ORSSAB and OREM recently recognized Kathryn Bales and Rosario Gonzalez for completing their terms of service to the board.
Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management
August 13, 2018
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The Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board (ORSSAB) and the U.S Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) recently recognized Kathryn Bales and Rosario Gonzalez for completing their terms of service to the board.
ORSSAB is a federally chartered citizens’ panel that provides recommendations to OREM, which is responsible for the cleanup of the Oak Ridge Reservation.
Bales and Gonzalez each received plaques recognizing their service and thank you letters from ORSSAB Chair Dennis Wilson.
“Your dedication and participation has been instrumental to the success of the board, and you will be missed,” wrote Wilson. “You have been an invaluable asset to the board at its monthly meetings and in serving on the Environmental Management & Stewardship Committee. The accomplishments of the board proves that every hour was well spent.”
Kathryn Bales started her term in July 2016 with ORSSAB when she was an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee (UT) majoring in nuclear engineering. She graduated in 2017 and was an intern with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) at the Center for Radiation Protection Knowledge.
Bales was recently accepted into a graduate program at the University of Texas Health Science Center and plans to pursue a Doctorate of Medical Physics (DMP).
She said she enjoyed gaining the perspective of the community regarding nuclear issues. Additionally, she said her training in nuclear engineering gave her a technological perspective on issues and she now has a broader understanding of the nuclear field.
Rosario Gonzalez served two years on ORSSAB and has participated in the EM and Stewardship Committee as well. Gonzalez is busy with her position as a cafeteria manager at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Oak Ridge, where she has worked since 1986.
Gonzalez said her husband worked at ORNL for many years and she wanted to know more about the environmental cleanup of the Oak Ridge Reservation.
She said she has enjoyed being part of ORSSAB.
“ORSSAB does a great job of getting involved in projects and discussing the cleanup issues and recommending actions they think should be taken to safeguard the community,” she said.
ORSSAB meets the second Wednesday of most months at 6 p.m. at the DOE Information Center located at 1 Science.gov Way in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Additional information about the board and becoming a member is available online at www.energy.gov/orssab, by emailing orssab@orem.doe.gov, or by calling ORSSAB staff at (865) 241-4583 or 241-4584.