Oak Ridge Today

Senate officials expect Manhattan Project park bill to be reintroduced

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Building 9204-3 at Y-12

Building 9204-3 at the Y-12 National Security Complex could be included in a Manhattan Project National Historical Park under legislation that could be reintroduced in Congress early this year. (Photo courtesy of Y-12 National Security Complex.)

A U.S. Senate committee assistant said officials expect a bill to be reintroduced early this year to create a Manhattan Project national park that could include sites in Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, N.M., and Hanford, Wash.

An earlier bill to create the park died in the last session of Congress, and one of its key sponsors, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, has retired.

Bingaman was chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has replaced him as chair.

“As you know, Sen. Bingaman sponsored the bill to create a Manhattan Project National Historical Park with components in New Mexico, Washington, and Tennessee, because one of the areas to be included (Los Alamos, N.M.) was in his home state,” said Sam Offerdahl, press assistant for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “We expect the bill to be reintroduced early this year, likely with a member from one of the states that is home to the proposed parks as lead sponsor (following Senate custom).”

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Dead for now, Manhattan Project national park bill could be reintroduced

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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)

A bill to create a Manhattan Project national park that would include Oak Ridge died in the last session of Congress, but the legislation could be revived this session.

“It will be reintroduced,” said Cindy Kelly, founder and president of the Atomic Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. “We are very optimistic that the bill will move through the process.”

Besides Oak Ridge, the park would also include sites in Los Alamos, N.M., and Hanford, Wash.

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Demolition finished on K-25’s North End

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K-25 North End Demolition

Work crews demolish the last section of the North End of the historic K-25 Building in Oak Ridge on Wednesday. K-25 was built to enrich uranium during World War II and was once the world’s largest building under one roof.

Work crews demolished the last section of the North End of the historic K-25 Building in Oak Ridge on Wednesday morning.

Workers used a giant, orange demolition machine known as a high reach shear to bring down the four-story building, once the world’s largest under one roof. At times, the shear resembled a large dinosaur as its massive black jaws bit into the building’s 67-year-old skeleton.

Reporters, officials, and workers watched on a clear but chilly East Tennessee morning as the high reach shear sliced through vertical steel columns and tugged at horizontal beams. After about 20 minutes, the North End crashed to the ground. So did any dreams of preserving it that might have remained.

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Nonprofit leader discusses Manhattan Project park and others Tuesday

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A regional director for a national nonprofit organization will discuss national parks and a proposed Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which could include Oak Ridge, during a Tuesday meeting.

Don Barger, senior regional director for the Southeast Regional Office of the National Parks Conservation Association, will be the guest speaker at Lunch with League at noon Tuesday.

“In his presentation, Mr. Barger will discuss the state of the national parks, political and financial ramifications, the status of the Manhattan Project Historical Park, and issues facing the national park system,” a press release said.

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UCOR ships 15,000 loads of waste from K-25

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K-25 Building Demolition Debris

Some of the debris from the demolition of K-25’s east wing. (Submitted photo)

UCOR has shipped 15,000 loads of demolition debris from the K-25 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the company announced last week.

The 15,000 loads represent approximately two million square feet of the deteriorated former gaseous diffusion building, built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. That square footage is the equivalent of 40 NFL football fields combined.

The material has been sent to the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility in Oak Ridge for permanent disposition.

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Guest column: Historic houses a burden or a resource?

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In the 2013 city budget adopted this year is a line item of $250,000 to purchase and demolish severely deteriorated housing structures that have become a blight on their neighborhoods. This is not an intrinsically bad idea. It just has a few serious flaws.

This is a significant amount of money to simply throw at a symptom of a serious problem without ever addressing the underlying cause of the problem. Treating symptoms and pretending this will cure the disease is a common practice with governments, as well as doctors, businesses, and regular people. The problem is that we continue to be sick, go bankrupt, and remain dysfunctional.

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One hundred Westcott photos now on AMSE website

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Ed Westcott Photo on AMSE Website

The 100th photo from a collection of World War II pictures taken by James Edward Westcott, the official U.S. Army Manhattan Project photographer, was added to an American Museum of Science and Energy website today.

During the past year, the World War II images taken in Oak Ridge by James Edward Westcott, the official U.S. Army Manhattan Project photographer, have been scanned one image at a time every Tuesday and Thursday into the American Museum of Science and Energy’s website.

