Y-12 Blog
Gen. Kevin Chilton, former commander of U.S. Strategic Command, spoke to Pantex employees and thanked them for their service.
Gen. Kevin Chilton, former commander of U.S. Strategic Command, recently spoke to Pantex employees and delivered a clear message: “From the bottom of my heart, thank you for what you do every single day.” During the Jan. 26 all hands address, he encouraged employees to be proud of themselves, calling the mission “unique,” “vital” and “special.”
Chilton, who is now working with Consolidated Nuclear Security to support Pantex and Y-12 missions, was at Pantex as a member of a Technical Advisory Board focused on enhancing mission delivery. His talk with employees emphasized the importance of the CNS mission, linking employees’ roles to the broader nuclear deterrent.
“One thing I’m certain of, folks, is that we in this room, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will absolutely need and depend on every one of you and the work you do to provide security for them and our great country,” he said. “For that and your dedicated and hard work, I thank you again.”
And he noted that more work will be coming to Pantex and Y-12 as nuclear weapons work ramps up in the coming decades.
“The cycle is picking up right now, and it’s picking up fast. There is a tremendous amount of work to be done, and there are those who doubt we can do it,” Chilton said. “And then there are those like me who are counting on folks like you to make it happen because we have to make it happen. It’s just so important to our country.”
In addition to thanking employees for their work, Chilton explained that the purpose of the United States’ nuclear stockpile is to deter and assure — deter those who think striking us wouldn’t be so bad and assure our allies that the U.S. can provide protection. Chilton said our nation has used nuclear weapons as a deterrent every day since they were first fielded. “We have been 100 percent successful,” he noted.
Aside from stressing the importance of a strong nuclear deterrent and the role CNS plays, he peppered his remarks with stories of his days as the commander of STRATCOM, his long and prestigious Air Force career and his service at NASA, where he was on three space shuttle missions: Endeavour (1992), Endeavour (1994) and Atlantis (1996), which he commanded.
CNS was well represented at the first National Energetic Materials Consortium.
About 70 university researchers and government and industry experts from across the country, including Consolidated Nuclear Security employees, joined forces at the first ever National Energetic Materials Consortium hosted by Texas Tech University.
Pantex’s Christopher Young said, “There are a great many types of energetic materials and an array of applications. The explosives used by the Department of Energy are a specialized subset and have very stringent requirements in regards to their precision, timing, reproducibility, sensitivity and ageing characteristics.”
NEMC was formed by leading universities across the U.S. to combine technology and science within the academic community with the manufacturing resources of private industry. The aim is to bring critically needed innovations to the energetics sector of the national technological industrial base; NEMC is designed to allow for a rapid transition of new materials to a modernized industrial base.
“Acceptance and performance testing of explosives has been accomplished at Pantex for DOE since the 1960s,” Young said. “We’ve teamed up with Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on this work. Current data acquisition strategies are continuously balanced against new technologies and ever evolving requirements.”
There was a strong showing from Pantex and Y-12 presenters.
Pantexan Patrick Goguen said, “It was a great opportunity to share ideas with some of the leaders in academia, government and industry related to advancing the frontiers of energetic materials. Rarely can you get such a diverse audience together to have such a focused interchange.”
CNS was one of the sponsors of the event, held in Lubbock, Texas, and is collaborating with Texas Tech University in research and development areas.
Consolidated Nuclear Security recently donated $10,000 to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital’s capital campaign. The CNS donation will go toward construction of a pre- or post-op room at Children’s new building, which is currently under construction.
On hand for the check presentation was Y-12’s Site Manager Bill Tindal and Children’s Hospital CEO Keith Goodwin.
The new 245,000-square-foot space, which is scheduled for completion later this year, will expand services for children with chronic conditions such as cystic fibrosis and other special needs. Forty-four private Neonatal Intensive Care Unit rooms will provide the best care for the hospital’s smallest patients.
The new facility also will feature parking and enhanced family areas, including a rooftop garden.
East Tennessee Children’s Hospital is a not-for-profit, private, independent pediatric medical center and is the only Comprehensive Regional Pediatric Center in East Tennessee.
Y-12 Nuclear Science Week volunteers.
Educating people about the importance of nuclear science and inspiring youth to pursue their interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics are vital components of the nuclear industry’s success. Recently, Y-12 engineers in the Career ONE program joined other nuclear professionals in the Oak Ridge area for the “Big Event,” Nuclear Science Week’s biggest celebration.
