At Oak Ridge, on a relatively flat area of about 5,000 acres, site preparation for the K-25 power plant began in June. Throughout the summer, contractors contended with primitive roads as they shipped in the materials needed to build what became the world's largest steam electric plant. In September work began on the cascade building, plans for which had changed dramatically since the spring. Now there were to be fifty four-story buildings (2,000,000 square feet) in a U-shape measuring a half-mile long by 1,000 feet wide. Innovative foundation techniques were required to avoid setting thousands of concrete piers to support load-bearing walls.
Since it was eleven miles from the headquarters at Oak Ridge, the K-25 site developed into a satellite town. Housing was supplied, as was a full array of service facilities for the population that eventually reached 15,000. Dubbed "Happy Valley" by the inhabitants, the town had housing similar to that in Oak Ridge, but, like headquarters, it too experienced chronic shortages. Even with a contractor camp with facilities for 2,000 workers nearby, half of the construction force had to commute to the site daily.
In late summer of 1943 it was decided that K-25 would play a lesser role than originally intended. Instead of producing fully enriched uranium 235, the new gaseous diffusion plant would provide around fifty-percent enrichment for use as feeder material for Y-12. This would be accomplished by eliminating the more troublesome upper part of the cascade. Even this level of enrichment was not assured since a suitable barrier for the diffusion process still did not exist. The decision to downgrade K-25 was part of the larger decision to double the capacity of Y-12 and fit with Groves' new strategy of utilizing a combination of separation methods to produce enough fissionable material for bombs as soon as possible.
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