Oak Ridge Today

Once the world’s largest, K-25 Building will be completely demolished Thursday

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K-25 Demolition December 2013

Demolition work on the former uranium-enriching K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge is expected to be completed Thursday. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Lynn Freeny)

It was once the world’s largest building under one roof, but on Thursday, federal officials expect to complete demolition work at the K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge.

K-25 was built during World War II to enrich uranium for the world’s first atomic bombs as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. After the war, it enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power plants.

But the site shut down in the mid-1980s, and demolition work on the K-25 Building started five years ago, in December 2008, under former cleanup contractor Bechtel Jacobs.

Officials and workers expect to tear down the last remaining piece of K-25 starting at about 11 a.m. Thursday. They have invited media to attend to witness the historic event. [Read more…]

ETEC presents 2013 Muddy Boot Awards

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On Friday, the East Tennessee Economic Council named three new recipients of the Muddy Boot Award: Bill Biloski, Ray Smith, and Barry Stephenson.

The Muddy Boot Award is a tribute to people who, through their work and community activities, make East Tennessee a stronger region.

Also Friday, ETEC presented two Postma Young Professional Medals to husband and wife Colin and Sherith Colverson.

The council’s annual celebratory event was keynoted by Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. [Read more…]

Passed in House, Manhattan Project Park amendment falls short in Senate

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K-25 Aerial

Now mostly demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building is pictured above. The site could be included in a Manhattan Project National Historical Park. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

The legislation to create a Manhattan Project National Park that would include Oak Ridge has fallen short in the U.S. Senate, but the representative from Washington state who wrote the House amendment vowed to press ahead next year.

The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in June as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. But it was not included in the final text of the defense bill released late Tuesday night, said U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, the Washington Republican who wrote the amendment.

Besides Oak Ridge, the park would include Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M. The three cities played key roles in the Manhattan Project, a top-secret program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

“I’m disappointed, but not deterred,” said Hastings, chair of the House Natural Resources Committee. “To all the advocates for this park: You’ve given great energy, enthusiasm, and expertise to this effort to date, and I know that will continue until our goal is accomplished, which I am confident it will ultimately be.” [Read more…]

Atomic Heritage still hopeful that Manhattan Project Park legislation will pass

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K-25 Building Aerial View

Now mostly demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building is pictured above. The site could be included in a Manhattan Project National Historical Park. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

Note: This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 4.

A bill to create a Manhattan Project National Park that would include Oak Ridge has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but now it’s tied up in the Senate.

Still, the nonprofit Atomic Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., remains hopeful that the legislation will pass.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act was included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the House passed in June.

The Senate is now negotiating the procedure for considering 507 amendments that have been offered to that legislation, the Atomic Heritage Foundation said in a Tuesday e-mail. [Read more…]

Friendship Bell closed while city makes repairs

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Friendship Bell Repairs

A symbol of the friendship between Oak Ridge and Japan, the 20-year-old Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park is closed while the city make repairs to the structure holding up the bell.

A 20-year-old symbol of the friendship between Oak Ridge and Japan is closed while the city makes structural repairs.

The Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park was designed in Oak Ridge and cast in Japan in 1993. It’s mounted inside a wooden pavilion at the park in central Oak Ridge, but there is some rot in the wooden columns holding up the bell, said Jon Hetrick, Oak Ridge Parks Division supervisor. A structural engineer and an architect are evaluating the pavilion’s condition, and the city is waiting for their report.

Oak Ridge and Japan have a history dating back 70 years, when Manhattan Project production sites in the Secret City enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in war. That bomb, code-named “Little Boy,” was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, three days before a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and just days before World War II ended. [Read more…]

Federal safety board to discuss Y-12 nuclear safety

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Y-12 National Security Complex Sign

A federal board meeting on nuclear safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been rescheduled for Dec. 10.

A federal board meeting on nuclear safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex has been rescheduled for Dec. 10.

The day-long public meeting and hearing of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board had originally been scheduled for Oct. 22. But it was postponed because of the partial federal government shutdown that started Oct. 1 and ended Oct. 17.

The board will still meet at the Knoxville Convention Center, and the meeting will still include two sessions. The first is from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, and the second is from 2 to 6 p.m. [Read more…]

K-25 Building demolition nears completion

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K-25 Building Demolition

Workers continue demolishing and hauling away debris at the K-25 Building. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/UCOR)

Demolition of the last standing section of the K-25 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park is more than 75 percent complete.

UCOR workers began tearing down the last six units in the east wing of the mile-long Manhattan Project-era gaseous diffusion building in September. The majority of those six units—4.5 of them—are already on the ground, and work is continuing at a steady pace, the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office reported in the December issue of Public Involvement News.

