In June 1946, Hyman Rickover started a sixth-month tour with the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he served as Assistant Director of the Operations. In 1947 he was assigned to duty in connection with nuclear ship propulsion in the Bureau of Ships and from there served as Chief of the Naval Reactors Branch, Division of Reactor Development, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in Washington, D.C., until March 1949. President Jimmy Carter, a student of Admiral Rickover, says that his replacement as Assistant Director of Operations was a move against Admiral Rickover's career and almost drove him CRAZY. Is this any wonder knowing the POLITICS of East Tennessee as it is TODAY?
More on the ARMY/NAVY GAME - The Navy was unable to get its own nuclear program until 1948 when the Bureau of Ships formed the Nuclear Power Branch under Rickover. Rickover had first been involved with the development of a nuclear propulsion program when he was selected in 1946 as one of the naval officers assigned to Oak Ridge. Rickover’s prominence in the nuclear program further overshadowed the work conducted by Abelson and Gunn. Bowen, in an effort to gain recognition for the NRL’s work, contacted Admiral H. Smith at the Bureau of Personnel, and was told by Smith that any recognition would not be coming as the “unfavorable publicity” the Navy had received over the “alleged discrimination against Admiral Rickover” made recognition of others unlikely. While Smith does not indicate how the Navy discriminated against Rickover, it may have been over Rickover’s Jewish heritage.
Despite the Army’s lack of recognition, the Navy’s contribution to the development of nuclear energy is clear. While Manhattan made use of the Navy’s method to create hex, and method for liquid thermal diffusion to refine the material prior to final enrichment, Groves only credited the Navy with speeding things along by a couple of days. However, even those associated with the Manhattan Project disagreed. In a 1956 letter to Bowen, Briggs wrote that Bowen’s initial authorization of funds for Gunn’s research was critical in the development of the atomic bomb. Briggs stated, “If it [had] not been for your generous cooperation and foresight in making funds available at a critical time, the work on the atomic bomb would have been set back at least six months."[17]
Overall, the Naval Research Laboratory’s initial research on nuclear energy played a crucial role in both the work of the Manhattan Project and the nuclear propulsion program. Many of the scientists first contracted by the Navy were later employed by the Army. Unfortunately, the work of Gunn, Abelson, and their colleagues has largely and undeservedly been lost in the history of nuclear development.
[17] Polmar, 120; Abelson, “Early History of Uranium,” 4; Cochran, 4; Briggs to Bowen 10 January 1956, Harold Bowen Papers, Library of Congress.
Form Jimmy Carter's book published 1973 Why Not the Best? - "As he (Rickover) has pointed out, the growing bureaucracy of the military establishment is an obstacle to an adequate defense for our nation. As a full admiral responsible for naval nuclear propulsion, Rickover has had twenty-one intermediate authorities between him and the Secretary of Defense. Each of the twenty-one could veto or delay a proposal, but none could give final approval. Incidentally, there was only one intermediary between Ricover and the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Rickover did not play a prominent role in the ceremonies when the keel of the Nautilus was laid in New London in 1952. President Truman was the center of attention."
Of Admiral Rickover the German magazine STERN said - "If you are the Captain of a ship and you see a box of apples at the end of the pier, and you grab those apples and give them to your crew this makes you a good Captain.You are a good Captain because the Captain's job is to take care of his crew. Now pretend you are the Admiral of the base and you give that same box of apples to one of the ships. This makes you a bad Admiral because you have a responsibility to take care of all the ships in your command, not just your favorite one". As an admiral, Rickover had a larger responsibility. Good Captain, lousy Admiral! by Author.
