Oak Ridge Today

Celebration of Oak Ridge’s 75th anniversary started Friday

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ORHPA city 75th Birthday Celeb Flyer 2

A reminder: The 14-month celebration of Oak Ridge’s 75th anniversary starts today (Friday, September 15).

Today’s celebration will feature guest speaker Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City” and “The Last Castle,” at 6 p.m. at the Historic Grove Theater. There will be a book signing, and Kiernan’s book will be available for sale.

Ed Westcott, the official government photographer in Oak Ridge during the top-secret Manhattan Project in World War II, will be the honored guest from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Family members Don and Emily Hunnicutt will present a slide show of Westcott photos with a question-and-answer session.

“You will never grow tired of Ed’s photographs, which tell the enormous Oak Ridge Manhattan Project story,” according to the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, which is presenting the celebration.

The celebration starts with historical displays at 2 p.m. There will be a wide variety of artifacts, posters, and displays for you to enjoy, the ORHPA said. [Read more…]

Council to consider construction contract for Peace Bell Pavilion

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oak-ridge-international-friendship-bell-side-scaled

Design of the Peace Pavilion for the Oak Ridge International Friendship Bell by Demian\Wilbur\Architects, Washington, D.C.

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider a construction contract for the Oak Ridge Peace Bell Pavilion. The contract, which would include associated site work, could be worth up to $440,000. It could be awarded to First Place Finish Inc. of Oak Ridge, the low bidder.

The new Peace Pell Pavilion would support the International Friendship Bell, which will continue to be at Alvin K. Bissell Park in central Oak Ridge but will move to a slightly different location within the park.

The contract award will be made after negotiations with First Place Finish to reduce the project scope to meet available funding, Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Director Jon Hetrick said in a September 5 memo to City Manager Mark Watson. The bids for the project exceeded the project budget, Hetrick said.

The bid from First Place Finish had a price of $698,900. The other bid, from Holston Construction Services LLC of Knoxville, had a price of $840,000. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge to begin 75th Anniversary Celebration in September

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Warren Gooch

Warren Gooch

Oak Ridge will begin its 75th Anniversary Celebration in September, a press release said.

Oak Ridge Mayor Warren L. Gooch announced Thursday that the city will form a committee to help coordinate and circulate information about the 75th anniversary, the press release said.

The 75th anniversary festivities will begin in September and continue through the end of 2018, the release said.

Among the planned events are a lecture presented by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association on September 15, 2017, titled “The Legacy of Place” by guest speaker Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City” and “The Last Castle.”

The Oak Ridge Fire Department plans to host “Then and Now,” a 1940s-era Fire Prevention Parade along Oak Ridge Turnpike on October 7, 2017.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex will celebrate the anniversaries of their respective beginnings as well, the press release said. [Read more…]

City wants to renovate fire station as DOE, contractors work on K-25 History Center

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K-25 History Center and Equipment Building

An image showing the K-25 History Center on the second floor of the city-owned fire station, right, at East Tennessee Technology Park, with the Equipment Building and Viewing Tower at left. (Graphic by David Brown/U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Note: This story was updated at 4:30 p.m.

Oak Ridge wants to renovate the fire station where the federal government and its contractors are building the K-25 History Center, a project that is expected to help preserve the history of the World War II-era Manhattan Project.

The K-25 History Center will be built on the second floor of Oak Ridge’s Fire Station Number 4. The fire station is at East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.

K-25 was one of three major federal sites built in Oak Ridge during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. That was a federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons, before Germany could.

K-25’s signature facility, the K-25 Building, has been demolished. But a 2012 agreement that allowed the complete demolition of that building, once the world’s largest building under one roof, called for the history center at the fire station, among other projects.

Work is proceeding on the K-25 History Center, Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said in a July 21 memo to City Manager Mark Watson. The K-25 History Center is a project of the U.S. Department of Energy and UCOR, DOE’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge.

As that project proceeds, several upgrades will be needed to the first floor of the city-owned fire station in order to create the required living space for fire department personnel, Kerley said. [Read more…]

Peace activists will remember Hiroshima, Nagasaki bombings, call for ban on nuclear weapons

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Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, is pictured above during a rally at Alvin K. Bissell Park on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Peace activists will have events in Oak Ridge and Knoxville starting Saturday and ending Wednesday that will recall the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II, and the activists will call for a ban on nuclear weapons.

