Oak Ridge Today

House passes Manhattan Project national park bill that would include Oak Ridge

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X-10 Graphite Reactor

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park would include the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Submitted photo)

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday took an essential step toward establishing a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that could include Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, N.M., and Hanford, Wash., a nonprofit organization said.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act was included as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the House passed Friday, the Atomic Heritage Foundation said in an e-mail.

“The new national park will be the first to recognize the top-secret project in World War II that changed the course of world history, science, and society,” the foundation said. [Read more…]

DOE’s public bus tour begins Monday

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2013 Oak Ridge facilities public bus tour begins June 3 and continues through Aug. 30. The tour offers visitors a first-hand look at the DOE’s Oak Ridge facilities and provides historical commentary on the transformation of the Oak Ridge Reservation during the past 70 years.

The reservation-wide tour is a popular destination for tourists visiting the area. Since its inception in 1996, the DOE public tour program has attracted more than 29,000 visitors from all 50 states. The three-hour tour allows visitors to see the reservation and learn historical facts and updates on the world-class missions under way in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

House leader’s speech emphasizes research, mixes in politics

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Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor

Note: This story was updated at 12:35 p.m.

In his first visit to Oak Ridge, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor paid tribute to the national security and science work that has occurred here dating back to World War II, called for a continued emphasis on research and discovery, and touched on political topics including the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, unemployment, and the nation’s social safety net.

A Virginia Republican, Cantor said the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Northern Route Approval Act, allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be completed. The bill declares that a presidential permit is not required to approve the section of the pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska, which crosses a national border. [Read more…]

Alexander unveils his four principles for clean, cheap, reliable energy

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

It’s been five years since U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called for a new Manhattan Project for energy independence, and during a Wednesday update, the senator said four “grand principles” should guide America’s energy policy.

The senator said his principles—which include research and development, free market forces, and cheaper, clean energy—would “end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy.” They would instead focus on “doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy,” Alexander said during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Oak Ridge.

The senator called for doubling research funding and ending long-term subsidies for “big oil” and “big wind.” [Read more…]

Final sale day at Alexander Inn

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center.

The first estate sale at the Alexander Inn was very popular, and now the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance plans to have a second.

It will be this Saturday, and the ETPA said it’s the second and final estate “tag” sale.

The sale will from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. ETPA is holding it in conjunction with Knox Heritage’s Salvage Room. [Read more…]

With renovations under way, hundreds shop at Alexander Inn estate sale

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Alexander Inn Estate Sale

Hundreds of people lined up at the Alexander Inn on Saturday for an estate sale, an unprecedented opportunity to buy items ranging from bed frames and Bibles to chairs and chandeliers, before the vacant, historic hotel is converted into an assisted living center. (Photo by Don Hunnicutt)

Renovations have started at the historic Alexander Inn, and on Saturday, hundreds of people shopped at an estate sale at the vacant, two-story hotel, taking advantage of an unprecedented opportunity to buy items from the 1940s to the 1980s, including bed frames and Bibles, chairs and chandeliers, and dishes and dressers.

Halfway through the three-hour sale, a project executive estimated that more than 500 people had attended. At one point, the line of people waiting to get in stretched from the hotel, located on East Madison Road, to Kentucky Avenue, said Rick Dover, general manager of Family Pride, which has proposed converting the dilapidated hotel into an assisted living center. [Read more…]

‘Girls of Atomic City’ author at Lunch with League on Tuesday

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Denise Kiernan

Denise Kiernan

Denise Kiernan, author of “The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II,” will speak at Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

The program begins at noon Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

“The Girls of Atomic City” is the true story of the young women during World War II who lived and worked in Oak Ridge, one of the Manhattan Project’s secret cities. Through their efforts were crucial to the development of the world’s first atomic bomb, the vast majority of Oak Ridge residents did not know what they were working on until the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” detonated above Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945. [Read more…]

East Tennessee nonprofit has estate sale at Alexander Inn on May 25

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center. An East Tennessee nonprofit will have an estate sale there on May 25.

An East Tennessee nonprofit organization will have an estate sale at the Alexander Inn on May 25.

The historic two-story hotel, unused for about two decades, is being converted into an assisted living center. The estate sale will give the public a one-time opportunity to walk through a portion of the historic inn before renovations begin and purchase furnishings from the 1940s through the 1980s, a press release said.

The sale, which is scheduled form 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 25, is being organized by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance in conjunction with Knox Heritage’s Salvage Room. [Read more…]

Company closes deal on Alexander Inn, plans to use for assisted living center

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Alexander Inn

Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center.

It’s been in the works for months, and officials announced on Tuesday that a local company has purchased the historic but rundown Alexander Inn.

Family Pride Corp. plans to convert the vacant two-story hotel into an assisted living center.

The sale was announced by the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance, a key player in the project. A press release said the agreement announced Tuesday includes a preservation easement with ETPA that will ensure the building is protected forever. [Read more…]

Guest column: Applauds House, Senate support for Manhattan Project park

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Editor’s note: National Parks supporters last week applauded the unanimous approval by a House committee of a bill to set up a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include Oak Ridge. Here are statements from two supporters.

Ron Tipton, senior vice president of policy for the National Parks Conservation Association

The National Parks Conservation Association applauds the bipartisan House and Senate support for preserving of our country’s history, through the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act. Today’s announcement provides another positive step forward, as the House Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan bill introduced by Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, Congressman Ben Lujan, and Congressman Chuck Fleischmann.

These national park sites will provide unparalleled opportunities to improve public understanding of the Manhattan Project, the legacy of the United States’ splitting of the atom, and the national and global impacts associated with harnessing the atom. [Read more…]

Removal of K-25 north end demolition debris almost complete

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K-25 North End Demolition

With the north end demolished, only a small part of the east wing remains at the once-massive K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

Workers are almost done removing demolition debris from the K-25 Building’s north end.

Only a small section of the giant building’s east wing remains. It is contaminated with technetium-99, a slow-decaying radioactive isotope. Further deactivation of that section is needed before demolition can begin, according to a recent article in “Public Involvement News,” published by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]

House committee passes bill to set up Manhattan Project National Park

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U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Wednesday unanimously approved legislation to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include sites in Oak Ridge and Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

The legislation stalled in the last session of Congress, but it has been reintroduced this session. [Read more…]