Number 36 April 2002

Growing greenFitting for an energy lab, ORNL’s new facilities will have environmentally friendly features

ORNL’s building campaign has a green aspect to it, and it’s not just UT-Battelle green. Environ-

mentally friendly technologies are being used in theconstruction of the new buildings and ancillaryprojects tied to the Lab’s modernization campaign.

“Sustainable-design criteria are being incorporatedinto the new facilities’ designs whenever feasible,”says Tim Myrick, who heads the newfacilities drive. “In fact, the Lab is subject-ing the building designs to an environmentalyardstick for new construction, calledLeadership in Energy and EnvironmentalDesign.”

The LEED criteria have been developedby the U.S. Green Buildings Council, abuilding industry coalition that promotesenvironmentally responsible buildingtechnologies. LEED evaluates environmen-tal performance from a “whole-building”perspective over a commercial building’slife cycle, providing a standard for whatconstitutes a “green” building. ORNL istaking the system a step further, adjustingthe LEED criteria to the needs of a researchfacility.

Paula Logan of Engineering is watchingover the ORNL building program from anenvironmental standpoint, reviewing the

projects independently and putting together anoverall sustainable design approach.

“DOE set a goal for us,” explains Paula. “Weattain points on our sustainable design efforts. Wehave taken the LEED rating system and others and,in the meantime, we’re developing our own sustain-able rating tool for research facilities, called ORNL

SMART (for Sustainable Measures and RatingTool). LEED is more for commercial buildings, sowe’re tuning the SMART model to apply to aresearch facility using LEED and several othermodels.”

ORNL started out on the right foot by selectingconstruction sites that were already developed, such

as the late, lamented east parkinglot. For the new east campus,hardly a drop of chlorophyll hasbeen shed, save for someornamental trees. (More abouttrees later.)

“Site selection is a big part ofthe criteria, such as building inso-called ‘brown fields,’” saysPaula. “We are taking sustain-able credit for choosingpreviously developed sitesinstead of plowing up new,undisturbed land. One of ourgoals has been reduced sitedisturbance—leaving as muchgreen space as we can.”

For instance, the privatefacilities’ heating, ventilation andair-conditioning systems will use

ORNL Reporter’s latest in its series of articles byLeadership Team members is from Jan Haerer,director of the Office of Technology Transfer andEconomic Development.

BY JAN HAERER

Among ORNL’s many strengths is its intellectual property. At any one time the Lab has about

1100 pieces of intellectual property in a dynamicpopulation of new and expiring patents. Thatpopulation is always changing—with the times.

Intellectual property—predominately patents,copyrights and trademarks—is a stimulus for goodthings for ORNL, including new company growthand formation and research investment in theLaboratory. Correspondingly, UT-Battelle’s ap-proach to the management of intellectual property ismuch more strategic than we’ve seen in the past atORNL.

The Office of Technology Transfer and Economic

Development’s work isn’t just about licensingtechnologies; royalties never generate enoughrevenue on their own. Instead, ORNL’s IP strategy is

to smooth a new technology’spath to the commercial market-place. Besides the eventual profitsfrom the sales, if these licensesturn into cooperative R&Dagreements or Work for Othersprojects, we’ve helped build thebase at the Laboratory.

In fact, this strategy has alreadyshown good results. With the newfocus, we took a stagnant invest-

ment in the Lab’s intellectual property, initiallysacrificed some of the royalties, but increased theroyalty-income base at the Lab from approximately$16 million in 1999 to more than $32 million in2001, an economic year that was dampened signifi-

cantly by the events of September 11. Still, we’vemore than doubled that intellectual-property-derivedbase.

Our tech transfer organization has really respondedto this new approach. Change, they say, can bring outthe best or worst in people—in this case it hasbrought out the best. Our tech transfer staff haverallied behind this new approach to make it a success.They have taken a personal interest in it.

We also have a good partner with DOE. We have avery open relationship—one that’s built trust be-tween us. That is very important because the field ofintellectual property is rife with pitfalls. If I see aproblem, such as a potential conflict of interest, Ibring it up. I request internal audits on a regularbasis. I believe that issues should be managed in thesunshine. Conflict of interest, for example, is one ofthe most common issues we have to deal with. To

The modernized east campus, as it will appear, will include as many environmentallyfriendly features as is feasible. The privately funded facility is at left, the state-fundedfacility is at right and the federally funded research support building is at lowercenter. The existing Building 4500-North is at the top of the photo.

TTED takes new approaches to speed the path to the marketplace

(See HAERER, page 5)

(See GREEN, page 4)

Jan Haerer

2 April 2002

is published for the employees andretirees of Oak Ridge National Labora-tory, which is managed and operatedfor the U.S. Department of Energy byUT-Battelle.

Bill Cabage, editorPhone 574-4399E-mail cabagewh@ornl.gov

Deborah Barnes, associate editorPhone 576-0470E-mail barnesds@ornl.gov

fax: 574-1001

On the Web: www.ornl.gov/reporter

DOE Inspector General Hotline: 1-800-541-1625

What’s on your mind, Bunkie?If it’s a practice or policy that you think

should be improved, modified or terminated, youcan turn to the ORNL Concerns Program, which isnow part of the Laboratory’s Standards-BasedManagement System (SBMS).

This successor to the old ORNL EmployeeConcerns/Response Program is designed to assistLaboratory staff, subcontractors and guests inraising and resolving concerns. A concern can dealwith safety, health, the environment, waste, fraud,abuse, misconduct, harassment, unfair treatment oranything else with thepotential for adverse effectson staff, visitors, the public,property, the environment orthe mission of the Laboratory.

