The water tower, the tallest structure at the East Tennessee Technology Park, will be demolished in early August. It’s been part of the skyline at the former K-25 site for more than 50 years. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge Office)
The water tower, the tallest structure at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge, will be demolished in early August, officials said.
The checkerboard water tower has been part of the skyline at ETTP, the former K-25 site, for more than 50 years.
The 382-foot-tall structure is officially called the K-1206-F Fire Water Tower, and it has a capacity of 400,000 gallons. It serviced the site’s fire protection system until a few weeks ago. The structure has become deteriorated over the years, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office said in the August issue of “Public Involvement News.”
“The tower will be brought down through a controlled explosive demolition by UCOR and its subcontracting partners—Veterans Contracting Solutions LLC and Controlled Demolition Inc.,” DOE said.
The K-25 site was built during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project, the top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons. The site was shut down in the mid-1980s and is slowly being converted into a massive industrial park.
UCOR is DOE’s cleanup contractor for the Oak Ridge Reservation, and the company is a partnership between URS and CH2M Oak Ridge LLC.
George Lopez says
I was working at Hanford when they tried to use explosives to fell their two water towers. . After the explosives were detonated the towers still stood. They ended up cutting them with a torch and pulling them over.