Cold War Archives - Oak Ridge Today

DOE awards $91 million contract for Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12

Posted at 8:51 am December 5, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $91 million contract to build the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

It’s part of an effort to reduce the amount of mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of several large Y-12 buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

The contract, which could be in place for up to four years, was awarded to APTIM-North Wind Construction JV LLC, DOE said Tuesday. [Read more…]

(For members) NNSA modernizing weapons as U.S. nuclear stockpile shrinks

Posted at 3:44 pm December 2, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile continues to shrink and it’s gotten older, but the National Nuclear Security Administration, which has a site in Oak Ridge, has four modernization programs under way. That’s the busiest the NNSA has been since the Cold War era, Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty said in a report to Congress in October.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, which enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime, has been involved in the work to modernize some weapons and dismantle others as the stockpile changes.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, includes more information about Y-12’s work on nuclear weapons and a series of nine questions and answers with Hans M. Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at Federation of American Scientists.

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Manhattan Project Park premieres Minuteman missile film on Saturday

Posted at 5:46 pm April 20, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will have a special premiere showing of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site film, “Beneath the Plains,” in Oak Ridge on Saturday, April 21, 2018. (Submitted photo)

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will have a special premiere showing of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site film, “Beneath the Plains,” in Oak Ridge on Saturday.

The film showing is scheduled at 3 p.m. Saturday at the American Museum of Science and Energy, which is at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The 30-minute film gives visitors a glimpse of how 1,000 missiles were kept on constant alert, a press release said.

“Hidden in plain sight during the Cold War, these nuclear weapons stood as a deterrent against a nuclear attack to the United States and its allies,” the press release said. [Read more…]

Three subcontracts awarded for new K-25 History Center

Posted at 2:53 pm February 8, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

This is a rendering of the exterior of the K-25 History Center, center, on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4 at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. Also planned are an Equipment Building and Viewing Tower. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor URS|CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, or UCOR, has awarded three subcontracts totaling more than $5.3 million to construct, conduct site improvements, and fabricate and install exhibits for the K-25 History Center at the East Tennessee Technology Park.

The history center will occupy 7,500 square feet in the second floor of the existing, city-owned Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4. The building is adjacent to the K-25 Building’s 44-acre footprint, which is now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The history center will include a theater and interactive galleries that display equipment, artifacts, and other media to highlight the site’s workers and numerous Manhattan Project and Cold War-era accomplishments, a press release said.

UCOR awarded two subcontracts for construction and site improvements to North Wind Construction Services LLC of Knoxville, and it awarded a third subcontract for exhibit fabrication and installation to Formations Inc. of Portland, Oregon, the press release said. [Read more…]

New Oak Ridge EM manager Jay Mullis outlines cleanup vision

Posted at 11:41 am November 24, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Jay Mullis

Note: This story was published in the November 21 edition of “EM Update” by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management. EM Update recently spoke with Jay Mullis, the new manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM), about his vision and priorities for the EM program in Oak Ridge.

What are your main priorities going forward as the new manager of OREM?

Overall, I want to ensure our program maintains the momentum we’ve achieved during the past several years. First, it is important for us to continue pushing forward to complete cleanup at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP, also known as the former K-25 site) by 2020. This will facilitate the transfer of the site back to the community so it can be transformed into a vibrant industrial park capable of generating jobs and economic growth for the region. It will also allow our program to shift its focus and resources toward cleanup at two important, active DOE sites: the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Before we finish our cleanup mission at ETTP, we must also fulfill our historic preservation commitments to preserve and celebrate the many achievements that occurred there during the Manhattan Project and Cold War.

Secondly, it is very important that we begin laying the foundation for our next big challenges at Y-12 and ORNL. That began on November 20, when we broke ground on the new Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12. This critical piece of infrastructure will provide an important control measure for mercury and opens the door for us to clean and remove mercury contaminated facilities and soils. Additionally, it is crucial to construct another onsite disposal facility that will provide the space necessary for the waste generated by completing cleanup at Y-12 and ORNL.

Finally, we will continue our focus on eliminating Oak Ridge’s waste inventory. We are making progress packaging and disposing transuranic waste from ORNL with the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant again accepting shipments. We are working to eliminate the remaining portion of the uranium-233 inventory from ORNL to improve safety and significantly reduce security costs. [Read more…]

The legacy of Bill Wilcox lives on at K-25 History Center

Posted at 10:01 am October 20, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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 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 K-25, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park, on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

He was a passionate advocate for preserving Oak Ridge’s history.

He was known for his bow ties and captivating storytelling. He once led the effort to save the former K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge, or at least part of it.

Now the legacy of Bill Wilcox will live on at the K-25 History Center.

Construction on the history center could start early next year on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number Four. That fire station, previously transferred to the city, is on the south side of the former K-25 Building at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge.

Officials preparing for the construction of the history center gave tours of its future home at the fire station on Thursday. The tours followed a lunchtime celebration that featured tributes to Wilcox and included speeches and presentations by U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge officials, and federal contractors and historic preservation advocates. Wilcox was hailed as the “father of K-25 historic preservation.”

“He would have been really proud,” said Ray Smith, Wilcox’s friend and Y-12 National Security Complex historian and city historian. “His legacy lives on.” [Read more…]

Updated: Cange, former Oak Ridge cleanup manager, appointed visiting scholar at Vanderbilt

Posted at 12:05 am July 7, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Sue Cange, who was then manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, is pictured above at the end of demolition of the K-27 Building on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

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

Sue Cange, former head of the federal government’s cleanup program in Oak Ridge, has been appointed as a visiting scholar at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

It’s a two-year appointment as a visiting scholar in civil and environmental engineering that started July 5, Vanderbilt University spokesperson Jim Patterson said. Cange has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Cange remains a paid U.S. Department of Energy employee, Patterson said. At Vanderbilt, she will help to establish a nuclear environmental engineering curriculum and internship program.

Cange is a former manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. She had most recently worked at U.S. Department of Energy headquarters in Washington, D.C. In December, she was named principal deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, or EM. She had previously been interim principal deputy assistant secretary, temporarily serving in the role formerly filled by Mark Whitney, who took a job in the private sector. Whitney is also a former manager of the Environmental Management program in Oak Ridge.

In January, Cange became acting assistant secretary for environmental management, the Exchange Monitor reported. She replaced Monica Regalbuto on a temporary basis, at about the time that President Donald Trump was inaugurated. Regalbuto was the Obama administration’s final appointee to the position that oversees DOE’s $6-billion-a-year legacy nuclear cleanup program.

But last week, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that James M. Owendoff had been promoted to principal deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Environmental Management, or EM, replacing Cange. Owendoff had served as a senior adviser to the assistant EM secretary since January 2010, DOE said. [Read more…]

‘Atomic Integration,’ photo exhibit on African-American life during Manhattan Project, opens Feb. 23

Posted at 10:41 am February 9, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

African American Post Office 1940s (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

In honor of Black History Month, the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce will host “Atomic Integration,” a photography exhibition focusing on African-American life during the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, a press release said. The month-long exhibit will open on Thursday, February 23, with a reception starting at 4:30 p.m.

The photo exhibit is sponsored by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, and Explore Oak Ridge.

The images displayed in the photo exhibit illustrate the experiences and contributions of African-Americans during the Manhattan Project period during the 1940s in Oak Ridge, the press release said. [Read more…]

Historic day: Last wall to be demolished at last of big five uranium-enriching buildings at ETTP (K-25)

Posted at 4:51 pm August 25, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The last wall of the last of the big five buildings once used to enrich uranium at the former K-25 site will be demolished Tuesday. A section of the K-27 Building, the last to be demolished, is pictured above on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016. (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)

The last wall of the last of the big five buildings once used to enrich uranium at the former K-25 site will be demolished Tuesday.

Demolition on the last building, the K-27 Building, started in February.

The other four buildings—K-25, K-29, K-31, and K-33—were demolished between 2006 and 2015. All five of the huge buildings once used a process called gaseous diffusion to produce highly enriched uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants, starting during World War II and continuing through the Cold War. The largest was K-25, a mile-long U-shaped building.

When K-27 demolition is complete, it will be the first time that all of a site’s uranium-enriching gaseous diffusion buildings will have been cleaned up anywhere in the world, officials said.

“Demolition eliminates environmental hazards and prepares the land for productive reuse through deindustrialization,” a media advisory said. [Read more…]

Demolition could start this year on K-27, last of five gaseous diffusion buildings

Posted at 2:52 pm January 2, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The interior of the K-27 Building, which once enriched uranium through a process called gaseous diffusion, is pictured above on March 30, 2015. (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)

Information from Oak Ridge Today and the January 2016 issue of “Advocate,” a publication of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board

Demolition work could start early this year on the K-27 Building, the last of five gaseous diffusion buildings at the former K-25 site, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park or Heritage Center. The giant buildings were once used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, starting during World War II and continuing through the Cold War.

Deactivation work continues at the K-27 Building, preparing it for demolition. At the beginning of December, deactivation of the building was more than 96 percent complete. Workers continue to remove transite paneling on the building, but that job is 80 percent complete.

Sue Cange, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, has previously said that demolition work could start on the building in early 2016 and be complete by the end of the year.

Demolition work on the former K-31 Building, the fourth of the five buildings to be demolished, was completed in June. [Read more…]

Manhattan Project Park formally established in DC ceremony

Posted at 11:20 am November 10, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Sally-Jewell-Ernest-Moniz-Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Nov-10-2015-1

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shortly after they signed a memorandum of agreement and created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung.)

Note: This story was last updated at 9 a.m. Nov. 11.

After more than a decade of work, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior formally established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday. The new park, which includes Oak Ridge, commemorates one of the signature scientific achievements of the 20th century. It was formally established when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C.

The unique, three-site Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It’s the nation’s 409th park.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II—before Germany could. It was an unprecedented national program, a world-changing event that harnessed the atom, and the largest industrial project ever, employing 130,000 people at just the three park sites. Whole cities and gigantic industrial plants were built in just a few short years, and Oak Ridge quickly swelled to a population of 75,000. Plants like the B Reactor at Hanford, the world’s first large-scale plutonium production reactor, were built in 11 months, still considered a marvelous feat today. The Manhattan Project is credited with helping to end World War II through its creation of the two atomic bombs dropped over Japan in August 1945.

During Tuesday’s ceremony, officials said the Manhattan Project was a groundbreaking scientific and engineering achievement that helped end the war, ushered in the nuclear age and new discoveries, and determined how the Cold War would be fought. But it also raised important moral questions about the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons. Officials vowed to tell all sides of the story during the signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday morning.

“You can trust us with this story,” National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said. “We will be fair to all.” [Read more…]

First Community School seminar focuses on early Oak Ridge history

Posted at 11:53 am September 7, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

D. Ray Smith

The first of the three Community School evening seminars focusing on management of legacy wastes from Oak Ridge will feature local historian D. Ray Smith. The seminar will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 15, at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

In his presentation, “Stories from the Secret City,” Smith will give an overview of early Oak Ridge history including how the East Tennessee location was selected and the predictions the “Prophet of Oak Ridge.” In material provided about the presentation, Smith said that many Ed Westcott historical images will form the backdrop for the stories of the history of Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project. A primary focus will be the Y-12 National Security Complex, which produced the uranium for the first atomic bomb, with some Oak Ridge National Laboratory history included as well.

He said he will touch on the Cold War Era and today’s Oak Ridge missions, and time permitting, give an update on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. A concluding activity of the first seminar will be an Oak Ridge mapping exercise, led by Community School staff. [Read more…]