The events have been organized by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. OREPA has events each August remembering the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II. The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime. Code-named “Little Boy,” the bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of the war.

OREPA has scheduled a Saturday event called “And We Are Saying Peace.” It will start at 12:30 p.m. with a concert and theater presentation at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge. Those who attend will call on the United States to join the countries that passed a legal treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons at the United Nations on July 7, a press release said.

The Saturday event will also mark the conclusion of a peace pilgrimage from Asheville, North Carolina, to Oak Ridge, led by the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji, the press release said. The walk left Asheville last Sunday and is expected to arrive at Bissell Park on Saturday. The final leg will leave Solway at 9 a.m. Saturday. [Read more…]

Senate bill recommends $8 million for K-25 historic preservation work

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K-25 Historic Preservation Footprint at ETTP

An image showing the footprint of the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park or Heritage Center. Built during World War II to enrich uranium, the K-25 Building has been demolished but its “footprint” has been preserved. This image shows the footprint at center, the K-25 History Center on the second floor of the city-owned fire station, front right, and the Equipment Building and Viewing Tower at front left. (Graphic by David Brown/U.S. Department of Energy)

 

A bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday recommends $8 million for K-25 historic preservation work.

If approved, the funding would help preserve the historic contributions that the K-25 Site made to the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

The historic preservation work is required under a 2012 agreement that allowed the complete demolition of the K-25 Building, which was once the world’s largest building under one roof.

The 2012 agreement allowed workers to demolish the North Tower at the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge. Historic preservationists had lobbied for years to save the North Tower.

In exchange for the complete demolition of K-25, the agreement, announced in August 2012, called for a replica equipment building, a viewing tower, and a history center at a city-owned fire station. It also included an online virtual museum and a $500,000 grant to buy and stabilize the historic Alexander Inn in central Oak Ridge, which has since been converted into an assisted living center. [Read more…]

Park Service program on women of the Manhattan Project on Saturday, July 29

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Y-12 Calutron Girls

Women enriching uranium in calutrons at Y-12 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. This is the “Calutron Girls” photograph by Manhattan Project photographer Ed Westcott.

 

Join National Park Service staff for an interpretive program on women of the Manhattan Project at the American Museum of Science and Energy on Saturday, July 29.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will present the free program at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 29.

“The program will outline the life for women before, during, and after World War II,” a press release said. “Come learn about the women of the project and how they shaped the nation for future generations.” [Read more…]

Oak Ridge could set up committee to celebrate its 75th anniversary

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Y-12 Calutron Girls

Women enriching uranium in calutrons at Y-12 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. The 75th anniversary of the city that became Oak Ridge and still includes Y-12 is Sept. 19, 2017. (Photo by Ed Westcott)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider setting up a committee to celebrate the city’s 75th anniversary.

Oak Ridge’s birthday has been recognized on September 19. That’s because the city that is now Oak Ridge was picked for the top-secret Manhattan Project on September 19, 1942, almost 75 years ago. That was the day that General Leslie Groves approved the acquisition of 59,000 acres of land along the Clinch River for what soon became the Manhattan Project, a federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs, before Germany could. Oak Ridge was then 90 square miles of East Tennessee farmland. It was the first site for Manhattan Project facilities.

By the time President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized the Manhattan Project on December 28, 1942, work on the East Tennessee site where the first production facilities were to be built was already under way.

Oak Ridge became the home of two uranium enrichment plants (K-25 and Y-12), a liquid thermal diffusion plant (S-50), and a pilot plutonium production reactor (X-10 Graphite Reactor). Groves approved Oak Ridge as the site for the pilot plutonium plant and the uranium enrichment plant in 1942. Manhattan Project engineers had to quickly build a town to accommodate 30,000 workers—as well as build the enormously complex plants. [Read more…]

Updated: Cange, former Oak Ridge cleanup manager, appointed visiting scholar at Vanderbilt

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Sue Cange, who was then manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, is pictured above at the end of demolition of the K-27 Building on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 12 p.m.

Sue Cange, former head of the federal government’s cleanup program in Oak Ridge, has been appointed as a visiting scholar at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

It’s a two-year appointment as a visiting scholar in civil and environmental engineering that started July 5, Vanderbilt University spokesperson Jim Patterson said. Cange has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Cange remains a paid U.S. Department of Energy employee, Patterson said. At Vanderbilt, she will help to establish a nuclear environmental engineering curriculum and internship program.