The entire project, including waste removal, should be completed next year, the Oak Ridge Office said.

The historic, U-shaped K-25 Building was erected to enrich uranium for atomic bombs during World War II, and it was once the world’s largest building under one roof. It once had 54 units. [Read more…]

Officials celebrate conversion of historic hotel to assisted living center

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Alexander Inn Groundbreaking

Local, state, and federal officials join volunteers and nonprofit and business executives for a groundbreaking ceremony at the historic Alexander Inn on Thursday.

Top military leaders and scientists once stayed at this historic two-story hotel in the heart of Oak Ridge, and now it’s being converted into an assisted living center.

The $5.5 million renovation of the Alexander Inn at Jackson Square started in July, the culmination of a years-long preservation effort. It could be complete by mid-2014, said Rick Dover, manager of Family Pride Corp., the company converting the hotel.

The Guest House Senior Living at the Alexander Inn will have 62 rooms, including a 17-room memory care wing.

The hotel was built during the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Guests who once stayed there included Gen. Leslie Groves, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, and physicists J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. [Read more…]

Alexander Inn groundbreaking, press conference Thursday

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Alexander Inn Ballroom Demolition

In June, workers had demolished the ballroom at the Alexander Inn, a historic, dilapidated two-story hotel that has been vacant for years and is now being converted into an assisted living facility. (File photo)

Local, state, and federal officials will join nonprofit and business executives for a formal groundbreaking and press conference on Thursday at the historic Alexander Inn, which is being converted into an assisted living center.

The press conference will start at 10 a.m. at the Guest House at the Alexander Inn Senior Living, which is at 210 E. Madison Road on the northwest side of Jackson Square. Representatives from the City of Oak Ridge, U.S. Department of Energy, Tennessee Historical Commission, East Tennessee Preservation Alliance, and Family Pride Corp. are all expected to take part.

The iconic two-story hotel had been unused for about two decades and fallen into disrepair. Family Pride Corp. has been rehabilitating the Manhattan Project-era building since May. It’s been stabilized, but the building will not be completed until mid-2014, a press release said. [Read more…]

More than 20,000 loads of debris hauled away from K-25 demolition

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K-25 Building Demolition Progress November 2013

Demolition of the K-25 Building’s remaining section continues as the contractor performing the work hit a waste disposal milestone last month. (Photos courtesy DOE Oak Ridge Office/Public Involvement News)

Demolition of the K-25 Building’s remaining section continues as the contractor performing the work hit a waste disposal milestone last month, officials said.

UCOR, a partnership between URS and CH2M Oak Ridge LLC, has safely shipped more than 20,000 loads of demolition debris from the K-25 project, according to the November 2013 issue of Public Involvement News, published by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office.

Most of the debris is being disposed at the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility near the Y-12 National Security Complex.

“Demolition continues at a steady pace, with the project expected to be completed next year,” the monthly newsletter said. [Read more…]

On Senate floor, Alexander honors nuclear workers, Bill Wilcox, Calutron Girls

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

Sen. Lamar Alexander spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday in honor of nuclear weapons program workers. Among those he honored were Bill Wilcox and the Calutron Girls.

Wilcox was a Manhattan Project veteran, former technical director at the K-25 site and Y-12 National Security Complex, and Oak Ridge city historian.

Wednesday was the fifth annual National Day of Remembrance for nuclear weapons program workers. It had been recognized under a resolution that Alexander cosponsored earlier this year.

Here are the senator’s full remarks: [Read more…]

Happy 71st birthday, Oak Ridge!

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Oak Ridge Birthday Sign

A sign at the Midtown Community Center on Robertsville Road celebrates the 71st birthday of Oak Ridge on Thursday (Submitted photo)

By Martin and Anne McBride

On Sept. 19, 1942, only two days after being appointed the head of the Manhattan Project in September 1942, Gen. Leslie R. Groves selected Oak Ridge as the first major site of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

Ultimately, $1.1 billion was spent on the huge, first-of-a-kind Oak Ridge nuclear plants and the fledgling “Secret City” of Oak Ridge. This expenditure represented 72 percent of the money spent on the three principal Manhattan Project sites: Oak Ridge; Hanford, Wash.; and Los Alamos, N.M.

The Oak Ridge tract was approximately 17 miles long by an average of seven miles wide. The Corps of Engineers paid $2.6 million dollars for the land and initially named the site the “Kingston Demolition Range.” Local opposition to having a demolition range in the area caused the name to be changed to “Clinton Engineer Works.” [Read more…]