This patent was filed in 1972. The
Energy Research and Development Administration was activated on January 19,
1975 and I began writing letters to ERDA right away. I was apprehensive about the building of the
Clinch River Breeder Reactor. In
1983, the Senate stopped funding the Clinch River Breeder Reactor, a program that reflected 40
percent of Chicago’s Argonne National Laboratory’s budget. Its elimination meant
severe cutbacks in budget and staff and a dilution of the laboratory's mission. If not for anything else because of the lack
of concern for the already degrading of White Oak Lake and other sediment ponds
and lakes along the river and sediment with the main channel of the Clinch
River. Many of which are now scheduled to become part of the Oak Ridge Reservation State Natural Area
I graduated from college in 1978 and later that year was
hired as an Energy Advisor, Engineering Aide in the Tennessee Valley
Authority’s, Office of Power, Knoxville, Tennessee. I was given a small Chevy Luv truck with
large signs that had ocean waves and the title Energy Advisor. The patent below is what that sign was all
about. Renewable energy. Along with the “Hostage Crisis” came the demise
of President Carter’s energy initiatives.
I was harassed until late 1979 by my supervisor’s along with so much
illegal activities that I was advised to go along with that I allowed them to
fire me. I was allowed to give much
information to the Office of General Counsel though since I did not join the
Engineering Union and from what I heard later some action on my part was taken.
I was so excited to be working for TVA and
was in constant touch with different organizations and even the White House
in hopes that President Carter would move forward on making TVA “A Showcase of Solar Energy”. President Carter even had a solar-powered
water system installed in the White House during 1979 but after Reagan was
elected he had them removed in 1980. I was heartbroken having to leave the "Energy Advisor" program but was able to find a solution. My family owned a large 145 acre farm that had long and short leaf Virginia Pine that had recently been raveged by the Southern Pine Beetle. I signed up for a cooperative program with the Agricultural Soil Conservation Service to regenerate the pine that had been damaged. I also signed up with the East Tennessee Human Resources Agency to become a firewood vendor. In the next three years I cut/slashed and burned, surrounded the pine beetle kill with a buffer and fenced the entire boundry from cattle, and hauled in the neighborhood of 1200 truck loads of firewood. For this effort I received over $2000.00 from the ASCS, became a Pioneer Tree Farmer and was awarded the ASCS Conservation Farmer for the year 1982.
My brother George Payne, to compliment President Carter's solar inititive, after
returning from his last overseas assignment in Johannesburg,
South Africa in 1980, purchased a
new house in Ottawa, Canada
with solar panels to supplement the heat.
Although the climate while I was there did not allow using the panels it
was in the spirit of the Carter plan.
I was hired again in 1991 as Senior Environmental Research Assistant,
University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and worked for 5 ½ years
at ORNL, then was transfered back to K-25. I had spent over a year working in building K-1220 in the small control room. (See Site Map) During that time the building had been closed a couple times because of high readings coming through the buildings old heating ducts. There was a pregnant girl in the office and the spores could have caused Legionnaires Disease. But not all news regarding the decommissioning of the K-25 site. I put together a compilation of material regarding just the K-1220 building.
From 1982, when it was built, until
1985, K-1220 operated as the Centrifuge Plant Demonstration Facility and was used for testing machines related to the enrichment of uranium by gaseous centrifuge processes. Radiological surveys were conducted in the PDC lease space inside K-1220, and no radiation was detected. However, based on soil data collected surrounding K-1220, there is a potential for exposure to
radiological contamination outdoors by inhalation,ingestion, or external exposure. Based on the soil data, the potential additional effective dose for someone working in the PDC lease space in K-1220 is estimated at 0.05 mrem per year.
Most all of any cleanup regarding ground and groundwater was done between 1991-1997, the exact time span that I worked at the Oak Ridge Reservation. The primary remediation process that was being tested and finally used was In situ Vitrification which was first used at ORNL in 1991 to clean up low-level mixed waste sites. During those years the process began to be less dangerous than the first several which exploded. To this day, DOE does not know conclusively why the explosion occurred; the official investigation states this explicitly.finally they were putting boxes of the molten glass that the experiments produced for us to take home. The following statement is the result of DOE's use of In situ Vitrification:
"The experience with in situ vitrification is instructive. From it we learn several lessons. One is that DOE cannot be trusted to apply NEPA diligently in the spirit in which the law intends; the push to show results for the federal dollars which have been committed to environmental restoration led DOE to "fast track" a technology which was unproven in Oak Ridge and to extend a legitimate categorical exclusion to provide inappropriate NEPA coverage. Two is that the Department was unable to hear the legitimate and, in this case at least, prophetic voice of the public which insisted on a thorough environmental analysis before the project could proceed." I still have several chunks of that material.