The Concerns Program isadministered by the DiversityPrograms Office. The SBMSsubject area for the newprogram describes how staffcan submit concerns and howthose concerns will beaddressed. Generally speak-ing, the Diversity ProgramsOffice determines the appropriate process forresolving a concern and facilitates resolution of theconcern.

As documented in the Concerns Program, staffare encouraged to work within their line organiza-tion toward resolving concerns. The line manager isoften the “first responder,” and many concerns canbe quickly and effectively handled at that level,particularly with the assistance available fromHuman Resources managers and other supportorganizations.

Speaking out at ORNLNew Concerns Program encourages working through issues within line organizations

ORNL Director Bill Madia notes, “As a Labora-tory, we’re committed to encouraging free and openreporting of concerns without fear of retribution orretaliation. This commitment is reflected in myR2A2s —I’m responsible for ensuring an open andsupportive work environment for Laboratory staff,and this responsibility flows downward through theentire organization.”

R2A2s are the roles, responsibilities, accountabili-ties and authorities spelled out under SBMS. Billalso says, “We can’t fix problems that we don’tknow about, so I strongly encourage all staff

members, as well as allsubcontractors and guests, todiscuss concerns with theirsupervisors or other ORNLmanagers as appropriate.”

Under some circumstances,however, you may feel theneed to have your issueaddressed outside your lineorganization. Then theConcerns Program offersanother path to resolution.

In general, a staff memberwho reports a concern can

expect a response within 30 days. Throughout theConcerns Program process, confidentiality ispreserved “to the maximum degree possible.”Concerns can even be submitted anonymously,although no direct response can be provided in suchcases.

Functional responsibility for the ConcernsProgram rests with the Human Resources andDiversity Programs Directorate. HRDP DirectorDarryl Boykins says, “A primary goal of the

directorate is to ensure that employees, guests, andvisitors have a means to raise concerns and havethem effectively addressed. The Concerns Programis a vehicle to ensure that issues are raised, to assistand complement management and support organi-zations in responding to concerns and, as necessary,to provide an alternative means to address issues.”

In short, according to Darryl, “the ConcernsProgram gives all of us at ORNL a clear andstraightforward process to resolve concerns andenhance the quality of work life at ORNL.”

So if there’s something on your mind, speak out.It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease—andmakes things run more smoothly as a result.—Bonnie Nestor

Points of contactfor staff questions• Immediate supervisors• Diversity Programs office, 576-2432• ORNL ombudsman, 576-7802On the Web:Concerns program: eshtraining.ornl.gov/sbms/sbmsearch/subjarea/cp/cp_sa.cfmStandards-Based Management System:eshtraining.ornl.gov/sbms/

Dirk Van Hoesen of Environ-mental Protection and WasteServices Division and KarenBillingsley, a subcontractor forAIMSI, recently took a helicop-ter ride to get aerial shots for aproject on the Oak RidgeReservation.

ORNLpeople

Yoon-Ho Kim of the Computer Science andMathematics Division has received honorablemention in the Association of Korean Physicists inAmerica’s Outstanding Young Researcher Awards.Kim, one of only four honorees in the 2002 pro-gram, was cited for his work in the field of quantumoptics.

The Physics Division’s Terry Clayton Awes hasbeen elected a fellow of the American PhysicalSociety.

The Engineering S&T Division’s Vince Mei hasbeen elected a fellow of the American Society ofMechanical Engineers.

A team that includes Glen Harrison, MichaelHilliard, Cheng Liu and Rekha Pillai, represent-ing ESTD and the Computational Sciences andEngineering Division, has received an Associationof American Geographers award for its analysis ofthe defense distribution center supply chain.Colleagues from the Defense Logistics Agency andthe University of Tennessee were also cited.

The International Association for Energy Eco-nomics has selected a 1999 article in The EnergyJournal, co-authored by ESTD’s David Greene, as“best article.” David is in the Transportation Policyand Planning group.

The National Urban League has honored EllaDubose of Human Resources and Diversity Pro-grams for her work in its Black Executive Exchangeprogram. Ella’s Five-Year Milestone award recog-nizes her efforts on behalf of college students whohave participated in the exchange program.

ESTD’s Frank Southworth has been appointedto a three-year term on the Transportation ResearchBoard’s committee on Travel Behavior and Values.

The Chemical Sciences Division’s Phil Britt hasbeen invited to serve on the editorial board of Fuel,the leading European fuel science journal.

Cur

tis B

oles

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 3

Lab in a bubbleWe can skip some of the details because the story

has been been covered nearly everywhere else: Thejournal Science published a paper in March onsonoluminescence research by the EngineeringS&T Division’s Rusi Taleyarkhan and others. Thepeer-reviewed article reports the production oftritium and neutrons from the implosion of bubblesin a container of deuterated acetone, an effect thatthe research team interpreted as signs of a possiblefusion process.

Wishing to see further measurements, DeputyDirector for Science and Technology Lee Riedingerlast summer asked the Physics Division’s DanShapira and former Fusion Energy Division Direc-tor Mike Saltmarsh, two researchers well versed inneutron detection techniques, to work with Rusi.They said they could not verify that a fusion processoccurred.

As the “bubble fusion” paper’s publicationneared, Lee and other Lab officials braced them-selves for comparisons with the “cold fusion”uproar of more than a decade ago. The paperdelivered, even before it was officially released:One nuclear physics professor remarked to theWashington Post that the words “fusion” and“tabletop” created a reactiveresponse all their own, thanksto the widely discredited andlampooned 1989 cold-fusionannouncement.

