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Atomic Heritage meets with Japanese mayors to discuss Manhattan Project park

Posted at 9:06 am May 8, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

AHF Meets with Nagasaki and Hiroshima Mayors

AHF President Cindy Kelly with Nagasaki Mayor Tomahisa Taue on her right and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui on her left. (Photo by AHF)

 

The Atomic Heritage Foundation, the nonprofit organization that worked for 15 years to create a Manhattan Project national park, met with the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this month to discuss how the story of the atomic bomb will be interpreted.

The meeting, which was held at the Institute of International Education at the United Nations Plaza in New York City, marked a “positive first step in opening a dialogue with the Japanese, whose input will be important to the interpretation of the new park,” a press release said. In addition to the two mayors, the Atomic Heritage Foundation also met with Japanese local government officials.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first nuclear weapons during World War II. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will include Oak Ridge; Los Alamos, New Mexico; and Hanford, Washington.

The meeting in New York City on Friday, May 1, began with opening remarks from Nagasaki Mayor Tomahisa Taue and Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui, who described the suffering of those affected by the atomic bombing, a press release said. They expressed hope that interpretation of the new Manhattan Project Park would not end with the dropping of the bomb but also “focus on what happened under the mushroom cloud.”

The United States dropped one bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, and a second over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Japan surrendered a few days later. Uranium for the first weapon, code-named “Little Boy,” was enriched at federal sites in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Nonprofits, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: AHF, Alexander Inn, atomic bomb, Atomic Heritage Foundation, bomb, Building 9204-3, Cindy Kelly, Cynthia Kelly, Graphite Reactor, Hanford, hibakusha, Hiroshima, Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation, Institute of International Education, Japan, Japan Confederation of A- and H- bomb Sufferers, K-25 Building, Kazumi Matsui, Little Boy, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Nagasaki, Nagasaki Global Citizens’ Assembly for the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, national park, National Park Service, nuclear weapons, Oak Ridge, Sueichi Kido, Tomahisa Taue, U.S. Department of Energy, World War II

DOE offers expanded public bus tours of federal sites in Oak Ridge

Posted at 1:19 pm April 25, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

DOE Public Bus Tour

Public bus tours of the U.S. Department of Energy’s facilities in Oak Ridge are now offered nine months of the year. (File photo courtesy DOE/Lynn Freeny)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s public bus tour of federal sites in Oak Ridge is now offered to visitors nine months out of the year, versus only summer months as in the past.

This popular tour of the 33,000-acre DOE Oak Ridge Reservation offers visitors a first-hand look at all of the DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities and provides historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 70-plus years.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular attraction for tourists visiting the area.  Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted approximately 35,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour DOE tour allows visitors to see the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation and learn about its rich history and how Oak Ridge became a secret city of 75,000 people with a mission to end World War II. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Reservation, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: American Museum of Science and Energy, AMSE, Bethel Cemetery, bus tour, CNS, Consolidated Nuclear Security, DOE, East Tennessee Technology Park, ETTP, gaseous diffusion, Graphite Reactor, K-25, Manhattan Project, National Nuclear Security Administration, National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office, New Bethel Baptist Church, New Hope Center, NNSA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Reservation, public bus tour, U.S. Department of Energy, UCOR, uranium, UT-Battelle, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

New one-megawatt solar array at Heritage Center can power 133 homes

Posted at 1:08 pm April 13, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Powerhouse Six Solar Array Ribbon-cutting April 9, 2015

Company executives and city and federal officials celebrate a new one-megawatt solar array at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge on Thursday with a ceremonial “plugging in.”

 

A new one-megawatt solar array at the Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge will provide enough clean energy to power 133 average-size homes per year, officials said.

Company and nonprofit executives joined city and federal officials for a ceremonial “plugging in” of the new Powerhouse Six photovoltaic solar array on Thursday.

The $1.8 million array has 3,268 solar modules, and it will be used to sell electric power to the Tennessee Valley Authority through the Oak Ridge Electric Department.

“We’re going live today,” said Gil Hough, renewable energy manager for RSI, or Restoration Services Inc., the Oak Ridge-based company that developed the array. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, East Tennessee Technology Park, ETTP, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Brightfield One, Brightfield One Solar Array, Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee, CROET, DOE, Earth Day, Eastbridge Business Park, Generation Partners, Gil Hough, Green Power Community of the Year, Heritage Center, K-25, LightWave Solar Inc., Oak Ridge Electric Department, Paul Clay, photovoltaic solar array, Plateau Partnership Park, Powerhouse Six, Powerhouse Six array, Renewable Standard Offer Solar Solutions Initiative, Restoration Services Inc., RSI, solar array, Steve Johnson, Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, UCOR, Valley Sustainable Communities, Vis Solis, Vis Solis LLC, Warren Gooch

Planning for national park, Park Service tours Jackson Square, K-25, ORNL, Y-12

Posted at 10:58 am March 27, 2015
By John Huotari 5 Comments

Vic Knox of National Park Service

Vic Knox (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

Note: This story was last updated at 12:37 p.m.

