Oak Ridge Today

K-25 cleanup shifting to groundwater

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An aerial view of the East Tennessee Technology Park shows the Main Plant Area left of Poplar Creek and the K-31 and K-33 Area at right. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management)

Crews are expected to finish remediating soil, reversing or stopping environmental damage at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge this year, and federal cleanup managers are shifting their focus to groundwater. It’s the final phase of cleanup at the former uranium enrichment site.

Now also referred to as Heritage Center and East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the K-25 site produced fuel for nuclear weapons and reactors starting in the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II and continuing through the Cold War. The site has been shut down for almost four decades, and a massive cleanup project has been under way for many years.

The groundwater work can begin with the recent signing of two records of decision between the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. That’s according to “EM Update,” an electronic newsletter published by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.

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K-25 site has first reunion

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Jim Young was the oldest retiree in attendance at the recent K-25 site reunion. The 101-year-old started working at the K-25 site as a security guard in May 1944. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

From “EM Update” newsletter

Long vacant parking lots at the former K-25 site at Oak Ridge were full again on a recent Saturday afternoon as retired employees gathered for a first-ever reunion.

“There are some folks here that I have not seen since I retired,” said Bob Merriman, who began working at the K-25 site in 1963. “It’s amazing to be able to visit with them and to see them still doing well.”

What started as a plan to host a small picnic quickly turned into much more.

“I said we’ll have it down here at Turtle Park in Oak Ridge, but I think I’m going to open it up to all K-25 workers,” said Pam Toon, an event organizer who started work at the site in 1987. “When I did, massive amounts of people signed up.”

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Updated: K-25 Viewing Platform will be built

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Artist rendering of the new Viewing Platform, which will be located next to the recently constructed K-25 History Center overlooking the footprint of the K-25 Building. (Artist renderings by David Brown)

Note: This story was updated at 9 a.m. Feb. 4.

Two federal agencies have agreed to build a K-25 Viewing Platform at the historic site in west Oak Ridge that was used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants during World War II and the Cold War. The design is expected to be complete in March and the building completed by the end of 2023.

The construction agreement for the viewing building at the former K-25 site was signed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The viewing platform will give visitors a view of the large 44-acre footprint of the former K-25 Building. K-25, which was the world’s largest building, was erected during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to help enrich uranium for the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. The K-25 Building was demolished in 2013, and many other structures at the site have been removed as the federal government turns over property for private development.

The K-25 Building site itself is now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. That project commemorates the workers, equipment, and processes used during the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The K-25 Viewing Platform and associated exhibits are the final components of a multi-project agreement that the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management signed in 2012, clearing the way for demolition of the North Tower of the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building. The projects commemorate the history of the K-25 site, which has also been known as the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant.

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‘Mud’ photography exhibit opens at K-25 History Center on Thursday

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The new K-25 History Center will be hosting “Mud, a Photographic Exhibition of Life in the Secret City.” The exhibit will open on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, and it will be available for viewing through the month of March. (Submitted photo)

The new K-25 History Center will be hosting “Mud, a Photographic Exhibition of Life in the Secret City.” The exhibit will open on Thursday, February 27, and it will be available for viewing through the month of March.

There will be a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the K-25 History Center at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 27.

During World War II, Oak Ridge was a quickly built as a secret government town of 70,000 workers who lived in a camp-like environment of barbed wire, security checkpoints, and code words, a press release said. Workers were fingerprinted, interviewed, assigned a job, and given a clearance badge. Housing was limited and cramped and often unheated.

Oak Ridgers who ventured into Knoxville were easy to spot. The quickly constructed secret city was blanketed in a thick layer of mud. As a result, its residents’ muddy shoes were a dead giveaway as to their origin. “The muddy conditions of Oak Ridge during the war was a commonality that all residents, regardless of occupation, had to contend with,” the press release said.

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K-25 Equipment Building & Viewing Tower: Design complete, construction funding available

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An outside view showing the K-25 History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

An image published in October 2017 shows the K-25 History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. It wasn’t immediately clear Friday evening, Jan. 11, 2019, if the design has changed. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

 

The design is complete and funding is available for the construction of an Equipment Building and Viewing Tower that will help commemorate the history of the K-25 Building, once the world’s largest building under one roof.

K-25 was built in Oak Ridge during World War II to help enrich uranium for the Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons. During the war, Oak Ridge enriched the uranium for “Little Boy,” the first atomic bomb used in wartime. “Little Boy” was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of World War II.

After the war, the four-story, 44-acre K-25 Building and four other large buildings at the K-25 site continued to use a process known as gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Officials say the K-25 site, which is in west Oak Ridge, helped win the Cold War.

After decades of use, the K-25 site was shut down in the mid-1980s, and as part of a cleanup effort in recent years, the five large gaseous diffusion buildings have been demolished. But the history of the K-25 building and the site will live on in a History Center on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4, which is next to K-25’s concrete slab, and at the Equipment Building and Viewing Tower, which will be just west of the History Center.

The History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower will be on the south side of the former K-25 Building. The site is now known as Heritage Center or East Tennessee Technology Park. [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…]

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…]

Construction could start this year 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)

 

Construction could start this year on the K-25 History Center at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge, federal officials said. Plans also call for an Equipment Building and Viewing Tower at the site. Although the projects depend upon funding, the goal is to finish the work by 2019.

The K-25 site was one of three large sites built by the federal government in Oak Ridge during World War II to help make the world’s first atomic weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. The other two sites were X-10, which is now known as Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12, now the Y-12 National Security Complex.

At K-25, the three history-related facilities will have three missions. The History Center will tell the story of the workers. The Equipment Building will focus on the technology. And the Viewing Tower will show visitors the size of the site. All three facilities will be on the south side of the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building.

K-25 used a process called gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and, later, for commercial nuclear power plants. Officials and contractors have said that K-25 helped win the Cold War. The site is now known as Heritage Center or East Tennessee Technology Park.

Preserving its history is part of a Memorandum of Agreement that was signed in August 2012 and allowed for the complete demolition of K-25, once the world’s largest building under one roof. The historic preservation work is expected to cost about $20 million total. [Read more…]