Underneath headline bitessuch as “star in a jar,” most ofthe science news media, totheir credit, avoided knee-jerk cold fusion comparisons.(If the implosion effect werefusion, Lee notes, it would be“hot” fusion and, unlike coldfusion, explainable withknown physics principles.)Much of the coveragefocused on the debate thepaper stirred within thescientific community andeven within ORNL. Areoccurring theme was thatthe research describedinteresting phenomena that

need to be better understood.“The Lab is committed to doing

measurements that would settle whetherfusion is occurring with the bubblecollapse,” Lee says. “ORNL’s advantageis that Rusi has been able to grow thesebig bubbles—that’s a unique technol-ogy—and everyone respects the tritiumdata. It’s the neutron signal that is in

debate.”Follow-up ORNL experiments are

planned for this summer, with Rusi andresearchers from Physics and probably otherdivisions working together to see if the resultscan be resolved. Lee, who bore the brunt ofmedia calls after the story broke, observes that,regardless of who is ultimately right aboutbubble fusion, such debates should be consid-ered scientifically healthy and productive.

SNS scores a “heavy lift”Former supervisors in California describe Manny

Ringer as always ready to help someone who needsa lift. So Manny headed out to Oak Ridge in Marchto help the Spallation Neutron Source constructionproject with some of its lifting.

Manny is a crane, specifically a Manitowoc 4600Ringer Heavy-Lift Crane. Standing 14 stories talland weighing 1,000 tons, Manny has been a land-mark at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’sNational Ignition Facility Project, where it’s beenused for heavy jobs that have included more than250 power lifts with its 320-foot boom. The cranehas also been something of a media darling there—always managing to get in pictures of the ongoingproject. Before NIF, the giant crane, purchased in1983, was used at the Nevada Test Site.

With the NIF lifts completed, Livermore haspassed the crane on to the SNS project gratis exceptfor shipping costs. Moving the big machine required

more than 60truckloads,includingnearly a dozennine-axle

trailers.Livermore

rigging engineerJohn Reed, whomanaged Mannyand prepped himfor his major liftsat NIF, says, “Justa few percent ofmobile cranes ofManny’s genera-

tion worldwide havehis reach and capacity. He’sbig, he’s powerful, he’ssafe.”

Besides getting used tothe new scenery on Chest-nut Ridge, Manny is also

going to have to become accustomed to a newnickname from the SNS folks—“Big Bertha.”

Changing scenes on Bethel Valley RoadConstruction on the two new Bethel Valley Road

entrances—one east, one west—is expected to wrapup in early May. By then commuters and protectiveforce officers will have permanent portals throughwhich to enter and leave the Lab area after makingdo with temporary facilities since late October,when trucks were banned from the road. The road

was closed to the public in Decem-ber.

A detour around the east portalsite gave commuters a taste of OldBethel Valley Road, the curvier,original route to ORNL. Thedetour, which also provides a

closer look at the water of Rogers Quarry, hashelped speed the construction project by divertingtraffic from Bethel Valley Road.

Look for even more attention being paid to themain thoroughfare into the Lab. During a Februarysafety awareness session with managers, LabDirector Bill Madia asked them to meet with theirgroups to discuss their safety concerns.

The top concern: speeding on Bethel ValleyRoad. The second most cited concern was trafficsafety inside and around the campus. Lab officialsintend to respond to those concerns with measuresthat could include traffic enforcement by the statehighway patrol.

Fresh eyes for textbooksSaying that Columbus sailed the ocean blue in

1942 or that salt is sodium chlorine are commonand understandable enough mistakes, but not for atextbook. Surveys have noted such errors in publicschool textbooks. Now ORNL physicists, chemistsand biologists have volunteered to fact-check Ten-nessee textbooks before they hit the classrooms.

“The intent is that we would provide some help inchecking for accuracy of equations, mathematicsand concepts,” Lee Riedinger told reporters. High-school teachers will continue to review the booksfor content, presentation and value in the classroom.

Community Outreach Manager BrendaHackworth approached ORNL’s Leadership ActionConsortium to recruit reviewers. ORLAC, whichrecently refocused its mission and changed its nameto Developing Leaders Through Action, or theDeLTA Network, will look over proposed text-books this summer.

We’ll be reviewing six texts in chemistry, physicsand biology,” Dan says. “We have 12 volunteers forphysics and eight for chemistry. Biology justpopped up recently and we’ll need more reviewersfor that one.”

Lab volunteers will thus play a role in the qualityof education for state students. As any newslettereditor will tell you, it never hurts to have another setof eyes to look a publication over before press tim.

Reported by Bill Cabage

LLNL’s big crane moves to ChestnutRidge.

For a little while...

4 April 2002

no ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbon coolants.The Lab is taking that a step further by also eschew-ing the use of hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which,although less stable and not as damaging to theupper atmosphere as CFCs, still have a potentialclimate-change impact.

Cooling costs in the new buildings should bereduced through the use of “cool roofs,” recom-mended by ORNL’s Building Technology Center.“A cool roof is a highly reflective roof that reflectsthe sun’s heat on those hot summer afternoons,reducing cooling loads,” says the BTC’s JeffChristian. Overall, ORNL has set out to better theAmerican Society for Heating, Refrigeration andAir-Conditioning Engineers energy-efficiencystandards by 20 percent.

One of the original stated objectives of themodernization campaign has been to reduce theLab’s facilities costs by getting out of expensive oldbuildings and into more efficient new facilities.Coupled with that is ORNL’s agreement with theTennessee Valley Authority to use as much wind-generated “green” power as TVA can supply—lessthan half of one percent of the Lab’s overall need.ORNL’s new buildings will use less power, and thepower they do use will be generated with as littleenvironmental impact as is feasible.

Some of the green technologies are aimed as muchat creature comforts as they are at environmental

friendliness. All paints, sealants and coatings used inthe facilities will be of the low-volatile-organic-compound variety—in other words, not as stinky.Indoor air will be continuously monitored. “Indoorenvironmental quality as a whole figures promi-nently in theLEED criteria,up to 20 per-cent,” saysPaula.

