Author Archives: Rob Scott

On January 9, 2012, Liz Albertson was the primary presenter of PlanET and she provided an overview of the project intent, observations from the initial round of Forum input and a few methods of how to become engaged. Plan East Tennessee is a regional partnership of communities working toward a shared vision and seeking ideas about protecting resources and addressing challenges regarding jobs, housing, transportation, a clean environment, and community health. Their goal is to create long-term solutions for investments in the region and to define the next chapter in its rich history, leaving a legacy of optimism and opportunity for future generations. The five-county planning region includes Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon, and Union

counties.

The second meeting of the Technical Society of Knoxville in January was an evening

meeting held on January 26, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza and

attended by 60 people. Madeline Rogero, newly elected mayor of the City of Knoxville, spoke. The title of her speech was:“The Importance and Equity of Long-Term Sustainability Planning.” The speech was interesting and informative and there was a very good discussion after the prepared speech.

On January 30, 2012, the speaker was Allen Coggins. His topic was

“Tennessee Tragedies: Natural, Technological, and Societal

Disasters in the Volunteer State.” Allen Coggins, Emergency Management Specialist at Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, has written a book, the name of which is Tennessee Tragedies: Natural, Technological, and Societal Disasters in the Volunteer State. It hit the bookstore shelves in December 2011. The publisher is the University of Tennessee Press. Allen, who is a past president

of the Technical Society, presented exerpts from his book. It makes you want to watch where you are going.

On December 5 Charles C. Coutant, PhD talked about water withdrawal from the Savannah River when two new units at the existing 2-unit Plant Vogtle nuclear station were the first nuclear units to be permitted for construction since the 1970s. The talk covered a description of the existing plant and its proposed additional 2 units, issues raised by intervenors in opposition during the licensing proceeding, studies conducted at the existing 2-units to estimate environmental impacts of adding two units (nearly identical those in place), and the resolution of the issues through a hearing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. Most issues involved physical, chemical and thermal impacts to aquatic life in the Savannah River, from which the cooling towers would withdraw make-up water and release blowdown. Water withdrawal could potentially entrain fish eggs and larvae and impinge larger fish on intake screens. Release of warm blowdown water could potentially cause adverse thermal effects. Dredging of the Savannah River to deliver large reactor components could potentially cause damage to bottom organisms in dredged materials. All the issues were resolved and the Early Site Permit for initial construction was issued by the NRC.

Dr. Coutant retired in 2005 as a Distinguished Research Ecologist in the Environmental Sciences Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and

is currently a private consultant.

On December 12, Barbara Scott. Environmental Specialist at Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spoke about the status of the ash cleanup at the Kingston steam plant.

She has been serving as the State’s representative onsite during the Kingston Ash Recovery project over the past three years. She worked for EPA Region 4 Superfund before coming to TDEC five years ago. The work on the ash spill has progressed

well and stage 1 , which was time sensitive , has been completed. She described the remaining work on ash disposal and the long term environmental work that is ongoing.

The December 19, 2011 speaker was Rob Scott of Eventbooking.com. He described the changes in computer programming and the internet. His company has a large computer program that they have completely rewritten three times and to

which they make frequent major modifications. He spoke about the “cloud” where data now resides in perhaps redundant places but it seemed a bit hazy (to the TSK secretary). Robert Ferris Scott is a member of the Technical Society and he is a great grandson of Charles Ferris,

the founder of the Technical Society. Also Rob is a legend at TVA. During the 1982 worlds fair, TVA learned that the best graphics computer programmer in the Knoxville area was a Bearden High School senior and they hired him to write the programs for their worlds fair barge. His computer game, written for the Apple2 computer, with Morgan Goranfro, for controlling lake levels and river flow rates was in the TVA offices for many years. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee in electrical engineering and he is an officer in Eventbooking.com and oversees their computer programming.

Nov 7: The Technical Society of Knoxville speaker on November 7, 2011 was Ted Tyree, P.E., of Knoxville Utilities Board. He described new processes being added to the KUB wastewater treatment plants to help address high-flow conditions at the plants during periods of heavy rainfall. The first new process is High Rate Clarification, where high wet-weather flows are treated using ferric Chloride, polymers and microsand to help coagulate suspended solids in the incoming waste stream more quickly. The second is Biologically Enhanced High Rate Clarification, which enhances the removal of remaining solids and biochemical oxygen demand components of the waste stream.

