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F&O Drastically Reduces Job Cycle Times

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F&O Drastically Reduces Job Cycle Times Managed by UT-Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy * Issue Number 67 June 2005 Old tech, new mission Advanced nuclear reactor concept borrows from ORNL’s seasoned Molten Salt Reactor ith fossil fuel prices climbing and no and ran with it, putting together a collabora- you get boiling liquid, which you don’t want, Wnew petroleum fields discovered in tion with Sandia and the University of and that limits the temperature at which you decades, nuclear energy is beginning to once California-Berkeley,” says Dan. can operate the reactor,” Dan says. again receive serious consideration as an Gordon later left NTPO to apply his ideas “A typical light-water reactor is running at energy alternative. DOE has embarked upon a to ORNL’s first homeland security science 350ºC. You need about 850ºC to generate program to design the next-generation nuclear program. Charles, of the Nuclear S&T hydrogen on a large scale (see sidebar), which reactor, drawing from a wealth of designs and Division, is one of the nation’s most-cited is a prime objective of DOE’s Advanced ideas. authorities on nuclear Reactor Program.” A proposed next-generation design that is power. It seems illogical that something as hot as attracting attention is based on a previous The most accepted and liquid fluoride salt can “cool” anything. Dan generation’s work: ORNL’s Molten Salt common designs for explains that the liquid salt circulating through Reactor Experiment. Researchers in the Lab’s power generation the reactor actually transfers and distributes Nuclear Technology Program Office and reactors are the (See SALT, page 5) Nuclear Science and Technology Division are water-cooled touting a design that would use hot, liquid reactor the gas- The late Glenn Seaborg (foreground), fluoride salt, which was mixed with uranium cooled reactor. then Atomic Energy Commission fuel in the old MSRE but is “clean” in this Both have their chairman, fires up ORNL’s Molten Salt concept, to cool a power generation reactor. advantages, Dan Reactor in 1968. Technology from the The NTPO’s Dan Ingersoll says the idea says, but they project may boost the arose as a “spare time” project for a group of have their “hydrogen economy.” the Lab’s nuclear technology experts. They drawbacks. prefer the modifier “liquid” over “molten” to “Gas-cooled distinguish between the new concept’s clean reactors are coolant and the old project’s molten mixture cooled with of uranium fuel and salt. helium, which is “Gordon Michaels, who was over the a poor carrier of NTPO at the time, lobbied an idea to use solid heat. With water- reactor fuel and use clean liquid salt as the cooled reactors coolant. Charles Forsberg picked up the ball The wait is over: F&O drastically reduces job cycle times f you’re in the dark, the drain is slow or a average cycle time on routine repair mainte- that FMD calls on from Facilities & Opera- Ibreaker’s thrown, the wait is over. Facilities nance orders to approximately three days. Just tions’ Craft Resources Division are Management Division staff have reduced the a few years ago the average was more than completing 50,000 jobs a year. The work is 40 days. referred to as grade 4 tasks—those that FMD Director Jimmy Stone require no special permit or lockout proce- says the secret of their success dures. They include jobs such as changing lies in the efforts of FMD staff lights, unclogging drains and hanging members and crafts and the pictures. adoption of a scheduling tool. ORNL staff members have often expressed “We schedule the work— frustration over the long wait for certain it’s that simple,” says Jimmy. repairs to be made. Worse, the delays often “We know what jobs need to impeded research. be done and individuals are The gains in efficiency come just as the assigned to accomplish those Lab has grown in terms of both new and old tasks.” facilities and in programmatic work. ORNL’s Complex facility managers new space—mostly the new east campus and their teams meet and use facilities—doesn’t require as much mainte- the scheduling tool to plan nance. On the other hand, as the older facilities get ever older, they need more Curtis Boles resources around customers’ Craft Resources Division’s Reggie Thompson (left) and Herschel service requests in their daily upkeep. And there are more of them. Old Brooks service an electrical panel. Facilities and Operations staff “plan of the day” meetings. facilities currently outnumber the new by members have cut job request cycle times to nearly zero. The roughly 250 workers (See CYCLE, page 2 Harrison, Mezzacappa, Thundat named Corporate Fellows hree researchers— Robert J. Harrison of computational astrophysics initiatives. Tthe Computer Science and Mathematics Tony is a fellow of the American Division, Anthony Mezzacappa of the Physical Society and received the Physics Division and Thomas G. Thundat of