Cange is a former manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. She had most recently worked at U.S. Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, D.C. In December, she was named principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, or EM. She had previously been interim principal deputy assistant secretary, temporarily serving in the role formerly filled by Mark Whitney, who took a job in the private sector. Whitney is also a former manager of the Environmental Management program in Oak Ridge.

In January, Cange became acting assistant secretary for environmental management, the Exchange Monitor reported. She replaced Monica Regalbuto on a temporary basis, at about the time that President Donald Trump was inaugurated. Regalbuto was the Obama administration’s final appointee to the position that oversees DOE’s $6-billion-a-year legacy nuclear cleanup program.

But last week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that James M. Owendoff had been promoted to principal deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Environmental Management, or EM, replacing Cange. Owendoff had served as a senior adviser to the assistant EM secretary since January 2010, DOE said. [Read more…]

Carr to discuss history of Los Alamos Lab in talk in Oak Ridge next week

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Alan Carr

Alan Carr

 

Senior historian Alan B. Carr will discuss the history of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico during a talk in Oak Ridge next week, a press release said.

Carr will speak to the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association’s public and membership meeting on Tuesday, July 11. That meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. July 11 at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Robertsville Road.

(Note: The meeting will be held on Tuesday, not the second Thursday, the normal date for the ORHPA’s monthly meetings. This is being done to accommodate Carr’s schedule as he is coming to Oak Ridge on business travel and must leave on Thursday, the press release said.)

The press release said Carr currently serves as senior historian for Los Alamos National Laboratory. During his tenure as a laboratory historian, which began in 2003, Carr has produced several publications pertaining to the Manhattan Project, early nuclear weapons design, and nuclear testing history, the release said. [Read more…]

Letter: Submarine Veterans base commander ‘very disappointed’ with festival this year

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To the Editor:

The Smoky Mountain Submarine Veterans, the Knoxville chapter of the United States Submarine Veterans, has had a booth and performed a Tolling of the Boats Ceremony at the Secret City Festival for the last 11 years. I was very disappointed with the festival this year (Celebrate Our Heroes weekend). It was difficult to deal with the committee in charge of the event; each was helpful but compartmentalized and hard to communicate with as many were volunteers that had day jobs. There were no invitations to planning meetings for participants to get a feel for the event, get emergency information, or face-to-face communication. The parks and recreation people who we normally were able to get help from did not have the information I have found so helpful in the past.

I liked the idea of a separate weekend for veterans, but it seemed to have the effect of diluting the festival and participation was diminished. The food vendors had small or no lines. One of the speakers was Ed Harrell, a survivor of the USS Indianapolis sinking in World War II. Rather than speak to bleachers full of people facing the building and the many people strolling by on the main walkway through the festival, he was on the opposite side of the stage with a limited audience. There were no bleachers as there have been every other year. I have heard Ed speak in the past; this was a loss for those who may have heard him in a denser population of festival attendees.

The festival had fences everywhere dividing it into many individual venues rather than an open festival style setup that encourages a mingling social interface that feeds a festival atmosphere. Like a shopping center that entices people in to see many stores and stroll the halls, a festival is a community function, not a single endpoint of interest. [Read more…]

Reminder: Secret City Festival under way this week

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Pictured above are World War II re-enactor Ben Arnold, right, a board member of the Celebrate Oak Ridge task force, and Judi Gray. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Pictured above are World War II re-enactor Ben Arnold, right, a board member of the Celebrate Oak Ridge task force, and Judi Gray, who helped announce the musical entertainment scheduled for Friday, June 9, and Saturday, June 10. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 11:15 a.m. June 5.

A reminder: The new weeklong Secret City Festival is under way, and it started Friday, June 2. The festival is free, and it includes two weekends and two weekdays. Most of the events are at Alvin K. Bissell Park.

The first weekend (June 2-4) celebrated Oak Ridge and World War II history. A free family movie will be shown on Tuesday, June 6, and the arts will be celebrated on Wednesday, June 7. Music and art are the focus of the second weekend, June 9-10.

The festival has been organized by Celebrate Oak Ridge. A schedule of events is below, and a schedule for this weekend is also included.

Saturday, June 3, was a big day, organizers said. There were World War II re-enactments at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., speakers throughout the day, the Freedom Belles, USO show, and more at Bissell Park. Historic exhibitions continued at Midtown Community Center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. [Read more…]