OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (May 11, 2023) – Officials broke ground today on a building that will provide a historic lookout over the footprint where the K-25 Building once stood and the Oak Ridge Diffusion Plant produced uranium during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. Dignitaries welcomed guests, made speeches, and shoveled dirt to officially kick off construction of the K-25 Viewing Platform at East Tennessee Technology Park.
“This is one of the final key components to a very substantial effort to preserve and share this site’s unique and rich history for future generations. The viewing platform that we will be building is needed to showcase the scope and magnitude of the site. Without this new facility, part of the story would be missing for visitors,” said Laura Wilkerson, deputy manager for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District is working with the Department of Energy through an interagency agreement to manage construction of the viewing platform. The district enjoys a strong relationship with DOE, having worked on numerous other construction projects over the decades.
Maj. Todd Mainwaring, Nashville District deputy commander, spoke about the meaningful partnership with the Department of Energy, and how the Nashville District is excited to be part of a project that will highlight what the footprint of the site represents.
“We’re here to celebrate what we are building, but I really want to remind everybody is why we are building it… not only to see what was done here, but who did it, and why we did it,” Mainwaring said. “It’s absolutely remarkable the people that came together to do something that was absolutely unheard of in an unprecedented amount of time, and to deliver something that the world had never seen before.”
Working in secret, the Corps of Engineers supported the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge between 1943 and 1945. Originally constructed in 1944 by the Corps of Engineers, Building K-25 was the largest structure in the world and carried an equally immense and important mission to help end a global war by producing uranium for the world’s first nuclear weapon. Yet despite its size and urgent work, the public would not learn of its existence in Oak Ridge until the end of World War II.
Earlier this year the Corps of Engineers awarded a $9.9 million contract to Geiger Brothers to construct this facility. Geiger Brothers is headquartered in Jackson, Ohio, and has a local office in Oak Ridge. Smee and Busby Architects designed the K-25 Viewing Platform. The Nashville District will manage construction of the pre-engineered 87-foot by 76-foot metal building with a 55-foot by 39-foot appended observation deck. It will include approximately 7,000 square feet of exhibit and viewing area. The K-25 Viewing Platform building will also house exhibits to highlight the historic significance of this former enrichment facility.
Trey Fitzpatrick, project engineer with Geiger Brothers, said the engineering and construction company is deeply honored to be constructing the viewing platform and to be working with the Corps of Engineers on the historic project.
The construction of this facility and the wayside exhibits are the final components of a multi-project agreement OREM signed in 2012 to commemorate the history of the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, where the K-25 Building was located.
OREM signed an interagency agreement in 2022 with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct the K-25 Viewing Platform. The new facility is being constructed adjacent to the K-25 History Center and will provide visitors a complete view of the building’s massive 44-acre footprint.
While the K-25 History Center focuses on the men and women who built and operated the Oak Ridge Diffusion Plant during the Manhattan Project and Cold War, this facility will help visitors understand the scope and magnitude of the site.
Wilkerson added that she is very proud of what the viewing platform will bring to the community and is very grateful for the partners that are making it all happen, starting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“Since announcing our partnership last year, they have brought the perfect skillset, expertise, and established networks to make the project a success, and to help us cross the finish line,” Wilkerson said.
Uranium enrichment operations ceased at the K-25 Building in 1985, and the site was permanently shut down in 1987. Afterward, DOE committed to and began a massive environmental cleanup effort to transform the site into a multi-use industrial park for the community. That effort involved tearing down five massive enrichment facilities, including the K-25 Building, and 500 other structures that supported operations at the site. OREM and its contractor UCOR completed demolition of the K-25 Building in 2013 and finished all demolition at the site in 2020.
Ken Rueter, UCOR president and CEO, said that all of the partners, communities and people that are involved with this project to recognize history complete the full life cycle of the site by returning it back to the region and nation for economic and historical use.
“We stand at a location in which five previous generations of folks from all across the nation, centered here in East Tennessee, took on something that the world didn’t believe could be done, and ultimately ended up ending the great war, preserving our freedom,” Rueter said.
The K-25 Building footprint is within the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park Service that contains sites in Oak Ridge; Los Alamos, N.M.; and Hanford, Washington.
The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at www.lrn.usace.army.mil, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest Nashville District employment and contracting opportunities at https://www.linkedin.com/company/u-s-army-corps-of-engineers-nashville-district.