Places of energy: Oak Ridge

Web posted Friday, November 10, 2000

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By Brandon Haddock
Staff Writer

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In 1942, Oak Ridge, Tenn., already had experienced the effects of one major federal project - the Tennessee Valley Authority's Norris Dam. By year's end, the region would become key to national interests once more.

The area was to be midwife to the atomic bomb. The Army Corps of Engineers had designated 59,000 acres as a site to produce uranium and plutonium for early atomic-bomb tests.

More than 3,000 residents were ordered to evacuate within weeks, according to a history published in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review. Some families were forced to abandon homes they had occupied for generations.

Within months, three major plants already had appeared at the site, built at a cost of about $939 million and employing about 35,500 workers.

The ``K-25'' and ``Y-12'' plants separated uranium isotopes from one another using two different methods. The smaller ``K-10'' plant served as a test plant for larger plutonium facilities to be built at Hanford, Wash.

In years since, the laboratory's field of research has widened. Although it continues to play a role in maintaining the nation's nuclear-weapons stockpile, Oak Ridge also researches peaceful uses of technology, nuclear and otherwise, in countless fields.

Current projects include work on a highly efficient water heater; research into a new generation of nuclear-power plants; and pursuit of new technology that could result in better, less-expensive flat-screen televisions.

The laboratory employs a staff of about 5,000, including 1,500 scientists and engineers, according to a lab report. Oak Ridge has an annual budget of about $700 million.

Its assets range from a lab that tests materials' abilities to withstand high temperature to a facility that researches mouse genetics.

But the environment has paid a price for the technological advances of Oak Ridge. The laboratory has about 350 sites contaminated with radioactive materials, or hazardous chemicals, from previous lab activities. In some areas, groundwater is contaminated.

Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409.

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