Water consumption in the buildings will beminimized by the use of low-flow technologies infixtures. Meanwhile, rainwater will be collected andrecycled for use on the landscaping outside.

Even on the outside, the rainwater-fed landscapingplays a role in creating a greener, and nicer, facility.“Reduced-heat islands will be established in outsideareas; that is, in so many years 30 percent of theseareas will be shaded,” Paula says. Look for a lot oftrees to be planted at ORNL in the next few years.

Recycling will figure highly in the new buildings,which will have collection centers. Recycling isalready being practiced with the new facilities’construction. “At least half of construction waste,including all of the old pavement that is ground andsucked up from the east parking lot, will be used bythe contractor as aggregate, or rock fill, for variouspurposes,” Paula says. “That waste is therebydiverted from landfills.” She adds that at least20 percent of materials used in the construction willbe local or regional materials—from within a 500-mile radius—which reduces transportation costs.

Part of the deal: Out of the old

ORNL’s modernization campaign isn’t just about putting up new buildings. Some old ones are going to disappear by the end of this summer.

Three buildings slated for the wrecking ball are Building 6003 in the Physics area and buildings 2506and 2013 in the central section of the campus.

Building 6003 is not a particularlyold building by Lab standards. It wasbuilt in the 1970s from a modulardesign, and in a hurry. It has not heldup well—some of its office residentsdescribe it as “smelly” and in otherwisedilapidated condition.

Building 2506 is located on thecorner of Central Aveune and ThirdStreet, just across the way from theORNL Cafeteria. The ’40s-era woodstructure’s latest occupant was theORNL Physical Therapy Clinic, whichhas already moved to new space onBuilding 4500-South’s ground flooracross from the fitness center. Building2013 is another wood structure in the 2000 area of Central Avenue that is close to half a century old.

There will be more. “The modernization team is in the process of vacating and shutting down11 facilities, including Building 3550 (the wooden Research Laboratory Annex on Central) and theBuilding 2001 Quonset hut (the former ‘winter palace’),” says Facilities and Operations’ CarloMelbihess. Also gone are 13 office trailers.

“You can’t build the new without getting out of the old, and we have targeted 1.8 million square feetof space to vacate during the first five years of modernization,” Carlo says. “This year alone, we’ll bevacating more than 300,000 square feet.”

Follow-up on building performance is part of theplan. “For the new private-sector buildings we arealso requiring that they be operated to obtain aDOE-EPA Energy Star rating, which means wehave not only built them to be energy efficient, but

that we are operating them theway they were designed,” saysTim. “If you don’t maintain thesystems and control theoperations, you can actually be

more inefficient than the baseline.”Back outside, starry nights have just about

become a thing of the past in urban and suburbanareas, but new outdoor lighting designs that keepmore of the light pointed down may help remedythat. ORNL is installing light pollution-reducinglighting in the new parking lots and in other areas.In fact, the new parking lot designs have incorpo-rated several environmentally friendly technologies.

“Pervious” asphalt, unlike the usual blacktop, letsrainwater soak through. Parking lot storm runoff hasbeen a common source of regulatory headaches atORNL. The new parking lots in the east side’s 6026area have sections of this new asphalt, which lets therunoff pass into the ground instead of flooding intostreams. The blacktop functioned well during lastmonth’s gullywashers.

The new lots also have a bioretention basin tocatch other water runoff and let the oil, particulatesand other gunk from hundreds of cars settle outbefore it returns to the groundwater.

Even the bumper stops in the new lots are envi-ronmentally friendly. They are made of recycledplastic. “We have way too much plastic waste in theecosystem,” says Paula.—B.C.

GreenContinued from page 1

Building 3550’s “flaky” exterior

The team of Philip Bingham, Larry Baylor, MattChidley, Jim Goddard, Jim Hardy, Greg Hanson,

Kathy Hylton, Jeff Price, Dave Rasmussen, ChuckSchaich, John Simpson, Ken Tobin and John Turnerhas won a 2002 Federal Laboratory ConsortiumAward for Excellence in Technology Transfer for“Direct-to-Digital Holography for High-Speed, HighResolution Defect Inspection.”

The system can rapidly measure precise surfacesand can be used in semiconductor wafer inspection todetect anomalies after fabrication.

The holography team was cited earlier among threesoutheast regional FLC awards won by ORNLresearch teams. The two other regional winners wereYing Xu and Dong Xu of the Life Sciences Division,for “PROSPECT: Protein Structure Prediction andEvaluation Computer Toolkit” and Mitchel Doktyczof Life Sciences for “Hybrid Valve Technology forLiquid Handling and Dual-Manifold System forArraying Biomolecules.”

FLC awards recognize laboratory employees’outstanding work in transferring a technology devel-oped by a federal laboratory to the commercialmarketplace.

Direct-To-Digital Holographywins national FLC award

Using “brown fields” for construction sites:Hardly a drop of chlorophyll has been shed.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 5

better address these issues, both our office and DOEhave committed to developing a computer-basedtraining manual on conflict of interest.

In another example of working with DOE, lastyear we set out to streamline the CRADA and WFOprocesses. Teams from procurement, tech transferand DOE worked together to reduce processingtimes by more than a third. The faster we do con-tracts, the faster we can make money and grow theLab’s base. ORO’s Jim Reafsnyder and the SiteOffice’s Phil Carpenter have been very supportive,and I’m very pleased with this relationship.

A very important aspect of our tech transfer program is the benefit it brings to the

economy, including the local economy. UT-Battellehas spun off 27 companies from ORNL technolo-gies. Of those, 16 are in Tennessee. We have morecompany starts in the wings, and we’re working withlocal organizations—including Nine Counties OneVision, the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership,the East Tennessee Economic Development Agency,the Governor’s Biotechnology Task Force and Tech2020—to create more.

