In December 2013, the Department of Energy completed its demolition of the historic K-25 gaseous diffusion plant, once the largest roofed building in the world. In an August 2012 “memorandum of agreement” with preservationists and other parties, DOE promised to “mitigate” the demolition of the building by creating a history center, building a viewing tower of K-25’s original footprint, and developing exhibits on the site’s role in the Manhattan Project and the Cold War.
Gregor Smee, Smee + Busby Architects, and Gerald Hilferty, Hilferty & Associates, have developed a concept design of the interpretive exhibits and observation tower. However, there is no money at the moment to go forward with implementing the project. The Office and Management and Budget removed the requested $8 million for the K-25 interpretive project from the budget for FY 2016. DOE Oak Ridge has $2.1 million in 2015 to complete the design activities, but it will be difficult to make progress with construction in 2016 without a Congressional appropriation.
If and when the exhibit does open, it will include small historic artifacts used at K-25 during the Manhattan Project, such as bikes and signs. But DOE has determined that original K-25 equipment “could not be appropriately cleaned to free-release standards,” according to Mike Koentop, executive officer at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge. Instead, DOE proposed to replicate equipment such as compressors and convertors.