Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, seated at right, and UCOR President and Project Manager Ken Rueter, also seated, sign a license that allows UCOR, the federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, to start construction of the K-25 History Center on the second floor of the city-owned Fire Station Number Four at East Tennessee Technology Park on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Also pictured standing is Jay Mullis, acting manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)
Construction of the K-25 History Center could start early next year on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number Four at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. Officials celebrated with a signing ceremony and tours of the future home of the history center on Thursday. Here are photos from that event.
Artifact curator Steve Goodpasture, an environmental scientist for UCOR, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, shows the plans for the K-25 History Center, an Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower during a tour of the future home of the history center on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number Four on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A Criticality Unit is pictured above at the K-25 History Center ceremony at East Tennessee Technology Park on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. This vehicle and other similar units were positioned in process buildings used at the former K-25 site, which enriched uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. The vehicles could be used if a criticality accident occurred. That’s an uncontrolled nuclear fission chain reaction. The vehicle had borated water that would be sprayed on the area of the criticality to absorb neutrons, eliminating the criticality. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A phone and directory program are pictured above at the K-25 History Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
A clarion horn, used to warn workers of a radiation release, is pictured above at the K-25 History Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Artifacts are pictured above at the K-25 History Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Among them are an aluminum hard hat, a timer, a light switch cover, and a die set. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian and city historian, announces a book published posthumously that was written by Bill Wilcox, a former city historian, former technical director at K-25 and Y-12, and a passionate advocate for historic preservation, including the history of the former K-25 site. Smith announced the book at a ceremony unveiling plans for a K-25 History Center on the second floor of the city-owned fire station at the the former K-25 site, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park, on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Mick Wiest of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association is pictured above at the K-25 History Center ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, seated at right, and UCOR President and Project Manager Ken Rueter, also seated, sign a license that allows UCOR, the federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, to start construction of the K-25 History Center on the second floor of the city-owned Fire Station Number Four at East Tennessee Technology Park on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. Also pictured standing is Jay Mullis, acting manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Housing in 16-foot by 16-foot hutments is pictured above at the K-25 History Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Bicycles were used as a means of transportation around the large gaseous diffusion buildings, as pictured above at the K-25 History Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Plans for the K-25 History Center on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number Four were announced at the East Tennessee Technology Park on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Artifacts pictured above at the K-25 History Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017, are a porcelain electrical outlet, a personal notebook, and visitor passes. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The K-25 Control Room is pictured above at the K-25 History Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
An aerial view of the K-25 Building from 1947 is pictured above at the K-25 History Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The layout of the K-25 History Center on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number Four at East Tennessee Technology Park is pictured above on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
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)
More information will be added as it becomes available.
See our story from Thursday’s ceremony here.
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