Planning for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park has started, and federal officials this week toured Jackson Square, the former K-25 site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Stops included the Alexander Inn, Chapel on the Hill, the former K-25 Building site, the Graphite Reactor at ORNL, and two buildings at Y-12: Building 9731, a pilot plant, and Building 9204-3, also known as Beta 3.

“Several of those sites are just amazing,” said Vic Knox, associate director of park planning, facilities, and lands for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. “They seem like they are just the way they were in 1943. It seems like they take you back in time.”

Oak Ridge was built as part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s fist atomic weapons during World War II. Besides Oak Ridge, the new national park includes Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Hanford, Washington. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Alexander Inn, American Museum of Science and Energy, AMSE, atomic weapons, B Reactor, Beta 3, Building 9204-3, Building 9731, bus tours, Chapel on the Hill, Clark Center Park, Colin Colverson, Congress, Graphite Reactor, Hanford, Heritage Center, Jackson Square, K-25, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, National Nuclear Security Administration, national park, National Park Service, NPS, Oak Ridge Civic Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, open house, ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Interior, Vic Knox, Waren Gooch, World War II, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

Big day: Main Street Oak Ridge, Manhattan Project Park on Thursday’s agenda

Posted at 7:58 pm March 25, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Main Street Oak Ridge Presentation

Pictured above during a presentation on Main Street Oak Ridge last week are Crosland Southeast partner James Downs, right; Barry James, Crosland Southeast senior vice president, center; and Houston E. Daugherty, Cannon and Cannon vice president.

 

A vote that could help Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall, is on Thursday’s agenda. So is an open house on the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

They are among two of the biggest projects in Oak Ridge in years, and both are considered key parts of an economic renaissance that also includes new business development along Oak Ridge Turnpike and South Illinois Avenue, a new Kroger Marketplace shopping center, the proposed multi-billion-dollar Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and the announcement by metal powder manufacturing company CVMR this month that it will move its operations from Toronto to Oak Ridge, investing $313 million and adding 620 jobs.

A rezoning has been requested for Main Street Oak Ridge. It will be considered by the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission during a meeting that starts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom. The Planning Commission will also consider a planned unit development, or PUD, master plan for the project. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Meetings and Events, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Barack Obama, Congress, Crosland Southeast, CVMR, DOE, Hanford, James Downs, Los Alamos, Main Street—Oak Ridge, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, National Park Service, Oak Ridge Civic Center, Oak Ridge Mall, Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commision, Oak Ridge Turnpike, planned unit development, PUD, South Illinois Avenue, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium processing facility, Warren Gooch, Y-12 National Security Complex

Planning to preserve history of K-25, which could be part of national park

Posted at 4:38 pm March 25, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

K-25 Building Aerial View

Now demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building, pictured above, was once used to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Located in west Oak Ridge, the site could become part of a new Manhattan Project National Historical Park. There is a separate effort to preserve K-25’s history; that work could be incorporated into the new park. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

 

It was once the world’s largest building under one roof and part of the one of the largest industrial projects ever, a top-secret program to build the world’s first atomic weapons in World War II.

Today the building is gone—demolition was completed in December 2013—but the stories of what took place inside the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building could live on in a replica equipment building, viewing tower, and history center.

And K-25 could become part of a new Manhattan Project National Historical Park approved by Congress in December and signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 19. The 14-page bill was the culmination of 15 years of work, said Colin Colverson, Manhattan Project Park lead in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.

The law recognizes the Manhattan Project as one of the most significant events in U.S. history, with assets and history that must be preserved. It’s considered one of the top scientific achievements of the 20th century, and Oak Ridge residents still marvel at how quickly the three local sites (K-25, X-10, and Y-12) were built and began operating in all-out race to build an atomic bomb before Germany. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, ETTP, Front Page News, Meetings and Events, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Alexander Inn, American Museum of Science and Energy, Atomic Heritage Foundation, atomic weapons, B Reactor, Barack Obama, Beta 3, Building 9204-3, Building 9731, City of Oak Ridge, Cold War, Colin Colverson, Congress, Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series, DOE, equipment building, Friends of ORNL, gaseous diffusion, Graphite Reactor, Hanford, Heritage Center, history center, K-25, K-25 Building, K-25 history, Karen Doughty, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Manhattan Project park, Mark Watson, National Park Service, nuclear weapons, Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board, ORNL, Ray Smith, scientific achievement, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Interior, uranium, viewing tower, World War II, X-10, Y-12

UCOR accepting proposals for new education mini-grant program

Posted at 12:53 pm March 22, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

UCOR Logo

UCOR, the federal government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, is accepting proposals from area schools for educational grants with a specific goal of enabling new instructional methods in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM.

UCOR is a partnership between URS and CH2M Oak Ridge LLC.

