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OAK RIDGE: THE CITY
The city of Oak Ridge was built by the United States Government during World War II to provide living accommodations for the construction, operating and scientific personnel of the huge atomic energy production and research centers hidden here in the hills of East Tennessee. The city covers 10 square miles of the 90-square-mile Oak Ridge Area.
Oak Ridge's history is as dramatic as it is brief. Seven years ago its site was a quiet rural valley flanked by wooded hills. Prewar maps gave no sign of it except for the label "Black Oak Ridge" upon the hills that form it northern border and from which it derived its name.
Seeking an isolated area where one phase of the tremendous atomic energy development could be carried out in secret during World War II, the Manhattan District of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, on September 19, 1942, selected this area as the site of several major installations. Prophetically, it was first called a "demolition range", later the Clinton Engineer Works. On January 22, 1948, it was designated the Oak Ridge Area by the Atomic Energy Commission.
Shortly after the site was chosen, the area was cleared of approximately 1,000 families - 3,000 persons - and the fabulous job of building enormous plants with highly complex equipment, at great speed and in the greatest secrecy was begun. Simultaneously, early in 1943, housing construction was started. Thus, a new city and a new era were born.
First plans called for a community of 12,000 persons, but plant expansion increased housing needs. Eventually, at the peak of operations, in August, 1945, when the first atomic bomb was dropped over Japan, Oak Ridge had a population of 75,000, the fifth largest city in Tennessee. Population today is a stable 35,000.
The city of Oak Ridge, which alone cost $96,000,000, runs for seven miles along Black Oak Ridge, in the area's northeastern corner. The atomic energy plants are situated in separate valleys, shielded from each other and from the city. Distances to the plants range from three to twelve miles along most of the eastern, southern, and western boundaries of the reservation. Twenty miles to the east is Knoxville; six miles to the northeast, Clinton, from which the Area originally derived its name - Clinton Engineer Works. The TVA's famous Norris Dam is eighteen miles northeast.
Oak Ridge, under jurisdiction of the Atomic Energy Commission since January 1, 1947, continues to be a Government-owned and operated city. There are no elected officials although eventual incorporation of the city is being studied. The city's 9,600 housing units are situated on wooded hillsides affording residential neighborhoods of unusual attractiveness. The city has nine shopping centers, the principal ones being Jackson Square and Grove Center.
The Oak Ridge School System, while a part of the Anderson County School system, is operated with Government funds. There is one high school, a junior high school, and ten elementary schools. Nearly 7,000 of Oak Ridge's 35,000 residents are of school age and several thousand more will soon be starting school. A young, civic-minded, forward-looking community, Oak Ridge has more than 100 active organizations and 26 church groups.
Oak Ridge is now in the process of transition from a sprawling, war-built temporary town to a permanent city. The opening of the town to the general public March 19, 1949, was a major step in this transition. a Master Plan already completed will serve as a guide for its future physical development. Churches will soon build their own edifices on property purchased from the Government and new business establishments will be erected under long-term leases. New permanent housing already is being constructed.
While this broad transformation obviously cannot be accomplished overnight, Oak Ridge looks forward to becoming ultimately a typical American community. Historically, though, it is a new city in a new age.
THE AMERICAN MUSUEM OF ATOMIC ENERGY
The American Museum of Atomic Energy - first of its kind in the world - has been established here in "The Cradle of the Atomic Age" to display and demonstrate the unfolding story of atomic energy. The museum is operated by the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies in cooperation with the AEC and its contractors.
The famous New York City Golden Jubilee Show, "Man and the Atom", forms the nucleus of the museum. This show is being constantly improved to present a simple dynamic account of atomic energy development.
Be sure to visit the Museum. The map on the back page of this booklet shows its location. Admission is twenty-five cents for adults; children under 12, five cents.
THE OAK RIDGE AREA: ITS OPERATIONS
The Oak Ridge Area not only is the world center for the production of Uranium-235, one of the materials used in atomic weapons, but is the source of virtually all the world's radioactive isotopes, now used widely in research. Oak Ridge is also the capital of the world's peacetime atomic energy development. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory several great scientific research programs are constantly enlarging the frontiers of knowledge. Several other projects dealing with atomic energy also are being carried forward.
Major installations and projects here are:
Gaseous Diffusion Plant For The Production Of Uranium-235 (K-25) - This plant, largest industrial building of its kind in the world, covers 44 acres and is almost a half mile long. Nearby is a second process building, one-fourth as large as the main structure. The entire present plant cost $500,000,000. In the next two years, an addition will be completed costing $70,000,000. The largest steam plant ever built in one operation, costing 34,000,000, is near the gaseous diffusion plant. It has a generating capacity of 238,000 kilowatts (twice that of TVA's Norris Dam).
The Electromagnetic Plant (Y-12) - In January 1944 the first mass production of U-235 in history started in the 500-acre electromagnetic separation plant. Uranium for one of the first two bombs was separated here. In addition to work with U-235, two other important projects are carried on at this plant, production of stable isotopes used widely in research and studies on improvement in production methods.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (X-10) - The Oak Ridge National Laboratory was used during World War II as a pilot plant for the huge plutonium plant at the Hanford Works in Washington State. It is now one of the AEC's three great nuclear research centers. Original cost was about $12,000,000. The laboratory's uranium chain-reactor is the world's prime source of radioactive isotopes, the revolutionary research tools now being used extensively in medical, biological, agricultural, and industrial research. The Laboratory's research programs embrace studies in chemistry, biology, health physics, metallurgy and allied fields of science.
(K-25, Y-12 and X-10 are operated for the Government by Carbide and Carbon Chemical Corporation. All are within the Oak Ridge Controlled Area.)
Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies - The institute is an educational organization composed of 19sponsoring universities in the South. It utilizes the unique facilities on the Oak Ridge Area for graduate research, promotes graduate studies in nuclear energy, conducts special training schools in the handling of radioactive isotopes and aids in the development of public education activities in the field of atomic energy throughout the south.
Nuclear Energy For Propulsion of Aircraft Project - The "NEPA" research project is the joint effort of aviation companies and the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, working through the Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation as prime contractor with the U. S. Air Forces. Its goal is the application of atomic power to the propulsion of airplanes. The Atomic Energy Commission is cooperating in the project.
University of Tennessee Farm Research Program - The University of Tennessee is conducting a comprehensive farm research program on a 3,000-acre tract. One phase is a study of the breeding records of cattle accidentally exposed to radiation effects following the test explosion of the first atomic bomb at Alamogordo, New Mexico, July 16, 1945.
SOME SAFETY TIPS FOR YOU
Do not pass a stopped school bus.
Speed limits are posted. Please observe them. Standard hand-signals for turns or stops are required.
Turn right on red light only where designated by curb sign or green arrow.
Please do not throw lighted matches, cigarets, cigars or pipe ashes from your vehicle. To report a fire, telephone 5-2471.
Automobile accidents must be reported immediately to police. Telephone 5-4331.
Oak Ridge is proud of its safety achievements. Our low accident rates and low fire losses have been achieved only through the conscience effort of all who use our facilities. Please drive safely, walk safely and help us prevent fires. We'll appreciate your cooperation.Transcriber
Teagan Russell