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DNFSB: Moving fissile materials, operations from Y-12 building improves nuclear safety, reduces risk

Posted at 12:44 pm October 7, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

Building 9204-2 (Beta 2) is pictured above at center at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Part of Building 9204-2E (Beta 2E) is pictured in the top left. (Photo courtesy Consolidated Nuclear Security)

 

Nuclear materials and operations have been removed from an old building at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and that improves safety and reduces the risk to workers and the public, a federal safety board said.

The building, 9204-2, or Beta 2, is on the west side of Y-12. It’s one of nine buildings at the 811-acre site that once used machines known as calutrons to enrich uranium for atomic bombs as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. It’s now used to produce lithium for nuclear weapons.

In an early September report, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said Consolidated Nuclear Security and the National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office had officially downgraded Building 9204-2. It had been a category two hazard, but it is now less than category three. It’s considered non-nuclear.

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Filed Under: Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Front Page News, National Nuclear Security Administration, Premium Content, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: 9204-2, 9204-2E, 9731, alpha calutrons, atomic bombs, Atomic Heritage Foundation, B&W Y-12, Beta 2E, Beta 3, beta calutrons, Building 9204-2, Building 9204-2E, Building 9204-3, calutrons, category two hazard, CNS, Consolidated Nuclear Security, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, DNFSB, electromagnetic separation, Ellen Boatner, enriched uranium, Ernest O. Lawrence, fissile material, K-25, lithium, lithium production facility, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Meredith J. Manning, National Nuclear Security Administration, National Nuclear Security Administration Production Office, NNSA Production Office, nuclear operations, nuclear weapons, Pilot Plant, Ray Smith, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium enrichment, uranium isotopes, uranium-235, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

Atomic Heritage Foundation launches new audio, visual program on Oak Ridge

Posted at 1:57 pm January 26, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Bill Wilcox 90th Birthday Party

Oak Ridge City Historian Bill Wilcox, who died in 2013, was a longtime advocate for preserving the city’s history, including parts of its federal facilities. Wilcox is pictured above at his 90th birthday party in the spring of 2013.

 

Submitted

“There was construction going on everywhere you looked,” Bill Wilcox remembered, describing his first impressions of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. “Trucks and people just crawling all over the place, hammers and banging. Wooden structures going up everywhere. Nothing was paved, and there weren’t any sidewalks.”

Wilcox was one of the thousands of people who moved to the new “Secret City” of Oak Ridge to work on the Manhattan Project, the top-secret World War II effort to develop an atomic bomb.

The Atomic Heritage Foundation has launched a new online interpretive program on Oak Ridge with 16 audio/visual vignettes. This beta program is part of AHF’s “Ranger in Your Pocket” series on the Manhattan Project, which focuses on former Manhattan Project sites and features vignettes with eyewitness accounts and expert commentary. AHF welcomes feedback and will improve and expand upon the program over the next year, a press release said.

In September 1942, Manhattan Project director General Leslie Groves designated “Site X,” approximately 59,000 acres of land on the Clinch River in rural eastern Tennessee, as the site for the project’s uranium production facilities. Approximately 3,000 people living in the area in five small farming communities were forced to leave their homes and land with minimal compensation. Construction of a new city began at breakneck speed. By the end of World War II, some 75,000 people would call Oak Ridge home, making it the fifth-largest city in Tennessee. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Front Page News, Government, Nonprofits, Oak Ridge, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: atomic bomb, Atomic Heritage Foundation, Bill Wilcox, calutrons, Clinch River, Colleen Black, Denise Kiernan, electromagnetic separation, enriched uranium, gaseous diffusion, Gladys Evans, Hiroshima, IEEE Foundation, K-25, Leslie Groves, liquid thermal diffusion, Manhattan Project, Mary Lowe Michel, nuclear reactor, Oak Ridge, online interpretive program, Philip Abelson, plutonium production, Ranger in Your Pocket, Ray Stein, S-50, Site X, uranium enrichment, uranium isotopes, uranium production, William S. “Deak” Parsons, World War II, X-10, X-10 Graphite Reactor, Y-12