Today, the AMSE website will add the 100th photograph. The picture shows people waiting in line outside the telephone office in Oak Ridge, and it was taken by Westcott in 1944.

“The photos of Oak Ridge taken by Ed Westcott during the Manhattan Project years are invaluable to the preservation of the story of a unique moment in the United States history,” said Julie Kellis, AMSE collections curator.

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ORCVB releases heritage tour guide

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Oak Ridge Heritage Tour Guide

Oak Ridge Heritage Tour Guide

The Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau has released a new 35-page, pocket-sized printed tour guide about the Secret City. The guide contains a detailed driving tour of heritage sites within the community, along with numerous facts and historic photographs of Oak Ridge from the WWII era. The guide also includes various other information about the city’s tourism attractions and hotels.

“Oak Ridge played such a pivotal role in world affairs. People visit our Welcome Center and want to know what to see and visit. The tour guide will give them a better understanding of the historic WWII sites within our city and an introduction to our attractions and hotels that they can take with them,” said Katy Brown, ORCVB president. “We are very excited to provide this guide for our visitors.”

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Voices of the Manhattan Project website launched Friday

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The Atomic Heritage Foundation and the Los Alamos Historical Society launched a new website Friday titled “Voices of the Manhattan Project.”

“This is the first step in creating a national repository or directory for oral history collections of Manhattan Project veterans and their families,” the Atomic Heritage Foundation said. “With the Congress considering legislation to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park, this website, with its first-hand accounts of this top-secret project, will be an important resource for scholars, students and members of the public.”

Oak Ridge played a key role in the Manhattan Project, a top-secret program to build the world’s first nuclear weapons during World War II, and the website includes interviews with several people who worked in Oak Ridge during the war.

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Demolition starts on K-25’s north end

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K-25 North End Demolition

Demolition started Wednesday on the north end of the mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge. (Photo submitted by UCOR)

Demolition work started Wednesday on the north end of the K-25 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge.

The building was constructed to enrich uranium during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, and it was once the world’s largest building under one roof.

Previous plans had called for the north end of the mile-long, U-shaped building to be preserved for historic purposes. But an agreement signed this summer by federal, state, and local historic preservation groups allowed for the entire building to be demolished, including the north end, while still recognizing the historic significance of the site.

Demolition of the building’s east and west wings is complete, except for a small section of the east wing that has technetium-99, or Tc-99, a slow-decaying radioactive metal, according to a Wednesday press release from UCOR, the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge. The north end forms the base of the “U” and is the smallest of the three sections.

“This is a tremendous day for employees,” said Leo Sain, UCOR president and project manager. “We have been working toward this since we arrived at ETTP, and it’s a testament to people here, at the Department of Energy, and at all the agencies who worked together to make this happen.”

DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or EM, expects the north end demolition to be complete in January. After that, workers will continue pre-demolition activities in the remaining Tc-99 area of K-25’s east wing, the release said.

“Completing demolition of the K-25 Building is our highest priority, and this is another significant step toward that goal,” said Mark Whitney, Oak Ridge’s EM manager.

The preservation agreement approved this summer calls for a replica equipment building and viewing tower, proposes a history center at a city-owned fire station at ETTP, and provides a $500,000 grant for the run-down Alexander Inn in central Oak Ridge.

During the decade-long discussion over preserving the north end, federal officials had expressed concerns about safety, the deteriorated condition of the building, and the cost of trying to keep that section.

Loudon company wants to use Alexander Inn as assisted living center

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A Loudon company has proposed converting the historic but run-down Alexander Inn in Oak Ridge into a $6 million, 60-unit assisted living senior center.

Family Pride Corp. has requested a 90 percent, 10-year tax property tax break on the three-acre site. Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board members will be briefed on the proposal Monday and consider recommending it to City Council during a special Oct. 11 meeting.

Family Pride would work with InSite Development Corp. of Knoxville to redevelop the two-story hotel, which was built during World War II as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project.

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Manhattan Project apartments honored Thursday

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Oak Ridge officials, business leaders, and historic preservationists will honor an apartment complex built during the Manhattan Project, the top-secret World War II program to develop the world’s first atomic bombs.

The Thursday evening ceremony at the Rolling Hills Apartments will include city leaders, Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, and Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association.

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