The UCOR Education Mini-Grants will be awarded directly to teachers and schools for specific projects. All teachers are welcome to apply, but proposals should focus on STEM projects. For instance, a music teacher might apply for a grant for a math-related project within the field of music.

Schools in Roane, Anderson, Loudon, Knox, and Morgan counties are eligible to submit proposals. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Education, Front Page News, K-12, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: educational grants, Ken Rueter, mini grants, science technology engineering and math, STEM, UCOR, UCOR Education Mini-Grants, Veronica O'Hearn

K-25 historic preservation the subject of Thursday lecture

Posted at 1:59 am March 11, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

K-25 Footprint

A view of the K-25 footprint. (Image courtesy Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association)

 

The project to preserve the history of the former K-25 Building, once the world’s largest building under one roof, will be discussed during a Thursday evening lecture in Oak Ridge.

It’s the opening of the 18th Annual Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series. It’s jointly sponsored by Friends of ORNL and the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association.

The presentation will provide an update on the K-25 historic preservation efforts by the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management, a press release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, East Tennessee Technology Park, Front Page News, Meetings and Events, Nonprofits, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: American Museum of Science and Energy, AMSE, Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series, DOE Environmental Management, East Tennessee Technology Park, Friends of ORNL, Heritage Center, K-25, K-25 Building, K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant, K-25 Historic Preservation, Karen Doughty, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, ORHPA

Wanted: ‘Calutron Girls’

Posted at 10:35 pm February 16, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Y-12 Calutron Girls

The famous “Calutron Girls” photograph by Manhattan Project photographer Ed Westcott that prompted Denise Kiernan to write the best-seller “The Girls of Atomic City.”

 

Submitted

Wanted! “Calutron Girls” who worked at Y-12 during the Manhattan Project.

The Japanese Public Broadcasting Corporation wants to produce a documentary film to commemorate the end of World War II. Their program director representative has contacted Y-12 National Security Complex Historian D. Ray Smith and wants to interview some women who worked on the calutrons at Y-12. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, East Tennessee Technology Park, Entertainment, Front Page News, Movies, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: atomic bomb, Calutron Girls, Colleen Black, Denise Kiernan, documentary, Hiroshima, Japanese Public Broadcasting Corporation, K-25, Manhattan Project, Ray Smith, The Girls of Atomic City, World War II, Y-12

Alexander to chair Energy, Water Subcommittee, which oversees Oak Ridge funding

Posted at 2:33 pm January 20, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander has been elected chair of a Senate subcommittee that oversees funding for federal sites in Oak Ridge, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Nuclear Security Complex.

Alexander, who is a Tennessee Republican, was elected chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development by Senate Republicans on Tuesday, his office said in a press release.

“If we’re going to power our 21st-century economy, we need to pursue policies that don’t pick winners and losers in the marketplace, and that instead enable innovation in our free enterprise system,” Alexander said. “That means unleashing nuclear power and other sources of the cheap, clean, reliable energy we need. It also means using our taxpayer dollars wisely: by supporting government-sponsored research that leads to innovation and jobs, and by controlling the costs of big construction projects in Tennessee and across the country.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Government, National Nuclear Security Administration, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Appropriations Committee, energy, Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Energy and Water Appropriations, Energy and Water Subcommittee, Lamar Alexander, nuclear power, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Republicans, research, Senate, Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, Tennessee, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex

Former Wackenhut security officer indicted for theft of public funds

Posted at 6:09 pm December 18, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

KNOXVILLE—A federal grand jury in Knoxville has indicted a former security officer at a federal site in Oak Ridge for allegedly stealing U.S. government property and money laundering, officials said Thursday.

Sarah Parker, 52, of Dandridge, Tennessee, was indicted Tuesday, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a press release. Parker was employed as an officer for security contractor Wackenhut Services Inc. at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in Oak Ridge.

She appeared in court on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley Jr. and pleaded not guilty to the charges in the three-count indictment, Killian said. She was released pending trial, which has been set for February 17, 2015, in United States District Court in Knoxville. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Government, Police and Fire, Top Stories, U.S., U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: C. Clifford Shirley Jr., East Tennessee Technology Park, ETTP, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Frank M. Dale Jr., grand jury, indictment, Office of the Inspector General, Sarah Parker, security protective officer, U.S. Department of Energy, Wackenhut Services Inc.

DOE comment period on K-33 land transfer ends Thursday

Posted at 12:35 pm October 22, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

ETTP ED11 and K-33 Notice of Document Availability Oak Ridge, TN

The public comment period for the transfer of about 136 acres at the East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site) ends Thursday, October 23.

The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed transferring the land, known as the Former K-33 Area at the ETTP Heritage Center, for mixed-use economic development purposes.

The Former K-33 area is located in the northwest portion of the Heritage Center and includes the site of the now-demolished K-33 Building. No buildings are included in the transfer. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge Office, Sponsored Posts, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: East Tennessee Technology Park, ETTP, Former K-33 Area, Heritage Center, K-33, K-33 land transfer, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Steve Cooke

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