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

Posted at 3:34 pm July 8, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: Community, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge Tagged With: 75th anniversary, American Museum of Science and Energy, Atomic Heritage Foundation, Bill Wilcox, calutrons, Celebrate Oak Ridge, Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, Clinton Engineer Works, Explore Oak Ridge, first atomic bombs, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jackson Square, K-25, Leslie Groves, liquid thermal diffusion, Manhattan Project, Mark Watson, Mick Wiest, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, pilot plutonium production, Ray Smith, S-50, Site X, steering committee, Tom Beehan, uranium enrichment, Warren Gooch, World War II, X-10 Graphite Reactor, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

Coors, the beer brewer, honored for Manhattan Project work on Y-12 ceramic insulators

Posted at 11:26 am December 14, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

bill-coors-manhattan-project-recognition

From left to right standing are Colin Colverson, Oak Ridge Site Representative and Office of General Counsel; Padraic Benson, historian, Office of Legacy Management; Tracy Atkins, Principal Representative Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Office of Legacy Management; and Thomas Pauling, Acting Director, Office of Legacy Management. Seated in front is Bill Coors. (Photo courtesy DOE Office of Legacy Management)

 

William Kistler “Bill” Coors is best known for the beer brewed in the Rocky Mountains, but he was honored by federal officials this month for his historic work building ceramic insulators that were used in Oak Ridge to help build the world’s first atomic bombs.

On December 2, Coors received the Energy Secretary’s Appreciation Award in Golden, Colorado, which is west of Denver and at the base of the Rocky Mountains.

The award was presented by U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management Acting Director Thomas Pauling. It recognizes Coors’ historic role in providing critical insulators to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Manhattan Engineer District, also known as the Manhattan Project, during World War II, a press release said. The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during the war—before Germany could.

The ceramic insulators were used in uranium enrichment operations at the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, which was built as part of the Manhattan Project. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Federal, Government, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: atomic bombs, atomic weapons, Berkeley Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, calutrons, ceramic insulators, Coors Porcelain Company, Energy Secretary's Appreciation Award, Fat Man, Hiroshima, Japan, Leslie Groves, Little Boy, Los Alamos, Manhattan Engineer District, Manhattan Project, Nagasaki, Richard Condit, Thomas Pauling, U.S. Armed Forces, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management, uranium enrichment, uranium-235, William Kistler "Bill" Coors, World War II, Y-12 Plant

On Senate floor, Alexander honors nuclear workers, Bill Wilcox, Calutron Girls

Posted at 8:04 am October 31, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

Sen. Lamar Alexander spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday in honor of nuclear weapons program workers. Among those he honored were Bill Wilcox and the Calutron Girls.

Wilcox was a Manhattan Project veteran, former technical director at the K-25 site and Y-12 National Security Complex, and Oak Ridge city historian.

Wednesday was the fifth annual National Day of Remembrance for nuclear weapons program workers. It had been recognized under a resolution that Alexander cosponsored earlier this year.

Here are the senator’s full remarks: [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: American Museum of Science and Energy, Bill Wilcox, Calutron Girls, calutrons, city historian, Cold War, Cold War Patriots, Congress, Department of Labor, Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, K-25, Lamar Alexander, Leslie Groves, Manhattan Project, National Day of Remembrance, nuclear program workers, nuclear workers, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, radiation, Tennessee Eastman, toxic materials, U.S. Senate, uranium, World War II, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

Tuesday morning ceremony near Y-12 recalls Hiroshima bombing

Posted at 12:14 pm August 5, 2013
By John Huotari 1 Comment

OREPA Protest at Y-12 National Security Complex

A Tuesday morning ceremony in front of the Y-12 National Security Complex will recall the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, near the end of World War II. Y-12 enriched uranium for the bomb. Pictured above are protesters at last year’s annual event.

A Tuesday morning ceremony near the Y-12 National Security Complex will recall the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, during World War II, organizers said.

The annual event at the front of Y-12 includes a Names and Remembrance Ceremony. It’s sponsored by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance.

Organizers say they will “raise voices in solidarity with survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima who say, ‘Never Again!’” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Federal, Government, Nonprofits, Top Stories, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: bombing, calutrons, Fat Man, highly enriched uranium, Hiroshima, Japan, Little Boy, Nagasaki, Names and Remembrance Ceremony, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, OREPA, plutonium, Ralph Hutchison, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

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Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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