There was another effort that began at the K-25 site in 1997 and that involved a British company BNFL, where I had be transfered. I had no desire to remain there and continue depleted uranium cleanup or transfer to weapons producing plants.
"The DOE's primary DU stockpiles are at five nuclear weapons production sites: Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Kentucky; Savannah River in Aiken, South Carolina; Portsmouth Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio; Fernold Environmental Management Project, near Cincinnati, Ohio; and the K-25 plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 739,000 metric tons of depleted uranium hexafluoride (UF6) are currently stored in cylinders at the three gaseous diffusion plant sites located near Paducah, Kentucky; Portsmouth, Ohio; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (2001)"
The air at K-25 at times was obviously contaminated with UF6. It caused my eyes to burn and I worried about that. See the following from DNFSB/TECH-4 prepared by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board that reviews the safety of depleted uranium hexafluoride (UF6) presently stored in large cylinders at the K-25 Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee - 1995.
"When released to the atmosphere, gaseous UF6 reacts with water vapor to form a cloud of particulate UO2F2 and HF fumes. The reaction is fast, but is dependent on the availability of water. External contact with HF results in chemical burns of the skin, while exposure to airborne HF causes chemical burns/irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. Because UF6 reacts readily with water and organic materials, it must be handled in clean equipment and out of contact with moist air.
Depleted uranium weapons are now being used as conventional weapons in Iraq on armored personnel carriers and other military vehicles. See "Radioactive Ammo
Lays Them to Waste" and also Update on Depleted Uranium and Gulf War Syndrome - Human Studies - Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., GNSH - 1 January 2005
I didn't want to sort out the legalities of what BNFL wanted to do, the legalities, with over 40,000 tons of depleted uranium. I had helped them sort out the release of contaminants that might be caused by disturbing the soils in the Clinch River.
Uranium Enrichment Newsletter, February, 2000 Earth Island Institute
"In 1997 Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers International Union (PACE) and others sued DOE and BNFL asking for an EIS on the release of contaminated metal from K-25. Judge Gladys Kessler found in June 1999 that “the potential for environmental harm is great,” but refused to issue an injunction because the Superfund law prevents judicial involvement that might hinder cleanup of a Superfund site. The results of the screening of workers who responded to a letter from the local union indicate that working at Oak Ridge was dangerous to health. As of the presentation, 200 workers had had medical examinations and around 266 had been tested for signs of beryllium exposure. Six of the 266 were found to have health problems relating to beryllium. Twenty percent of the workers who received x-rays had lung abnormalities. The study is continuing."
Further delay for demolition of former Oak Ridge enrichment plant - The demolition of the shuttered, mile-long K-25 Building where uranium was enriched for nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War has been pushed back more than two years to 2010, officials say. Department of Energy contractor Bechtel Jacobs Co. was supposed to have K-25 - once the largest building under one roof in the world - torn down by Sept. 30, 2008, as part of a $1.6 billion accelerated cleanup contract signed in 2003. But a lack of funding, safety concerns - including a worker falling through a floor in 2006 - and project revisions have delayed the undertaking, which is proving to be almost as much work as constructing K-25 in the first place during World War II's Manhattan Project. (The Oak Ridger Aug. 21, 2007)
History of the MTA Fund
As part of a 1998 court settlement between U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and 39 plaintiffs (nonprofit peace and environmental groups around the country), DOE established a $6.25 million Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund) to provide money to non-profit, non-governmental organizations and Federally recognized tribal governments working on issues related to the nuclear weapons complex. The Fund was established to help those groups procure technical and scientific assistance to perform technical and scientific reviews and analyses of environmental management activities at DOE sites. These grants may also support dissemination of the technical and scientific reviews and analyses undertaken with monies from the MTA Fund, but cannot be used for litigation, lobbying, general administrative support, or fundraising.
Just before I left K-25 in 1997 I had implemented another sale of timber from the family farm on Raven Ridge. I hired a consulting forester to mark several thousand board feet of white and red oak. Picture below.