It’s time to start thinking about Tennessee. Whenyou consider what the Lab has to offer in uniquenessand capabilities, we are poised to stand strong if we

can rally the right kinds of support. The partnershipsI just mentioned represent strength, but we have alot to overcome, particularly in terms of attractingventure capital. Fortunately, investments are startingto come into the area, and keeping the momentumgoing will be crucial.

The Center for Entrepreneurial Growth that UT-Battelle created jointly with Tech 2020 is a goodexample of things we havedone to maintain thatmomentum. UT-Battelleseeds the center with$200,000 annually with themission to provide prospec-tive Lab spin-offs withintellectual, technical,managerial and financialresources to help make their businesses go. It’s notenough to spin off companies and say, “Have a nicelife.” We need to nurture them.

We’re currently proposing another new approach,called contractor-funded tech transfer, that allowsthe contractor to directly fund research. In effect,UT-Battelle could directly invest in acommercializable technology. Under this plan, theresearch is not solely dependent upon governmentfunding, but it grows the Lab’s base and helps theresearchers take the technology to the next level.

The result is a much faster return on investment,from which UT-Battelle would get 49 percent andORNL would receive 51 percent of the profits

derived from the commercialization of the technol-ogy. In other words, if a company is created,prospers and is sold for $50 million, ORNL couldget more than $25 million.

It is not a totally new idea: Pacific Northwest hassuch an arrangement with Battelle, which, at$11 million, is PNNL’s largest industrial investor.One of contractor-funded tech transfer’s best at-

tributes is that it’stransparent to the re-searcher, who is workingas usual for his or herfunder. It’s a unique wayto expand the Lab’s baseand work in strategicareas—and to acceleratethe government’s efforts.

If we can apply the best minds of industry, govern-ment and universities to a promising newtechnology—nanotechnology, for instance—thattechnology’s time to the marketplace can be reducedsignificantly through these innovative new commer-cialization pathways.

It’s important that we seize our intellectualproperties and use them for the benefit of theLaboratory. If we are open to the possibilities, webegin a valuable learning process that helps DOErealize its economic and energy security goals.

And, at the same time, ORNL can come out wayahead.

HaererContinued from page 1

Many nuclear power plant utilities are currently storing their spent nuclear fuel rods on site in

pools of water. That practice has been cited byofficials as a security concern—some of these poolsare housed in buildings that could be penetrated byairplanes as a result of an accident or deliberateterrorist action, causing a release of radioactivity. Atother reactors, spent-fuel pools are located within thereactor containment, or the spent fuel is stored in drystorage casks, so it is less of a security risk.

ORNL researchers led by the EnvironmentalSciences Division’s Greg Zimmerman and LanceMcCold are working on one temporary solution tothe spent-fuel problem—the Skull Valley Project. Aconsortium of eight nuclear companies, includingnuclear power utilities, has applied for a NuclearRegulatory Commission license to operate an interimspent-fuel storage facility. The small Skull ValleyBand of Goshute Indians has agreed to allow thestorage of up to 40,000 tons of spent fuel in concrete-and-steel casks on hundreds of concrete pads on theirUtah reservation. These radioactive wastes may bestored there for up to 40 years until they are movedto a permanent repository.

The ORNL team has prepared an environmentalimpact statement (EIS) for the NRC on the SkullValley project. The NRC has also prepared a safetyevaluation report.

“This private facility some 25 miles south ofInterstate 80 could provide valuable interim spentfuel storage for the nation until a permanent reposi-tory is ready,” Lance says.

ORNL has also played a role in the analysis ofU.S. efforts to develop a permanent repository forthe spent fuel that might be temporarily stored atSkull Valley. For several years an ORNL teamcoordinated by ESD’s Ellen Smith conductedtechnical peer reviews of the information, analysesand discussions included in the EIS for the proposedgeologic repository at the Yucca Mountain site inNevada. Placement of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste glass in a mined facility deep below theground at that site is intended to both virtuallyeliminate the potential for sabotage or diversion andprotect the material from release by flowing water orother natural phenomena.

As part of DOE’s effort to ensure that the EISdeals honestly and accurately with the myriadtechnical issues surrounding the proposal, ORNLexperts in a variety of disciplines considered externalcomments and critiques on diverse topics, includingtransportation safety, risks from groundwatertransport over 10,000 years, effects of repositoryconstruction on the endangered desert tortoise, andpotential effects of the repository on Nevada’stourism economy.

“Our recommendations to DOE were intended toenhance the technical and legal defensibility of theenvironmental assessment of the repository pro-posal,” Ellen says. “We asked ourselves if thedocument covers the issues; if the information andanalyses were complete and technically appropri-ate; and if the document communicates honest,accurate and understandable information, becauseone purpose of an EIS is to help the lay publicunderstand the proposal and its impacts. When wefound a problem, we recommended specificimprovements.”

The EIS was made public in February whenPresident Bush announced that he would recom-mend going forward with the repository.

“The EIS compares the impacts of the repositorywith the impacts of leaving waste in technologicallyadvanced dry storage at the reactor sites,” Ellensays. “The potential impacts of a terrorist attack aremany times greater for waste at reactor sites thanfor waste in the repository. A geologic repository isalmost completely invulnerable to a wide range ofthreats. Furthermore, analyses show that risks fromshipping solid spent nuclear fuel to a repository aremuch lower than many people think.”—CarolynKrause

ORNL’s environmental research contributes to spent-fuel solutions

It’s time to start thinking aboutTennessee. Investments are starting tocome into the area, and keeping themomentum going will be crucial.

