrative agencies; or the state emergency managem  more

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tennessee, Feb. 18 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following news: Arnold Engineering Development Complex has continued to grow and evolve over the nearly 70 years since President Harry Truman dedicated the site in honor of Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold, but one thing has remained the same - engineers are the heart of AEDC. Engineers oversee the testing, conduct the research and manage the maintenance necessary for AEDC to accomplish its objectives, and it is once again time   more

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tennessee, Feb. 18 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following news: The Arnold Engineering Development Complex Civil Engineering Branch recently completed a project modifying the Main Gate entrance to Arnold Air Force Base, providing improved security infrastructure. The upgrades included the installation of a new active vehicle barrier, an overwatch facility, perimeter fencing, cable barrier, an entrance roadway to the Administration and Engineering Building, and stampe  more

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tennessee, Feb. 18 -- The U.S. Air Force Arnold Air Force Base issued the following news: The Test and Communications Branch, or TSDI, operates across the Arnold Engineering Development Complex as part of the Test Support Division located at Arnold Air Force Base. The TSDI team provides the networks, data collection equipment, analysis tools, and functional expertise to ensure data is collected, analyzed and securely delivered to both local users and test customers. Thre  more

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Feb. 17 -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the following news release: The Memphis District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), has initiated Phase I floodfight activities in the Cairo, Reelfoot-Obion, and Missouri areas due to high river stages. This is in conjunction with ongoing Phase I activities on the White River. Current National Weather Service forecasts call for the Mississippi River to crest around 53 feet on the Cairo gage around Feb. 26. During a floodfig  more

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tennessee, Feb. 18 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following news: A monument to the longstanding relationship between Arnold Engineering Development Complex and the F100 engine now stands outside of the Engine Test Facility at Arnold Air Force Base. A static display of the engine was installed outside of the ETF in late 2019. This coincided with the 50th anniversary of the first operation at Arnold AFB involving the F100, which occurred on Dec. 18, 1969, in the T-4 eng  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 54515) involving Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Memphis, Tennessee: AGREEMENT STATE REPORT - LOST OR MISSING SOURCE The following is a synopses of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality email notification to the NRC: On February 7, 2020 at 1012 EST, the Alpha-Omega Services, Inc., Radiation Safety Officer, contacted the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 54487) involving the Sequoyah power reactor in Tennessee: EN Revision Imported Date: 2/21/2020 EN Revision Text: CONTAINMENT RELIEF VALVES INOPERABLE "At 22:18 (EST) on 1/21/20, it was discovered that all Unit 1 containment vacuum relief isolation valves were closed and all vacuum relief lines were simultaneously inoperable; therefore, this condition is being reported as an eight-hour, non-em  more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the following event notification (No. 54531) involving the Watts Bar power reactor in Tennessee: NOTIFICATION OF UNUSUAL EVENT DUE TO FIRE IN CONTROL BUILDING "At 0957 EST on February 19, 2020, a Notification of Unusual Event [NOUE] has been determined to be present at the Watts Bar plant Unit 1 under criteria HU4 for a fire potentially degrading the safety of the plant (fire for more than 15 minutes). "The NRC Senior Resident In  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Feb. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management issued the following news release: Oak Ridge workers building the Outfall 200 Mercury Treatment Facility recently achieved a safety milestone: zero lost workday cases and zero recordable injuries since mobilizing for the project six months ago. The facility is vital to help fulfill EM's regulatory commitments to reduce mercury levels in the East Fork Poplar Creek and enable large-scale  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Feb. 22 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: * * * - Simulations, AI enable GRIDSMART cameras to time traffic lights to MPG estimates * * * Each year, approximately 6 billion gallons of fuel are wasted as vehicles wait at stop lights or sit in dense traffic with engines idling, according to US Department of Energy estimates. The least efficient of these vehicles are the large, heavy trucks used for hauling g  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Feb. 22 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release on Feb. 21: We have a data problem. Humanity is now generating more data than it can handle; more sensors, smartphones, and devices of all types are coming online every day and contributing to the ever-growing global dataset. In fact, estimates for the amount of data we will generate this year alone are hovering around 40 zettabytes (or about 2.5 billion times more   more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Feb. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Baohua Gu, a senior research scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elected fellow of the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry. The two societies jointly bestow the title of Geochemistry Fellow on outstanding scientists who have made a major contribution to th  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Feb. 18 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: Samantha Erwin of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received a Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) Science Policy Fellowship. Erwin's work in ORNL's Computational Science & Engineering Division involves characterizing diseases through high-dimensional data analysis and mechanistic modeling techniques. Her research interes  more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Feb. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate a new generation of flexible, cost-effective advanced nuclear reactors. Under the agreement, ORNL and TVA will collaborate on ways to improve the economic feasibility of potentially licensing, building, operating and   more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Feb. 18 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: As a reactor physics nuclear engineer, Ben Betzler leverages and develops computational methods to solve questions across nuclear energy--whether it's finding the best design of a reactor core or repurposing an old tool for a new analysis. When looking for those answers, Betzler often finds his inspiration not on his computer, but on the equation-filled whiteboards   more

OAK RIDGE, Tennessee, Feb. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate a new generation of flexible, cost-effective advanced nuclear reactors. Under the agreement, ORNL and TVA will collaborate on ways to improve the economic feasibility of potentially licensing, building, operating and   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 -- The Tennessee Valley Authority issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Tennessee Valley Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to evaluate a new generation of flexible, cost-effective advanced nuclear reactors. Under the agreement, ORNL and TVA will collaborate on ways to improve the economic feasibility of potentially licensing, building, operating and maintaining one or more advanced nuclear   more

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Nebraska, Feb. 22 -- The U.S. Air Force (55th Air Wing) issued the following news: The director for the 55th Wing Equal Opportunity and Alternative Dispute Resolution Offices here was invited to Central Park Elementary School in Omaha as one of the guest speakers for Black History Month. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Randy White holds a Master of Science in Human Relations degree, certification through the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, and many  more

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, Feb. 19 -- The Tennessee Valley Authority issued the following news release: The Tennessee Valley Authority released its updated Natural Resource Plan and associated final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on Friday, Feb. 14, 2020. The Natural Resource Plan guides how TVA manages public lands and waters in its seven-state service area and the Tennessee River watershed. TVA hosted public meetings in 2018 and 2019 during the planning process to solicit input from   more

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency has issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) announced a new crop insurance pilot program, Nursery Value Select (NVS), for crop year 2021. NVS is another crop insurance option for nursery crop producers, including those growing hemp, in addition to the Nursery crop insurance program. NVS is available in select counties in Alabama, Colorado, Flor  more