Y-12 shares technology
Y-12 shares nuclear material container technology
Tues, 2 June 2009
The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Accurate Machine Products (AMP) Corporation of Johnson City recently put their pens on paper to solidify a licensing agreement several months in the making.
The ES-3100 nuclear material shipping container, with an advanced fire-retardant insulation material used in Y‑12’s packaging for nearly 10 years, now will be available commercially to nuclear processing companies worldwide this year.
“We’ve been getting requests from the outside to share the container, and AMP was the logical company to build the containers. Between 2005 and 2007, AMP built 950 ES-3100 containers for the Department of Energy (DOE), using this advanced insulation material,” said Jeff Arbital, program manager for the ES-3100.
“This is a red-letter day for AMP,” said Ken Gough, AMP president and general manager. “As a company of 40 employees, we’re thrilled with the opportunity to work with Y‑12. We hope to get a lot of these containers out to the world. Later this year, they’ll be distributed domestically, commercially and internationally.”
Three Y-12 employees invented the insulation material for use in fissile-material shipping containers, and through the technology transfer process, another long-term partnership has been established.
“We have Jerry Byington (a current Y-12 employee), Matthew Feldman (a former Y‑12 employee) and Raymon Oakes (a Y‑12 retiree, now deceased) to thank for developing this technology,” said Darrel Kohlhorst, Y‑12 president and general manager. “This is an agreement Ken and I are proud to sign. These technology transfers wouldn’t be possible without our Y‑12 Site Office, our legal folks and Tammy Graham of Tech Transfer,” he said.
“This partnership promotes economic development of the region, benefits the taxpayer by returning that technology to the private sector to gain profits and supports employee retention or hiring,” said Graham.
The Y-12 National Security Complex is a key facility in the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise and is responsible for ensuring the safety, reliability, and security of the nuclear weapons stockpile and serves as the nation’s primary repository of highly enriched uranium. B&W Y‑12 operates the Y‑12 National Security Complex for the National Nuclear Security Administration.