Heritage Center Archives - Page 5 of 7

Property transfer for Oak Ridge airport to be discussed during info session on Aug. 19

Posted at 12:00 pm August 5, 2015
By John Huotari 1 Comment

The Heritage Center airport development plan is pictured above. The airport site is the area pictured in yellow. The main entrance to Heritage Center off Oak Ridge Turnpike is at bottom left, in the area of the ponds. (Cropped image from DOE Draft Environmental Assessment)

About 170 acres of land at a federal site in west Oak Ridge could be transferred to a nonprofit organization for a new general aviation airport that would feature a 5,000-foot runway and accommodate airplanes and helicopters.

The airport would be built on the south side of Heritage Center, which is also known as East Tennessee Technology Park and the former K-25 site. The runway would be close to and run roughly parallel to Oak Ridge Turnpike/State Route 58.

A draft environmental assessment, or EA, has been prepared for the property transfer. It evaluates the potential impacts of transferring the ETTP land from the U.S. Department of Energy to the nonprofit Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. DOE and MKAA representatives will be available to discuss the proposed action during a public information session from 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 19, at the DOE Information Center. The Information Center is on the west end of the building that houses the Office of Scientific and Technical Information in east Oak Ridge.

No formal presentation is planned, and the public may stop by at any time during the session. [Read more…]

K-31 Demolition: 200 acres now available for development at ETTP

Posted at 1:09 pm July 2, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The last section of the K-31 Building at East Tennessee Technology Park was demolished on Friday, June 26. It’s the fourth of five buildings to be demolished where gaseous diffusion was once used to enrich uranium. (Photo by Lynn Freeny/DOE)Â

Demolition now complete on four of fiveÂ gaseous diffusion buildings

Demolition of the large K-31 Building in west Oak Ridge means that 200 acres of flat land are now available for industrial development at East Tennessee Technology Park, officials said.

â€œItâ€™s the largest parcel of land available at ETTP,â€ said Sue Cange, manager of the U.S. Department of Energyâ€™s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.

Infrastructure is already in place, including water, sewer, roads, and electricity, Cange said. Also, ETTP is close to Interstate 40, a short rail line, and possibly an airport. (There are plans to build an airport at the site, which is also known as Heritage Center.)

K-31 is the fourth of five gaseous diffusion buildings demolished at ETTP. The site, which has also been known as K-25 and Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, was built during the Manhattan Project in World War II as part of a top-secret federal program to build the worldâ€™s first atomic bombs. Officials say it helped to win the Cold War, enriching uranium for commercial nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.

But operations ended in 1985, and the site was permanently shut down in 1987. DOE then began cleanup operations andâ€”with the help of contractors, a nonprofit organization, and othersâ€“is converting it into a large private industrial park. [Read more…]

New one-megawatt solar array at Heritage Center can power 133 homes

Posted at 1:08 pm April 13, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Powerhouse Six Solar Array Ribbon-cutting April 9, 2015

Company executives and city and federal officials celebrate a new one-megawatt solar array at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge on Thursday with a ceremonial “plugging in.”

A new one-megawatt solar array at the Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge will provide enough clean energy to power 133 average-size homes per year, officials said.

Company and nonprofit executives joined city and federal officials for a ceremonial “plugging in” of the new Powerhouse Six photovoltaic solar array on Thursday.

The $1.8 million array has 3,268 solar modules, and it will be used to sell electric power to the Tennessee Valley Authority through the Oak Ridge Electric Department.

“We’re going live today,” said Gil Hough, renewable energy manager for RSI, or Restoration Services Inc., the Oak Ridge-based company that developed the array. [Read more…]

Planning for national park, Park Service tours Jackson Square, K-25, ORNL, Y-12

Posted at 10:58 am March 27, 2015
By John Huotari 5 Comments

Vic Knox (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

Note: This storyÂ was last updated at 12:37 p.m.

Planning for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park has started, and federal officials this week toured Jackson Square, the former K-25 site, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Stops included the Alexander Inn, Chapel on the Hill, the former K-25 Building site, the Graphite Reactor at ORNL, and two buildings at Y-12:Â Building 9731, a pilot plant, andÂ Building 9204-3, also known as Beta 3.

“Several of those sites are just amazing,” said Vic Knox, associate director of park planning, facilities, and lands for the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. “They seem like they are just the way they were in 1943. It seems like they take you back in time.”

