Get update on Manhattan Project National Park on Thursday

Posted at 3:10 pm February 5, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Robert Johnson

You can hear an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge, during a Thursday evening meeting.

The meeting of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, February 9, at the Midtown Community Center’s Wildcat Den at 102 Robertsville Road. It’s open to the public.

Robert Johnson will present an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge. He will discuss the status of the park and announce upcoming events, a press release said.

Here are some links to website pages on the park, which also includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico:

Johnson is a junior at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He is from Johnson City, the press release said.

Johnson became interested in joining the National Park Service during a internship for the North Carolina State Parks and North Carolina Coastal Federation at Hammocks Beach State Park in Swansboro, North Carolina, the press release said. In his sophomore summer, Robert worked as a park ranger for Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois.

He has worked for the Student Conservation Asssociation for the last three months at the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, the Obed Wild and Scenic River, and Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II—before Germany could. It’s considered one of the most significant scientific and military projects of the 20th century.

Among other things, Oak Ridge, which was a production site with three large federal plants, enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime.

The new three-city national park, which was formally established in November 2015, is the first of its type to commemorate the Manhattan Project.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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