Monthly dances by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park recreate the open-air tennis court dances that entertained 75,000 workers and their families in the Secret City during World War II.
“Put on your dancing shoes, another summer of tennis court dances are kicking off on the Jackson Square tennis courts,” a press release said.
The all-ages dances are scheduled monthly on the third Thursday.
[Read more…]
You can learn more about the history of Oak Ridge during World War II during a free national park walk through Jackson Square on Thursday, July 18.
The walk is offered by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge.
The program is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. July 18, at the fountain in the main parking lot in Jackson Square.
[Read more…]
You can walk through Wheat with a National Park Service ranger on Saturday, July 13, and learn more about the history of this community before the Manhattan Project.
Wheat was in an area that is now west Oak Ridge, and it was one of the communities displaced by the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.
The free July 13 walk is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
[Read more…]
From U.S. Department of Energy “EM Update” email newsletter
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management crews at Oak Ridge are moving closer toward completing the first-ever demolition of a former uranium enrichment facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex as crews reroute utilities around the structure.
Workers are slated to begin demolition on the Alpha-2 building this fall. Initiating teardown of the facility is an EM priority for 2024.
The 325,000-square-foot Manhattan Project-era facility is one of nine uranium enrichment process buildings constructed at Y-12. Its removal by the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor UCOR will eliminate a high-risk excess contaminated facility, enable modernization, and clear land to support national security missions.
[Read more…]Bring your human-powered watercraft and explore the history of life on the Clinch River on Saturday.
“On a quiet bend of Melton Hill Lake sits the oldest surviving structure in Oak Ridge, the Freels Bend Cabin dating back to 1810,” the National Park Service said. “On a 1.5-mile roundtrip paddle from Guinn Park, explore the history of the Clinch River Valley leading up to the Manhattan Project.”
Note: This is a paddle program on Melton Hill Lake. Freels Bend Cabin is on U.S. Department of Energy property, and no landings will be permitted.
The trip is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 22. To participate, please bring your own self-propelled watercraft. No boats are provided by the NPS.
[Read more…]
You can get an introduction to the history of the K-25 plant, which once had the world’s largest building, with a National Park Service ranger on Saturday.
K-25 was built as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. That was a federal program to build the world’s first atomic bomb, before Germany could.
Saturday’s talk is titled “K-25: Enriching Uranium in Happy Valley.” It is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. at the K-25 Overlook across from the K-25 site, which is now known as Heritage Center or East Tennessee Technology Park. The talk is free, and it is expected to last about one hour.
[Read more…]
Crews are expected to finish remediating soil, reversing or stopping environmental damage at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge this year, and federal cleanup managers are shifting their focus to groundwater. It’s the final phase of cleanup at the former uranium enrichment site.
Now also referred to as Heritage Center and East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the K-25 site produced fuel for nuclear weapons and reactors starting in the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II and continuing through the Cold War. The site has been shut down for almost four decades, and a massive cleanup project has been under way for many years.
The groundwater work can begin with the recent signing of two records of decision between the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. That’s according to “EM Update,” an electronic newsletter published by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.
[Read more…]
From “EM Update” newsletter
Long vacant parking lots at the former K-25 site at Oak Ridge were full again on a recent Saturday afternoon as retired employees gathered for a first-ever reunion.
“There are some folks here that I have not seen since I retired,” said Bob Merriman, who began working at the K-25 site in 1963. “It’s amazing to be able to visit with them and to see them still doing well.”
What started as a plan to host a small picnic quickly turned into much more.
“I said we’ll have it down here at Turtle Park in Oak Ridge, but I think I’m going to open it up to all K-25 workers,” said Pam Toon, an event organizer who started work at the site in 1987. “When I did, massive amounts of people signed up.”
[Read more…]Victory and pollinator gardens at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will be open to the public on Saturday, June 1, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park said.
The gardens will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 1 for the Seeds of Victory Program, the park said in a newsletter.
[Read more…]
The summertime tennis court dances organized by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park start in two weeks.
The first dance of this summer is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16, on the Jackson Square Tennis Courts. They continue monthly on the third Thursday.
“The park recreates the open air tennis court dances held during the Manhattan Project to entertain the
75,000 war workers and their families contained within America’s Secret City (Oak Ridge),” a newsletter said. “The dances are an all-ages event, and all are encouraged to participate. Featuring swing music
from the 1940s, you might get bit by the jitterbug out on the court.”
A historical walk through Jackson Square with the Manhattan Project National Historical Park has been rescheduled to February 10 due to the winter weather in January.
The walk with the National Park Service is titled “Building America’s Secret City: Ranger Walk Through Jackson Square.” It is now scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, February 10.
“Explore what it took to shape the farms and mud of East Tennessee into the Atomic City,” an event notice said.
[Read more…]
Workers have finished major pre-demolition work on a wartime building at Y-12 National Security Complex.
The deactivation work at the Beta-1 building included removing asbestos; old, brittle thorium-contaminated piping; and more than two million gallons of water.
The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and its contractor UCOR have been working toward the deactivation milestone since 2020, a press release said. Workers finished deactivating the above-ground floors of the Beta-1 facility in December. Now, only deactivation work in the basement remains before the teardown can begin. Demolition of Beta-1 is expected to begin in 2026.
Beta-1 was built in 1944 to enrich uranium for the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. That federal project built the world’s first atomic bombs. Beta-1, a 210,000-square-foot, two-story building, was later converted to laboratory space for fusion-energy technology.
[Read more…]