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Oak Ridge could set up committee to celebrate its 75th anniversary

Posted at 3:34 pm July 8, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Y-12 Calutron Girls

Women enriching uranium in calutrons at Y-12 as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. The 75th anniversary of the city that became Oak Ridge and still includes Y-12 is Sept. 19, 2017. (Photo by Ed Westcott)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider setting up a committee to celebrate the city’s 75th anniversary.

Oak Ridge’s birthday has been recognized on September 19. That’s because the city that is now Oak Ridge was picked for the top-secret Manhattan Project on September 19, 1942, almost 75 years ago. That was the day that General Leslie Groves approved the acquisition of 59,000 acres of land along the Clinch River for what soon became the Manhattan Project, a federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs, before Germany could. Oak Ridge was then 90 square miles of East Tennessee farmland. It was the first site for Manhattan Project facilities.

By the time President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized the Manhattan Project on December 28, 1942, work on the East Tennessee site where the first production facilities were to be built was already under way.

Oak Ridge became the home of two uranium enrichment plants (K-25 and Y-12), a liquid thermal diffusion plant (S-50), and a pilot plutonium production reactor (X-10 Graphite Reactor). Groves approved Oak Ridge as the site for the pilot plutonium plant and the uranium enrichment plant in 1942. Manhattan Project engineers had to quickly build a town to accommodate 30,000 workers—as well as build the enormously complex plants. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge Tagged With: 75th anniversary, American Museum of Science and Energy, Atomic Heritage Foundation, Bill Wilcox, calutrons, Celebrate Oak Ridge, Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, Clinton Engineer Works, Explore Oak Ridge, first atomic bombs, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jackson Square, K-25, Leslie Groves, liquid thermal diffusion, Manhattan Project, Mark Watson, Mick Wiest, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, pilot plutonium production, Ray Smith, S-50, Site X, steering committee, Tom Beehan, uranium enrichment, Warren Gooch, World War II, X-10 Graphite Reactor, Y-12, Y-12 National Security Complex

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Classifieds

Availability of the draft environmental assessment for off-site depleted uranium manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the … [Read More...]

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

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