|
"New Plans for a Manhattan Project Plant:
'Lunch on the Lawn' Imagines Bright Future for K-25"
June 21, 2005
By Cynthia C. Kelly and Chad Harple
Oak Ridge, TN - The grounds of the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant were once again filled with life last Friday, June 17th, as Manhattan Project veterans returned with their family members for a barbeque and discussion of the plant's future. The event was organized by the Atomic Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. which is dedicated to preserving the history and important properties of the Manhattan Project.
 Built by 25,000 employees during World War II as the world's first full-scale uranium enrichment facility, K-25 produced many of the ingredients for the first atomic bomb, "Fat Man," and continued producing for weapons during the Cold War. The plant now sits idle, less than an hour west of Knoxville, Tennessee. After sharing memories and enjoying generous portions of Southern pulled pork, almost 200 individuals listened as Cindy Kelly, president of the Atomic Heritage Foundation, introduced representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, Bechtel Jacobs and former employees of the K-25 plant who shared visions for preserving a portion of the half-mile long facility.
Bechtel Jacobs' President Mike Hughes underscored the importance of preserving the Manhattan Project and Cold War history of Oak Ridge. He noted the extraordinary innovations that were essential to a process that compressed the highly corrosive uranium hexafluoride gas and pushed it through a barrier material with billions of tiny pores to separate the two isotopes, U-235 and U-238. As manager of the clean-up effort, Hughes talked about "closing the circle of the Manhattan Project" and promised to do as good a job as the firms who designed and built the plant.
 Most of the sprawling plant will be torn down by 2008, but the U.S. Department of Energy and Bechtel Jacobs have tentatively agreed to leave K-25's North End, the connecting portion of its U-shaped structure. "There are tremendous assets here at the K-25 site in terms of valuable land and a lot of facilities in addition to the historic K-25 gaseous diffusion plant," noted Gerald Boyd, manager of Oak Ridge Operations for the Department of Energy. The entire K-25 site occupies close to 2,000 acres, land which the Department hopes will attract investment and revitalize the economy in East Tennessee. According to Boyd, four facilities have already been transferred to the stewardship of East Tennessee Technology Park, out of a possible twenty that he believes can be reused.
Former plant technical director Bill Wilcox offered some of the reasons why the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant's North End should be saved and what "Joe and Sally from Peoria" might experience when they visit the North End once it's restored. For Wilcox, "K-25 had such an important part to play in U.S. history but most Americans don't know about it because the U.S. government still considers the process top secret." Because of this and a growing interest in the history of the Manhattan Project, K-25 presents "a potentially valuable and very attractive heritage tourism site."
 Mr. Wilcox's idea for the museum would capitalize on the plant's secret history by making the original security checkpoints the ticket areas. Guards clothed in uniforms from the 1940s will issue 'passes' to enter the K-25 plant and its exhibits. Visitors will learn about the three uranium enrichment processes at Oak Ridge that were pursued in parallel and the mammoth effort that went into constructing and operating the K-25 plant during the war.
Designers plan to maintain the footprint of the plant, once the largest roofed industrial plant in the world, by preserving the ten-foot high concrete walls on the inside of the U. These walls could be covered with murals depicting the history of Oak Ridge, particularly during its Manhattan Project and Cold War years but also its contributions to science and technology for the 21st century.
In all, Wilcox hopes the site will honor the ingenuity of the 75,000 employees who worked at Oak Ridge during World War II and remind visitors "how people can turn patriotism into action." Cindy Kelly emphasized the innovation required in this uniquely American story. "It was something nobody thought could be done. Germany tried. Italy tried. Japan had a program. None of these other nations succeeded."
Despite these grand visions, even Bill Wilcox admits that these ambitions will require both public and private support. "Obviously there are parts that can't be funded with public money." Wilcox believes it is possible but the key will be raising community support and convincing the clean-up crew to preserve the building in sound condition and enough equipment to have an interpretive center at the site.
A part of the Oak Ridge Secret City Festival, the "Lunch on the Lawn," was organized by the Atomic Heritage Foundation with the generous support of Bechtel Jacobs, K-25 Federal Credit Union, and the U.S. Enrichment Corporation. The Foundation has worked with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge Operations Office, City of Oak Ridge, and many nonprofit groups in Oak Ridge for the preservation of Oak Ridge's Manhattan Project heritage. One of the Foundation's recent successes was to obtain legislation authorizing the National Park Service to study whether one or more the Manhattan Project sites should be included in the National Park System. In addition to Oak Ridge, the Foundation works with other former Manhattan Project sites including Hanford, WA and Los Alamos, NM. |
