News of Note from The East Tennessee Regional Leadership Class Members and Alumni:
News of Note from The East Tennessee Regional Leadership Class Members and Alumni:
Regional impact is already being felt from the largest science project in the nation! The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at a total estimated cost of $1.4 billion is already spending considerable money right here in East Tennessee…and NOT just in Oak Ridge! Of the $300 million in contracts awarded through the end of 2001, around a third of that total went to East Tennessee companies.
Approximately $100 million in contracts have been awarded to companies in the East Tennessee region as follows:
Knox County companies = $55,684,918;
Anderson County companies = $41,618,832;
Sevier County companies = $992,715;
Loudon County companies = $121,001.
It is estimated that $700 million of the SNS’s $1.4 billion price-tag will be in contracts to companies for various items. Approximately $250 million is likely to go to East Tennessee regional companies.
To see the SNS construction in real time using the web cam placed at the construction site, go to the following URL: SNS WEB CAM
The main home page: SNS Home Page
In 2006 the SNS will be budgeted at approximately $150 million a year to operate. All of that money stays right here in the East Tennessee region.
Do you understand the magnitude of this single project on the economy of the East Tennessee region? An estimated 2000 scientists per year will come to the facility located on top of Chestnut Ridge to study materials that will form the basis for new technologies and improvements in telecommunications, manufacturing, transportation, and health. How will this be done?
Simply stated, the SNS fires an ion beam down its linear 1000 feet accelerator tunnel toward a mercury target. The beam travels at 80% of the speed of light. The beam strikes the mercury target releasing neutrons for use in research. These neutrons will form the most intense stream of neutrons in the world and will be used by scientists to explore the basic structure and properties of materials. From this research will come the new discoveries that will result in new technologies and improvements in existing materials.
And that is not all! A second basic science facility is already being planned to join the SNS facilities on top of the Chestnut Ridge site. The Center for Nanophase Materials Science will be used to examine things on a small, very small, scale. In nanoscience, the standard measurement in which objects are measured is the nanometer. That is 1 billionth of a meter. A human hair is 100,000 nanometers thick. A Knoxville company is already conducting core samples for the nanophase site.
Submitted by D. Ray Smith
The Grand Vista Hotel and Suites in Tellico West Industrial Park has 51 rooms with room for expansion to 125 rooms opened last month. This is the most recent addition to the unique business service center.
Since 1996 a medical center, a fire department, twelve commercial businesses and a child-care center have been located in the business service center to which is now added a hotel. The primary customers of the hotel are the officials and employees of the companies located in Tellico West.
Total Logistics Corp., which will operate a distribution center to handle snack foods for ConAgra Foods Inc. in Tellico West Industrial Park. The company expects to employ about 100 and be in operation by the end of April, 2002. Wages for 85 warehouse workers are expected to range from $9.50 to $11.50 an hour and there will be 15 supervisory positions. ConAgra Foods Inc. has $27 billion in annual sales with consumer brands in grocery stores as well as food service brands for restaurants, hotels, schools and other similar institutions.
The second company locating in Tellico West Industrial Park will be Hoermann Doors, a major German company manufacturing commercial and residential garage doors. The company has 10 factories in Europe. However, its first venture in the United States will be the location in Tellico West Industrial Park. They will temporarily occupy a spec building where they have taken out a two year lease and will have 40 to 50 workers by the end of the summer. Hoermann plans to add another 100 employees in 2003. They have an option on a 40 acre tract where they plan to build a permanent manufacturing facility.
Lowes distribution center has expanded resulting in hiring 11 individuals with plans to double their workforce to over 40 in the next two weeks. Approximately 65 trucks daily move materials to Lowes retail outlets from Northern Kentucky to the Gulf of Mexico from its location in Tellico West Industrial Park.
Submitted by Martha Moree and Ray Smith