6 April 2002

ORNL staff members think about some aspects of safeguards and security every day. Since last

December, employees have become accustomed toroutinely presenting a badge to protective forcemembers at one of the new Lab entrances on BethelValley Road. Also, after the proximity securitysystem was installed in many Lab buildings last year,most employees now access buildings with theirprox cards. Before that, access to the Lab was gainedeither by presenting a badge to a protective forcemember at a fence portal or by sweeping a DOEbadge through a rotogate card reader.

A majority of ORNL staff members use computersin their daily work, and all of them have passwordaccess to their ORNL computing accounts. Stringentrules and responsibilities come with having apassword—employees with passwords have agreedto those rules and almost universally observe them.

One of ORNL’s most valuable assets is theknowledge that the Lab generates. Knowledge in theform of proprietary information is critical to thepartners who do research with the Lab. Those whodeal with proprietary information know the rules andprocedures for guarding it. Failure to do so couldmean billions of dollars in lost revenue and lost jobsfor the U.S. economy.

DOE has recognized the importance of safeguardsand security at the national laboratories with aninitiative called Integrated Safeguards and SecurityManagement, or ISSM. Patterned after the IntegratedSafety Management program,ISSM asks employees to considersafeguards and security issues inplanning for all their work-relatedactivities.

Applications of safeguards andsecurity measures to tasks may bemore obvious in some instancesthan others. The ISSM initiativeasks each employee to consider,on the front end of a job, whatsecurity aspects are present in theperformance of a task or whatcould arise during the task.

Several labs, particularly thoseunder the National NuclearSecurity Administration, havealready completed ISSM initia-tives following nationallyprominent issues with the han-dling of classified information. ORNL’s entry intoISSM is particularly well timed, coming just after amajor shift in security strategy at the Lab and ageneral awakening to security concerns followingthe events of September 11.

To shepherd the ISSM effort at ORNL, initiativecoordinator Bill Rich has formed a multidisciplinaryISSM Working Group, which recently conducted anemployee survey to assess the current status ofsafeguards and security integration within ORNL.The results of this voluntary survey, in which nearly600 Laboratory employees participated, are being

used to direct the focus of an initial ISSM trainingeffort that will be initiated later this spring.

Bill believes that the results of the employeesurvey are cause for concern. “They are indicativethat much needs to be accomplished in fully integrat-ing ISSM into the ORNL work culture,” he says. Forinstance,

• Only 41 percent of survey respondents feel thesafeguards and security standards and requirementshave been identified and clearly communicated tothe ORNL staff.

• Only 49 percent believe that information securityrequirements, such as guidelines related to theprotection of classified and/or unclassified sensi-tive data, have been clearly communicated to thestaff.

• Only 42 percent indicate they know how toprovide feedback on safeguards and securitycontrols applied at ORNL.

• 51 percent of respondents see a real need for moreinformation on security risks and threats.

• Only 46 percent indicate that they personally feelmore responsible for security, even after the eventsof September 11.

• And, most significantly, after September 11, only59 percent of the respondents now feel secure inthe workplace.

“The ISSM response is to roll out a strategy forkeeping ORNL staff abreast of ISSM goals and

objectives and the organizationalsupport structure established tosupport the initiative,” Bill says.“The guiding principle and core-function strategies are fairlysimple and, again, closelypatterned after Integrated SafetyManagement.” They are

Define safeguards and securityrequirements in the scope ofwork and how they are to beimplemented,

Identify and analyze thesafeguards and security risks/threats associated with the work,

Develop and implementappropriate safeguards andsecurity controls,

Perform the work within thesafeguards and security controls

andAssess and provide feedback on adequacy of

controls and continually improve safeguards andsecurity management.

In the weeks and months ahead, watch for pro-grams and tools to help you plan safeguards andsecurity more completely into your daily routine.

According to Bill, informational tools such as theORNL ISSM program description document withinSBMS, an ISSM Website, an initial Web-basedISSM training program and the use of ISSM-specificpromotional materials have been prepared or are

being prepared to increase awareness and to helpstaff members feel better informed.

Finally, the working group is designing an ORNLISSM awards and recognition program to recognizestaff members who make significant contributions tosafeguards and security at ORNL; appropriatemechanisms to facilitate effective ISSM perfor-mance measurement, self-assessment, andcontinuous improvement; and a tool to ensureopportunities for employee feedback on the ISSMinitiative.

“Expect to hear more about ISSM at ORNL andkeep your eyes peeled for the ISSM Uncle Samposter now being displayed throughout the Labora-tory,” Bill says. The poster features the two keymessages of ISSM:

“You are the key to ensuring effective security,”and

“Our mission success depends on quality workdone securely.”—B.C.

ServiceAnniversariesApril30 years: Elizabeth Peelle, Environmental Sciences25 years: Mary S. Browning, Tony Hall, Larry R.Roach, Craft Resources; Randy W. Burnett and KenGuymon, Facilities Management; Peggy G. Fowler,Business & Information Services Dir.; Gary A.Johnson, SNS Accelerator Systems; Anna L. Martin,Contracts; Nellie R. McFalls, Logistical Services;Marsha P. McGinnis, James O. Nations, Jr., andStephen N. Storch, Nuclear Science & Technology;Judy C. Neeley, Communications & CommunityOutreach Dir.; Mark J. Rennich, SNS ExperimentalFacilities; Larry M. Rosenbaum, Networking &Computing Technologies; Billy J. Vitatoe, QualityServices20 years: David T. Bell, Environmental Sciences;Eraina G. Elliott, Fusion Energy; Curtis A. Maples,Metals & Ceramics; Carol T. Rice, Contracts

Health Services Division is offering screening forosteoporosis, a disease in which bones become

fragile and more likely to break. Often there are nosigns or symptoms until a fracture occurs.

Lifestyle, medical and genetic risk factors includebeing female, a family history of osteoporosis,cigarette smoking, inactivity, a diet low in calcium,being post-menopausal, low testosterone levels inmen, being thin or having a small frame, use ofcertain medications such as corticosteroids and anti-convulsants, excessive use of alcohol and anorexianervosa or bulimia

If you are interested in having an osteoporosisscreening, call Merendia in the Health ServicesDivision (574-7434). The test only involves placinga bare heel into an Achilles Express machine.

Osteoporosis screening offered

ISSM: Safeguards and security should be applied to the work place

Oak Ridge National Laboratory 7

ORNL Employee Benefits has announced several changes related to the benefits program for

ORNL employees. They involve flexible spendingaccounts and long-term care, the service awardprogram and a new information phone number forcertain Benefits programs.

The administration of the flexible spendingaccounts and long-term care plans transferred toORNL Employee Benefits from BWXT Y-12,effective April 1. There will be no changes to thefeatures of these plans with the transition and noaction is required from employees.

A new service-award program also was imple-mented April 1. Under the new program, employeeswill receive a debit gift card from American Expressand will be able to purchase a service award of theirchoice from a merchant that accepts AmericanExpress, including on-line and catalog purchases.The new program is available only for companyservice anniversaries that occur on or after April 1,2002. The debit gift cards are not taxable to employ-ees, but employees who receive a gift card, by IRSguidance, must purchase “tangible personal property”

rather than services, tickets, etc. The current catalogprogram through Jostens is still available to employ-ees who had anniversaries before April 1, 2002, andwho have not yet selected a service award.

Employees who had anniversaries before April 1,2002, but who have not yet ordered an award areencouraged to order an award soon since the ar-rangement with Jostens will be ending—awardsunder the new program cannot be substituted for anaward under the current catalog program.

ORNL Employee Benefits has established a newBenefits phone number—574-7474—for ORNLemployees to call with questions about the followingfour benefit plans that are being administered byORNL Employee Benefits: service award program,employee assistance program, flexible spendingaccounts, and long-term care. Assistance with allother benefit plans may be obtained by calling theOne Call Service Center, 574-1500.

More information regarding these changes will beavailable on the Benefits Web page soon. Otherongoing benefits activities will be announced in theupcoming months.

Changes in FSA, long-term, service awardprograms announced; new phone info number

The Physics Division hosted a gathering of pastand present ORNL staff at the Lab on March 18

to mark the 40th anniversary of the Oak RidgeIsochronous Cyclotron’s first circulating ion beam.Old-timers recollected some of the ups and downs ofthe ORIC saga, which has endured twice thefacility’s original 20-year life expectancy.

Similar to Enrico Fermi’s famous notation in theGraphite Reactor logbook 20 years earlier, theORIC’s log shows, on March 17, 1962, “Goodoperation! Looks very hopeful,” referring to amilestone 8 MeV proton beam which would becirculated to extraction radius the next day.

Originally conceived to generate protons forresearch, ORIC has been reconfigured over the yearsto produce other light-ion beams, heavy-ion beams,and to serve as an energy booster for the tandemaccelerator that is housed in the landmark tower.ORIC now serves as the light-ion driver acceleratorfor the production of radioactive ion beams at theHolifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility.

Alan Tatum, the celebration organizer and one ofthe more youthful observants, said that “ORIC stilloperates today because of the ingenuity, dedication,and skill of literally hundreds of people during thepast 40 years.” Physics Division Director FredBertrand described the ORIC as “a cat with ninelives.”

The ORIC is a variable-energy, multiparticleaccelerator, and one of the first isochronous cyclo-trons ever produced. Isochronism refers to theconstant orbit frequency of circulating ions obtainedby radially increasing the magnetic field to compen-

sate for relativistic increases in ion mass. It wasconsidered a major breakthrough in accelerators.

As often is the case at anniversary events, recollec-tions leaned away fromtechnical topics. ORIC,judging from the com-ments of the veterans, hasbeen a ticklish beast attimes—given to late-night technicalchallenges, smokingcomponents, assortedother mechanical prob-lems and funding ups anddowns.

Retired electricalengineer Sig Mosko, whobegan working on theORIC project in 1958 andis still involved today as aconsultant, chronicled themany phases of ORIC’slife, both “the good timesand the bad.” He described many times when theythought ORIC was on its last leg, but somehow thestaff kept it going. Mosko observed that he isextremely impressed with how well ORIC is runningtoday.

Robert Brown, a retired instrumentation andcontrols supervisor, recalled that researchers wereconstantly trying to cadge more from the cyclotron,to the consternation of the operators. Former ORICoperator Clint Haley also noted that ORIC pushed

the limits. The staff was constantly making improve-ments and experimenting with new technologies.Since ORIC operated around the clock, there were

periodic wee-hour calls from the operators tothe facility managers and chief engineers suchas Mosko, Dick Lord, Ed Hudson, and chiefoperator Charlie Viar, who would work theoperators through the problems. “At 3 a.m.the world is out there somewhere, but it’s notwhere you’re at,” noted Haley.

Despite its challenges, ORIC has enjoyedfour decades of successes. Projects over theyears included work with NASA on radiationexposure effects. ORIC at times hostedmonkeys, pigs and mice. At least one pigbriefly ran loose in the hallways, said Viar.

Retired Lab associate director Jim Ball,who was a top ORIC manager during its earlydays, pointed out that the ORIC was one ofthe early user facilities. The old AtomicEnergy Commission was initially opposed tothe idea, he said, but agreed to 10 percent ofORIC time going to visiting users. Guests

also gained time on the ORIC through Lab collabo-rations, he said.

ORIC’s construction was a feat in itself. Thefamous, massive C-109 doors, which shield thecyclotron area from the staff, were the largest thesupplying safe company had ever made. “And theysaid they’d never do it again,” Ball said. A turret torevolve one of ORIC’s experimental devices, theBroad Range Spectrograph, came from a decommis-sioned destroyer.

Some parts of ORIC are already in the historybooks. A “cold cathode” ion source fabricated by EdHudson and Merrit Mallory is in the SmithsonianInstitution along with other pieces. It was the firstcold cathode heavy ion source used in an isochro-nous cyclotron. “We did some very interestingthings for the first time,” Mallory, who helpedorganize the event, said.

ORNL Director Emeritus Alvin Weinberg sawORIC come on line during his watch. He noted atthe celebration that Oak Ridge physics in the earlydays was essentially divided between the Lab’sneutron physics and Y-12’s calutron physics.“Certain tensions” inevitably arose, he said, but theywere essentially quelled when the two were mergedinto the Lab’s Electronuclear Division under RobertLivingston.

March 18’s observation, coming a few weeks afterLivingston’s death, was dedicated to him. Weinbergrecalled, before an audience that includedLivingston’s family members, that Livingston’smentor, physicist E.O. Lawrence, believed that allphysicists were “adequately smart.” Success,Lawrence would say, was a mark of character.

“Bob was a person of great character,” Weinbergsaid. “He lived in a way that Ernest O. Lawrencethought successful people lived, and followed thatmodel.”—B.C.

Veterans mark 40 years of Oak Ridge Isochronous Cyclotron science

ORIC veteran Ed Hudsondisplays a scale model of aprototype magnet he helped make,similar to one used on the ORIC.

Cur

tis B

oles

PRSRT STDU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit #37Powell, TN

P.O. Box 2008Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6146

Inside

Number 36, April 2002

Green buildings, page 1

TTED’s new ideas, page 1

Concerns Program, page 2

Lab Notes: Bubbles, big crane,textbook cases, page 3

EIS solutions, page 5

ISSM for security, page 6

ORIC’s 40th, page 7

You’ve seen it on the news: A twister has reduceda neighborhood to toothpicks, with homeless

survivors thankful to be left alive, even if with littleelse. More often than not, a Red Cross van is provid-ing them with meals and other necessities duringthose first crucial days of recovery.

ORNL employees will soon have the opportunityto contribute to a valuable and badly needed resourcefor when the region’s people are in need. A cam-paign is now under way to purchase a newdisaster-relief van for the Appalachian Chapter of theRed Cross, located in Oak Ridge.

These vans are typically dispatched to the scenesof various disasters to help stricken communitiesdistribute food, clothing or other necessities at thesite. ORNL’s Modernization Coordinator TimMyrick initiated the drive to obtain a van for Ander-son County after seeing the need during pastvolunteer relief efforts.

He has already enlisted the support of several localcompanies, including UT-Battelle. ORNL employ-ees, however, will also have a chance to pitch in onacquiring the van, which fully equipped is going tocost around $65,000. Tim is challenging ORNLemployees to give, with a promise that he willpersonally match contributions up to $20,000.

“I’ve worked relief for Hurricane Hugo, Tennesseetornadoes and Alabama floods, mostly throughchurch-related efforts,” says Tim. “As part of thoseefforts, I routinely interacted with the Red Crossteams doing disaster coordination and food service.There were always several Red Cross disaster reliefvans on site doing great work. The Knoxville officehas one that’s 10 years old, but our local Red Crosschapter does not.”

Tim says the vans are versatile enough to be usedfor whatever tasks may be at hand—from feeding the

hungry to distributing medical supplies,clothing or shelter.

Tim emphasizes that the AppalachianChapter’s van would be mainly for theneeds of the surrounding community.“It would give us a local resource theRed Cross otherwise wouldn’t be ableto assign to this area,” says Tim.

For instance, had it been availablewhen March flooding struck nearbycounties, the local Red Cross wouldhave been better able to assist thosewho were affected. The relief vans,however, can also converge on moredistant disasters, including, for ex-ample, New York City after September11 or the disaster scenes Tim hasworked.

“I’d like to challenge ORNL staffmembers and UT-Battelle to join in supporting thedisaster relief van as a community project,” saysTim. “The actual proposal has two components—buying the van and also staffing it. This would beanother opportunity for our Lab retirees to serve thecommunity, and we’ll be reaching out to them.”

The Red Cross capital campaign for the van willstart this month. Donors will receive a t-shirt with a9/11 theme or other items. Local DOE contractorswho have committed to the emergency relief vanproject are UT-Battelle, BXWT/Y-12, BechtelJacobs, SAIC and Duke Engineering and Services.But those corporate contributions will likely leave aportion of the cost to be raised elsewhere.

Tim is aiming for a roll-out ceremony of the RedCross’ new van next September 11, the anniversaryof the New York, Washington, D.C. andPennsylvania tragedies.

The community-at-large role in acquiring andstaffing the van will likely be noted on the vehicleitself. “My intention is to have something nice, like‘Help from your friends in Oak Ridge,’ or somethinglike that, to go on it too,” Tim says.—B.C.

A Red Cross relief van is often a sole symbol of hope in a sceneof otherwise utter devastation.

Lab staff called to help local Red Cross acquire disaster-relief van

The Human Genome Project Information Web sitehas been named to the Medical Internet Hall ofFame by the peer-reviewed MD net guide. TheHGPI site was recognized from among hundreds ofother sites for its “comprehensiveness, ease of use,and visual design, as well as the overall quality ofthe medical content.” The Web site authors are LifeSciences Division’s Bioinformation Systems groupstaffers Betty Mansfield, Anne Adamson, JenniferBownas, Denise Casey, Sheryl Martin, MarissaMills, Judy Wyrick, and Laura Yust. See their workat www.ornl.gov/hgmis.

Genome info Web site is tops