Oak Ridge was built as part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s fist atomic weapons during World War II. Besides Oak Ridge, the new national park includes Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Hanford, Washington. [Read more…]

Planning to preserve history of K-25, which could be part of national park

Posted at 4:38 pm March 25, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Now demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building, pictured above, was once used to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Located in west Oak Ridge, the site could become part of a new Manhattan Project National Historical Park. There is a separate effort to preserve K-25’s history; that work could be incorporated into the new park. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

It was once the world’s largest building under one roof and part of the one of the largest industrial projects ever, a top-secret program to build the world’s first atomic weapons in World War II.

Today the building is goneâ€”demolition was completed in December 2013â€”but the stories of what took place inside the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building could live on in aÂ replica equipment building, viewing tower, and history center.

And K-25 could become part of a new Manhattan Project National Historical Park approved by Congress in December and signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 19. The 14-page bill was the culmination of 15 years of work, said Colin Colverson, Manhattan Project Park lead in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.

The law recognizes the Manhattan Project as one of the most significant events in U.S. history, with assets and history that must be preserved. It’s considered one of the top scientific achievements of the 20th century, and Oak Ridge residents still marvel at how quickly the three local sites (K-25, X-10, and Y-12) were built and began operating in all-out race to build an atomic bomb before Germany. [Read more…]

Metal powder manufacturing company investing $313 million in Oak Ridge, adding 620 jobs

Posted at 2:44 pm March 13, 2015
By John Huotari 11 Comments

Michael Hargett and Kamran Khoza of CVMR USA

CVMR President Michael Hargett, left, and Kamran Khozan, chairman and chief executive officer, joined local, state, and federal officials on Friday to announce they’re moving company headquarters from Toronto to Oak Ridge, investing $313 million and adding 620 jobs.

Note: This story was last updated at 12 a.m.

A company that manufactures high-purity metal powders and super alloys is moving its operations to Oak Ridge from Toronto, Canada, and investing $313 million here and creating 620 jobs, officials said Friday.

CVMR, which has operations in 18 countries, will use the former Theragenics building at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge for its headquarters and research and development. The company closed on that building, which is on 21 acres, on Friday, but executives declined to disclose the sale price.

The first employee was hired Thursday, said Kamran Khozan, chairman and chief executive officer of CVMR (USA) Incorporated.

The company could expand that 65,000-square-foot building; infrastructure that is already in place allows it to be doubled. The company could put 218 people to work right away in its new headquarters and add 402 high-paying manufacturing jobs later, a state official said.

“I can promise you that this is the start of a wave,” said Randy Boyd, the new commissioner ofÂ Tennessee Economic and Community Development. [Read more…]

K-25 historic preservation the subject of Thursday lecture

Posted at 1:59 am March 11, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

A view of the K-25 footprint. (Image courtesy Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association)

The project to preserve the history of the former K-25 Building, once the world’s largest building under one roof, will be discussed during a Thursday evening lecture in Oak Ridge.

It’s the opening of the 18th Annual Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series. It’s jointly sponsored by Friends of ORNL and the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association.

The presentation will provide an update on the K-25 historic preservation efforts by the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management, a press release said. [Read more…]

Manhattan Project National Historical Park to be discussed at Altrusa meeting Wednesday

Posted at 7:42 pm January 13, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Ray Smith

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park will be the focus of the Wednesday luncheon meeting ofÂ Altrusa International of Oak Ridge.

Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian, will be discussing the honor and importance in having a national park site in Oak Ridge, a press release said. Smithâ€™s presentation will include the potential implications of a national park site in Oak Ridge as well as the probableÂ timeframeÂ for implementation of the national park bill, the release said.

Smith will be covering the potential meaning of the park for the City of Oak Ridge, the American Museum of Science and Energy, the Y-12 National Security Complex Calutrons, the Oak Ridge National Laboratoryâ€™s Graphite Reactor, and the East Tennessee Technology Parkâ€™s Heritage Center K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Building site.Â Smith will also discuss how the newly renovated Guest House at the Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge might contribute to the overall national park strategy. [Read more…]

DOE comment period on K-33 land transfer ends Thursday

Posted at 12:35 pm October 22, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The public comment period for the transfer of about 136 acres at the East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site)Â ends Thursday, October 23.

The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed transferring the land, known as the Former K-33 Area at the ETTP Heritage Center, for mixed-use economic development purposes.

The Former K-33 area is located in the northwest portion of the Heritage Center and includes the site of the now-demolished K-33 Building. No buildings are included in the transfer. [Read more…]

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