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

Posted at 9:51 pm January 11, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

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…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Front Page News, History, K-25, K-25, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: 9731, atomic bomb, atomic weapons, Beta 3, enrich uranium, enriched uranium, equipment building, gaseous diffusion, Graphite Reactor, history center, K-25, K-25 Building, Little Boy, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Michael Butler, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, pre-qualification, request for proposals, RFP, U.S. Department of Energy, UCOR, viewing tower, World War II, X-10, Y-12

Centrus, ORNL agree on $25 million contract for work on gas centrifuge uranium enrichment technology

Posted at 6:45 pm September 22, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center

The American Centrifuge Technology Manufacturing Center in south Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo courtesy USEC/Centrus Energy Corp.)

 

Six months after signing one contract, Centrus Energy Corporation and UT-Battelle LLC have agreed on a new contract for engineering and testing work on technology that uses gas centrifuges to enrich uranium.

Enriched uranium can be used in nuclear power plants and in nuclear weapons, as fuel for nuclear naval vessels, and to ensure a tritium supply, which is needed to maintain the effectiveness of America’s nuclear deterrent, a press release said.

The new Centrus Energy-UT-Battelle contract is valued at about $25 million, and it runs through September 30, 2017. Under this new contract, Centrus scientists, engineers, and operators will “use the company’s unique facilities in Oak Ridge to develop and test technology improvements to reduce costs, improve manufacturability, and enhance the long-term reliability of U.S. uranium enrichment technology,” the press release said.

UT-Battelle operates Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.

The uranium enrichment technology is known as the American Centrifuge technology. It’s expected to support future national security and energy security needs, the press release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Business, Front Page News, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: American Centrifuge, centrifuge technology, Centrus Energy, Centrus Energy Corporation, engineering, enrich uranium, gas centrifuge, gas centrifuges, Larry B. Cutlip, nuclear fuel, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, testing, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium enrichment, UT-Battelle, UT-Battelle LLC

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

K-27 Demolition Aug 17 2016 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. 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…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, ETTP, Front Page News, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: atomic weapons, Cold War, East Tennessee Technology Park, enrich uranium, ETTP, gaseous diffusion, Heritage Center, highly enriched uranium, K-25, K-25 site, K-27 Building, K-27 demolition, K-29, K-31, K-33, Manhattan Project, nuclear power plants, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, World War II, X-10, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

Demolition work on K-27, last of big 5 uranium-enrichment buildings, to be complete this month

Posted at 1:07 am August 4, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

K-27-Demolition-May-2-2016-3-Freeny

Demolition work should be complete this month on K-27, the last of the big five buildings once used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power plants at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge, officials said in July 2016. (DOE photo/Lynn Freeny)

 

Demolition work should be complete this month on K-27, the last of the big five buildings once used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power plants at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge, officials said last week.

Demolition work started on K-27 in February.

Like the other four buildings that have already been demolished, the four-story, 383,000-square-foot K-27 building once used a process known as gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium.

The demolition is part of Vision 2016. That’s the plan by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management, or EM, to remove all five gaseous diffusion buildings from the site by the end of the year.

Federal officials said it’s the first time in the world that a uranium enrichment complex has been cleaned and removed. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Front Page News, Oak Ridge Office, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: atomic weapons, demolition, East Tennessee Technology Park, EM, EMWMF, enrich uranium, enriched uranium, Environmental Management Waste Management Facility, gaseous diffusion, Heritage Center, K-25, K-25 site, K-27, K-29, K-31, K-33, Manhattan Project, nuclear power plants, Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy, uranium enrichment, uranium enrichment complex

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Classifieds

Availability of the draft environmental assessment for off-site depleted uranium manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252)

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