Presidential Early Career Award in the Life Sciences Division— have been Science and Engineering in 1999. named UT-Battelle Corporate Fellows. Thomas Thundat is a world leader in The Corporate Fellow designation is the nanomechanical sensors. His work in highest level of recognition for career biomedical engineering and biotechnol- achievements in science and technology, ogy, micromechanical sensors, and performance and leadership. Lab Director nanoscale imaging and detection has Jeff Wadsworth says that awardees’ contribu- been featured in Time magazine. His Harrison Mezzacappa Thundat tions to international leadership in research, numerous national and international new and expanded research programs and honors include two R&D 100 Awards, three received 19 patents for nanomechanical mentoring of staff are vital to the success of Federal Laboratory Consortium in Technol- sensor technologies ranging from medical the Laboratory as a whole. ogy Transfer awards, the Jesse Beams Award, instrumentation to land mine detection. Robert Harrison joined ORNL in 2002 as the Discover Award, ASME Pioneer Award Thomas is a Battelle Distinguished inventor group leader for Computational Chemical and the Scientific American Top 50 Technol- and a Fellow of the American Physical Sciences following a distinguished career at ogy Leaders Award. Society. He is also a research professor of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where The author of more than 170 scientific physics at UT and a visiting professor at the he was a Battelle Fellow. He holds a joint papers in refereed journals, Thomas has University of Burgundy, France. appointment with the University of Tennes- see, where he is a professor in the chemistry In particular, although the heating and air department. Cycle Continued from page 1 Widely recognized for his work in the conditioning crew is usually going at full tilt, electronic structure of molecules, computa- about 300 to 10. the complex’s aging ventilation system often tional chemistry and high performance A prime example of an aging infrastructure gives problems. The building’s climate algorithms and computing, he is chief is the 4500 complex, the 1950s era home to control is difficult to balance, particularly architect of NWChem, the world’s leading labs and offices that, frankly, doesn’t look that when the seasons change. computational chemistry code, now used at bad on the outside. But the complex literally is Nevertheless, when President Bush visited more than 1000 sites worldwide. a poster child for aging facilities: The 4500 last July on what was arguably the summer’s Tony Mezzacappa, a leader in computa- complex’s problems are outlined on a poster muggiest day, a packed Wigner Audiorium tional astrophysics and a pioneer in the field affixed directly across from Jimmy’s desk. was kept comfortable for several hours. of supernova science, was the first to The 4500 complex is a 700,000-square-foot Older facilities are energy hogs. Jimmy implement Boltzmann kinetic theory to fixer upper. For instance, nearly a third of the notes that the 4500 complex uses 300 percent model neutrino transport during supernova complex’s ventilation supply fans failed more energy per square foot than the energy- explosions, a theoretical and numerical feat during the past year. Fan failures shut down efficiency-certified new facilities. long thought impossible. Since joining labs, which stops R&D work. In one calami- The 4500 complex isn’t the only set of ORNL in 1996, he has conceived, proposed tous event a few years ago, a lightning surge buildings with infirmities. Building 1505 on and now leads the Terascale Supernova blew out 60 fans at once. Then there are the the west end has a high-maintenance chiller Initiative, a multi-million dollar, multiyear usual nuisances like ancient electrical panels, system and a currently inoperable vacuum DOE initiative involving several dozen clogged drains, roof leaks and crumbling system. Many of the Lab’s 350 older researchers at a dozen institutions around the walls. buildings are in similar shape. world. TSI is one of the world’s largest FMD keeps it all running despite the “We have aging infrastructure that causes challenges. operational impacts with increasing fre- quency,” Jimmy says. Jimmy credits the FMD staff with keeping researchers happy (in a recent survey customers said things have generally im- proved) and doing more with less. He gives an example: is published for employees and retirees “The industry standard of square feet that of ORNL, which is managed and janitors are responsible for is 25,000 square operated for the U.S. Department of feet. Our janitors are responsible for an Energy by UT-Battelle. average 55,000 square feet,” he says. Eventually, a facilities upgrade plan and funding will bring many of the old facilities Bill Cabage, editor up to snuff with the newer ones. In the 865/574-4399 or [email protected] meantime, FMD is working to keep the lights on and water running.
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