These processes have been successfully tested at Kuwahee and Fourth Creek, and will be implemented for production at both locations over the next 10 years. These changes will improve the

KUB chances of meeting permit requirements without blending, and without endangering the ongoing processes at the plant through a plant washout.

The November 14, 2011 meeting speaker was Marie Gray from Management Solutions LLC.
Management Solutions is a woman-owned small business with extensive experience in the world of project controls, project management, cost estimating, process improvement, and construction management.

Marie Gray has over 30 years of experience as a Business Process Consultant for Fortune 500 companies. A primary consultant on projects for American General Life and Accident, Cargill, Inc., General Electric, Procter & Gamble, GTE Sylvania, IBM, Rand McNally, Kennametal, Trane, ADP, MCI, Rubbermaid, Newell, E.W. Scripps, Nova Systems, Levi Strauss, Department of Defense, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Maximus. She is the recipient of the 2006 National Leadership Award from the National Business Advisory Council, as well as the 2006 Congressional Medal of Distinction for Leadership.

The November 21 meeting speaker was Roy Arthur, Knox County Watershed Coordinator. He spoke about the work on Beaver Creek. The Beaver Creek watershed has a history of impaired water quality and flooding of the valley floor. It is one of the most rapidly developing areas in Knox County. The creek is on the 303(d) list maintained by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), which indicates that it violates water quality standards and is too polluted to support many of its designated uses. Beaver Creek is a priority watershed for riparian zone management and protection.

Knox County is classified by the EPA as a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) “Phase II” stormwater community (successor program to the Clean Water Act), which requires plans to be developed to address surface water pollution. The Beaver Creek Green Infrastructure Plan is a pilot project that anticipates a government response to Phase II requirements. Rapid, sprawling, unplanned low-density residential development and corridor commercial development are driving open-space loss, habitat fragmentation, and the degradation of the scenic character and rural lifestyle the area once enjoyed.

The November 28, 2011 meeting speaker was George J. Hyfantis, Jr.,

Ph.D., P.E. His speech topic was “The Sevier County Compost Facility”. A few years ago the Sevier County Compost Facility was rated as the number one municipal compost plant in the United States. The plant has received wide international interest as well, with visitors coming from places like China and Spain to tour the plant. He described the plant process and progress since it was built and since it had a bad fire.

Dr. Hyfantis is the principal manager and engineer for QE2 ( Quantum Environmental & Engineering Services, LLC). Founder and President of QE2, Dr. Hyfantis has 30 years of experience in the environmental engineering industry. Dr. Hyfantis is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager and is co-author of the Certified Hazardous Materials Manager’s Manual (1987)

Dr. Hyfantis has served as an international consultant to Taiwan, Thailand, Hungary,

Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Dr. Hyfantis’ work has included extensive consulting services for State Agencies, municipalities, transit authorities, and private sector corporations covering a broad variety of environmental concerns. Before founding QE2, he was President of International Waste Management Systems, Vice President of Environmental Systems Corporation, and Manager of the Regional Waste Management Program for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Dr. Hyfantis has been an adjunct professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee for 30 years.

Oct. 3: TJ Blasing spoke on climate change. He joined the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) in the Environmental Data Science and Systems group in 2001 and has since been

investigating causes of the changing concentrations of aerosols and trace gases and the consequent effects on climate and the biosphere.

Oct 10 :(Columbus Day): We toured the new STEM academy , which is in the L&N Terminal building and ate at the school for lunch. It is a very impressive school and the equipment is outstanding.

Oct 17: Josh Emery from UTK Planetary Science spoke about the OSIRIS-REX asteroid mission. (Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer)- acronyms are taking over the language! He has been involved in the design parameters for this satellite and he described how the satellite will sample an asteroid and return to earth with the sample.

Oct 24: Dr. Chris Cherry of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville spoke on transportation. One of his research interests is transportation needs of rapidly developing countries-specifically China. He is setting up electric bicycles for transportation on the UT campus and he came from UT on a Chinese electric bicycle. Which he brought to the room.

Oct 31: Patricia Davis-Wiley spoke with enthusiasm on Cyber Communication to teach English as a second language. She is a UTK professor who is currently teaching a graduate class on how to teach English as a second language at UT and she is teaching Koreans to speak English as a second language. She uses “Skype” to let her two classes interact with each other . Skype is a FREE software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet.