It took about 20 minutes to demolish the last section of the North End of the historic K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge on Wednesday morning. Shut down for several decades, K-25 was built to enrich uranium during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, and it was once the world’s largest building under one roof.
Watch the last section of the North End crash to the ground in this video:
Work crews demolish the last section of the North End of the historic K-25 Building in Oak Ridge on Wednesday. K-25 was built to enrich uranium during World War II and was once the world’s largest building under one roof.
Work crews demolished the last section of the North End of the historic K-25 Building in Oak Ridge on Wednesday morning.
Workers used a giant, orange demolition machine known as a high reach shear to bring down the four-story building, once the world’s largest under one roof. At times, the shear resembled a large dinosaur as its massive black jaws bit into the building’s 67-year-old skeleton.
Reporters, officials, and workers watched on a clear but chilly East Tennessee morning as the high reach shear sliced through vertical steel columns and tugged at horizontal beams. After about 20 minutes, the North End crashed to the ground. So did any dreams of preserving it that might have remained.
Some of the debris from the demolition of K-25’s east wing. (Submitted photo)
UCORÂ has shipped 15,000 loads of demolition debris from the K-25 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the company announced last week.
The 15,000 loads represent approximately two million square feet of the deteriorated former gaseous diffusion building, built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. That square footage is the equivalent of 40 NFL football fields combined.
The material has been sent to the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility in Oak Ridge for permanent disposition.
In the 2013 city budget adopted this year is a line item of $250,000 to purchase and demolish severely deteriorated housing structures that have become a blight on their neighborhoods. This is not an intrinsically bad idea. It just has a few serious flaws.
This is a significant amount of money to simply throw at a symptom of a serious problem without ever addressing the underlying cause of the problem. Treating symptoms and pretending this will cure the disease is a common practice with governments, as well as doctors, businesses, and regular people. The problem is that we continue to be sick, go bankrupt, and remain dysfunctional.
The Oak Ridge City Council will appoint a mayor and vice mayor on Monday, one month after the Nov. 6 election.
Council will also consider hiring a full-time veterinarian at the Oak Ridge Animal Shelter and approving a pair of $17,000 demolition contracts for two city-owned homes.
The current mayor, Tom Beehan, and vice mayor, Jane Miller, have both asked to be appointed to a third two-year term. In Oak Ridge, the mayor and vice mayor—officially called mayor pro tem—are also council members, and they are appointed after each municipal election.
There has been some public opposition to re-appointing Beehan as mayor. It has been led by new Oak Ridge City Council member Trina Baughn.
UCOR uses cranes to remove high-risk sodium fluoride, or NaF, traps from the K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)
The federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge announced on Tuesday that it has removed one of the highest-risk parts left in the K-25 Building.
That building was once the world’s largest building under one roof, but it has been shut down for decades and is now being demolished.
In a press release Tuesday, cleanup contractor UCOR said it had used cranes to remove five sodium fluoride, or NaF, traps. The traps contain a material that was used to absorb uranium, and they were in the section of the K-25 Building known as the Tc-99 area, which is being deactivated so it can be demolished.
A city board on Thursday ordered the demolition of a Lawton Road duplex that burned in July. (Photo by Tom Scott)
A city board on Thursday ordered the demolition of a burned duplex on Lawton Road and the clean-up of a duplex unit on Bettis Lane.
The Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals also agreed to dismiss the case against a Tuskegee Road warehouse if the owners install boards known as fascia, maintain the property, and paint the building within 30 days.
The Lawton Road duplex burned in July. The fire was caused by a window-mounted air conditioning unit that overheated and caught fire, board members learned Thursday. The owners are reportedly interested in selling the property to the city.
The city staff reported that the Bettis Lane duplex unit is abandoned and neglected, and a city inspection found debris, spoiled food, and roaches inside, said Matt Widner, who works in Oak Ridge Codes Enforcement. The board ordered the unit cleaned within 30 days.
The board had discussed the case against the Tuskegee Drive warehouse in meetings in June and September. They could hear it again in 90 days if the owners don’t follow the board order.
A city board on Thursday will consider whether to demolish a Lawton Road duplex that burned this summer. (Photo by Tom Scott)
A city board on Thursday will consider ordering the demolition of a Lawton Road duplex that burned this summer.
The board will also consider ordering the repair or demolition of a warehouse on Tuskegee Drive that has a deteriorated exterior and exposed or open roof.
The Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals will also consider whether to declare one abandoned unit in a duplex on Bettis Lane to be unfit for human occupation or use, and to order that it be repaired.
The board meets at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Municipal Building Training Room.
A meeting agenda said the Bettis Lane duplex unit has been neglected, is extremely unsanitary, and insects and rodents have been observed.
The owners of the Lawton Road duplex are interested in selling their property to the city, the agenda said.
The board is re-hearing the case of the Tuskegee Drive warehouse. Ceiling and roof sheeting and rafters are deteriorated and have been repeatedly exposed to moisture, and there are electrical system hazards and general fire safety violations, the agenda said.
Workers wrap up the demolition of the K-25 east wing, pictured at left, in this Sept. 5 photo. The north end is in the foreground. (Photo submitted by UCOR)
One month after a historic preservation agreement was signed, a federal cleanup contractor announced Friday that it has completed demolition work on the east wing of the K-25 Building and is preparing to demolish the north end.
Historic preservationists had lobbied for years to save the north end, but its deteriorated condition made that option unfeasible, a press release said.
Demolition is almost complete on most of the K-25 Building’s east wing, and the project is ahead of schedule. (Photos submitted by UCOR)
UCOR celebrated its first anniversary as the U.S. Department of Energy cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge this week, and the company announced that its most high-profile project, demolition of the K-25 Building, is ahead of schedule.
Demolition of most of the building’s east wing is almost complete, and more than 10,000 loads of debris have been shipped off for disposal, UCOR said in a press release.
Located in west Oak Ridge, the K-25 site was built to enrich uranium during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, but it’s been shut down since 1987.
An Oak Ridge board will consider whether to order the demolition of a warehouse on Tuskegee Drive this afternoon.
The city staff has recommended that the building at 400 Tuskegee Drive be declared unfit and either repaired or demolished within 30 days, and that trash and debris be cleaned up with 10 days of the hearing.