Established by the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, Nuclear Science Week is a nationally recognized annual celebration promoting all aspects of nuclear science. The week includes events of all sizes throughout the country and a big event in one designated city. In fall 2015, the American Nuclear Society Oak Ridge/Knoxville section hosted the Big Event at the Knoxville Convention Center.
“Nuclear Science Week inspires others to pursue STEM careers. Over 70 kindergarten through sixth-grade students attended this event. These children were from a variety of schooling scenarios — homeschool, Montessori, private and public. Participation in this event helps remind me of the vital role our science-based skills play in delivering on Y-12’s mission,” said Jon Richey, a mechanical engineer.
The Big Event features numerous interactive nuclear science and engineering activities, including nuclear detection demonstrations, cloud chambers, electromagnets, atom assembly and other exercises designed to inspire students. Participants include students, educators, employers and locals in the community.
Josh Lucheon, a chemical engineer, said, “Nuclear Science Week was a great experience to give back to the community and share our knowledge of science and technology with grade-schoolers. The hands-on experiments and demonstrations hopefully sparked an interest for focusing their education on STEM as they grow up. Additionally, the opportunity was very gratifying for me because knowing that I helped a child learn something for the first time is a great feeling. I had a blast!”
Like Lucheon, structural engineer Faheem Ahmed spoke positively about the experience of engaging the students to help them understand basic science concepts. He also said the Big Event not only benefited the students but also the professionals from different companies who attended. “We had the opportunity to network with one another. The camaraderie with fellow engineers and the opportunity to help the students made it a wonderful experience; I hope to participate again next year.”
Richey, Lucheon and Ahmed participate in Career ONE, a job rotation program at Y-12 that allows new graduates to work in different engineering disciplines to help them discover the area that best suits their skills and interests.
John Latham also participated in the Big Event. At his STEM station, Latham worked with four to six children at a time, helping them understand magnetism by building a small electromagnet with a nail, copper wire and small battery.
“My favorite thing to hear from the kids was, ‘I wonder what would happen if…?’ I often replied, ‘Hmm…I’m not sure; why don’t you try it and see?’ I thought it was a success if they left with more questions than they came in with, in keeping with Einstein’s quote, ‘The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.’”
Veterans and current Y‑12 Security Police Officers delivered former uniform coats to the Volunteer Ministry Center.
A few years ago, Y-12’s Protective Force changed from solid gray uniforms to their current digital camouflage gear. The old uniforms—some of which were actually new, with tags still on—were considered excess and likely headed toward a landfill. Around that same time, Y‑12 was collecting outerwear for its annual United Way Coat Drive. That gave Security Police Officer John Fellers an idea.
He recalled, “I knew we were asking for coat donations at the same time I saw our uniform coats headed to a landfill, so I asked the obvious question, ‘Can’t we donate these?’”
If only it were that simple. With no clear mechanism in place for donating unneeded government materials to community agencies, Y‑12 United Way chair Yvonne Bishop barely knew where to begin. “We had to make a lot of calls to try and learn how to get this done,” Bishop said. “We essentially had to invent the process as we went.”
After a lengthy series of delays, Bishop got the approval she needed from NNSA’s Albuquerque Complex. But the work was far from done. The coats would need to be surveyed to ensure they were free of any contaminants, then cleaned and sorted.
“Several of our Radiological Control technicians volunteered their own time to survey and green‑tag all 85 coats and warm liners, and other employees volunteered to remove the sewed‑on company patches,” Bishop said.
For cleaning and sorting, Y‑12 worked up a contract with the Michael Dunn Center, a Morgan County United Way agency that provides services and employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities. The center’s employees washed the coats and sorted them by size.
Finally, the coats were ready for their final destination: the Volunteer Ministry Center in downtown Knoxville. For years, Y‑12’s coat drive has benefitted VMC’s efforts to end and prevent homelessness.
To make the donation of these unique coats even more special, the United Way committee worked with VMC to ensure the coats would go to homeless veterans. They were handed out shortly after Veteran’s Day.
“It took some time, but I’m thrilled we were able to make it happen,” Bishop said. “Our employees showed their true caring nature by volunteering their time for this effort, and we were able to give work to one United Way agency and really nice coats to another United Way agency.”
Fellers appreciated the United Way team’s willingness to stick with the effort despite the obstacles. “I’m really glad we continued to push to make this happen, even when many thought we should give up or just do something easier like donate money,” he said. “We helped make more than 80 homeless veterans a little more comfortable this winter.”
Employees at the Michael Dunn Center cleaned the coats.