I had also taken up scuba diving and was interested in a new technology that was beginning to be studied involving micro-organisms found in oceans that could biological remediate CERCLA sites such as those at the Y-12 plant and others. This sort of research is now being used as a test at Oak Ridge. See this link - 'Hidden-hero' Microbes In Soil, Water May Help Clean Toxic Sites
Don’t tell me that
there are not large efforts going on to prevent alternative fuel initiatives. If you like paying $3.00 a
gallon for fuel just keep voting for them.
POLLUTION
FREE ELECTRIC POWER AND WATER PRODUCING STATION UTILIZING THE KINETIC AND
POTENTIAL ENERGY OF WATER WIND WAVES
Potential Energy as derived from Kinetic Energy and Solar
Energy –
Electric energy and potential
I read your article about
energy from the following web site:
http://www.phy6.org
/stargaze/Senergy.htm
and have a question. Is kinetic energy available to do work
later?
Reply
It depends. Kinetic
energy is all too easily converted to heat by friction, and if this is allowed
to happen, that energy is rarely recoverable. However, if you can convert it to
another form, you can extract at least some useful work from it (there is
always some friction loss).
Sonoluminescence Energy:
Dr. R. P. Taleyarkhan refuted by Government twice – once on Sept. 11, 2007.
Nuclear fusion is nature's atomic power - it is what powers
the Sun and, if it can be made to happen here on Earth on a large enough scale,
it promises to solve all of mankind's energy problems in one go.
It would be clean, last for ever and create no long-term nuclear
waste. And Rusi Taleyarkhan claims to have achieved it using simple sound
waves.
Like
earlier cold-fusion claims, the Oak Ridge team's results also threaten to undermine public support for conventional
hot-fusion research programs, including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories'
roughly $4 billion National Ignition Facility, a weapons program using depleted uranium, which has been plagued by cost
overruns and performance problems.
Why is fusion preferable to fission?Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) assigned to Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Could we mine Mars or Jupiter for it's deuterium?
What's going on with Rusi Taleyarkhan these days?
A Nightly Business Report Series - Premieres October 29, 2007
As oil prices rise, the U.S. isn't just looking for new energy sources. It's also turning to older and, sometimes controversial, energy options. In this series, Chicago bureau chief Diane Eastabrook examines one of these options -- nuclear power.
January 3, 2008 - Oil Hits a New Record, Topping $100
Beyond Peak Oil - A Survey Based on Primary Statistics - Gene Cooperman
Why do the politicians not raise the issue? For some insight, consider the politicians' lack of eagerness to talk about Social Security. (Social Security has a large natural constituency that is eager to put the issue on the national agenda. Oil does not.) To put it another way, Jimmy Carter was the last president to seriously emphasize lessening dependence on oil. He did not win re-election, Iran took care of that. Hence, if any sharp rise in oil prices can be delayed until after the following election, then the politicians will be happier.
Nevertheless, while the Bush-Cheney administration does not publicly discuss oil depletion, they have made oil and energy a major policy issue. Both Bush and Cheney are ``oil men''. The first major action of Vice President Cheney upon taking office, was to organize the Energy Task Force, resulting in the White House National Energy Policy [6].
Cheney's day before Supreme Court - Sierra Club, Judicial Watch eye energy task force
WASHINGTON - On Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney, represented by Solicitor General Theodore Olson, will be a petitioner before the Supreme Court in a case arising out of his battle with two antagonists, the Sierra Club and the gadfly group Judicial Watch.
GAO's Final Energy Task Force Report Reveals that the Vice President Made A False Statement to Congress
This month, the General Accounting Office (GAO) - the investigative and auditing arm of Congress - issued a report that contains some startling revelations. Though they are couched in very polite language, they are bombshells nonetheless.
The report - entitled "Energy Task Force: Process Used to Develop the National Energy Policy" - and its accompanying Chronology strongly imply that the Administration has, in effect, been paying off its heavy-hitting energy industry contributors. It also very strongly implies that Vice President Dick Cheney lied to Congress. Full report can be found HERE.
