Oak Ridge begins working on Manhattan Project park
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The Manhattan Project National Historical Park was officially created on Nov. 10, when U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel put their signatures on the memorandum of agreement.
The three- site park, however, is a long way from being finished. In fact, the process is just getting started.
“It’ll take three to five years, maybe a little longer,” said Tracy Atkins, the park’s interim superintendent, who visited Oak Ridge last week to look at some of the Manhattan Project sites and to gather public input on what should be included in the park and how the atomic bomb work should be presented to visitors.
One big hurdle will be getting access to some of the historic sites that are housed inside Department of Energy installations, including the high-security Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Y-12 produced the enriched uranium used in the “Little Boy” bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II. Some Y-12 facilities are integral to the Oak Ridge story.
“We have all those DOE security issues to deal with, but we have a great opportunity to be really thoughtful about how we plan the experiences that we want to share with the public,” Atkins said. “It’s going to take a little while to make that happen.”
Atkins and other members of the National Park Service team encouraged community leaders and local residents to list their priorities and submit their comments. Those comments will help park planners as they put together a “foundation document,” a sort of precursor to a master plan for the newly created national park.
“What are the important stories from Oak Ridge that will feed into our interpretive theme?” Atkins asked a crowd gathered Feb. 1 in Oak Ridge High School’s food court. “What are those things that are important to protect? And then what experiences would people like to have in the park long-term?” The comments varied. Asked what he thought was important, Lloyd Stokes of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association said, “The people stories.”
Stokes said the park venues in Oak Ridge should tell visitors about the impacts on those people who were evicted from their East Tennessee homes to make way for the super-secret government project, as well as those who came to Oak Ridge or returned to it to work on the atomic bombs.
“Those stories are equally fascinating,” Stokes said.
Dan Robbins, chairman of Greenways Oak Ridge, offered another take.
“There are over 50 miles of greenways and biking trails in Oak Ridge,” Robbins said. “My suggestion was to incorporate as many of those as possible into the park.”
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said it’s going to take a while for some plans to come to fruition, but he said Oak Ridge is a town that “likes to see progress” and he urged that near-term projects get some priority.
One possibility would be to accelerate completion of the museum portion of the preservation plans at the former K-25 uranium-enrichment site.
“I think if there’s any way we can do that we should,” Watson said. “You’ve got support from the powers-that-be in Washington.”
The DOE’s Office of Environmental Management is responsible for some of those activities as part of the deal that was reached between the government’s cleanup program and preservation groups that wanted to keep as much of World War II Oak Ridge alive as possible at K-25.
Mike Koentop, executive officer of the environmental program, said he didn’t think the History Center was scheduled for completion in 2016, but he said the DOE has about $ 6 million available this year for preservation and commemoration activities in Oak Ridge. That includes money that’s being spent on design for the museum, he said.
The DOE has already put online a virtual museum for K-25.
Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said he hopes the National Park Service will make an effort to tell all sides of the Manhattan Project story, including workers who were unwittingly exposed to hazardous materials in the workplace and those who died from the devastating atomic bombs.
“The Manhattan Project changed the world,” Hutchison said, noting creation of the world’s first atomic weapon was used “to create incomprehensible human suffering” and led to an arms race that has cost trillions of dollars.
Bobbie Henry, a lifelong Oak Ridger and a board member at the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, said she wants to make sure the park devotes some attention to the Special Engineer Attachment — the Army group that provided technical assistance during the war project.
Martin, whose family moved to Oak Ridge in 1943 after earlier moving from Cookeville, Tenn., to Detroit to find work, said she is guarded in her comments about the park.
“I feel like it’s a very good thing for us,” she said, “but I hate that it’s come along so late. Many of those who lived it are now gone. Few of them are still here who can tell the whole story.”
Federal funding for the park will be limited during the planning stages.
The park service has $340,000 to get things started in 2016. That doesn’t sound like a lot of money by government standards, but Atkins said it’s more than usual for a new park.
“Usually, new parks get only $ 180,000 the first year,” she said. “So I think because we have three sites and lots of lobbying from local folks, we were able to get a little more. So we’ll put it to good use.”
The DOE did not receive any money targeted for the park in the agency’s fiscal year 2016 budget, but the money allotted as part of the cleanup budget will help with the park’s development.
Atkins said the Manhattan Project National Historical Park probably will receive dual funding from the National Park Service and the DOE in the future, with the DOE likely to shoulder the greater funding burden.
“Because DOE will continue to own the properties and be responsible for maintenance on them, and security and access and historic preservation,” she said. “So DOE will always have a responsibility for those buildings. Our responsibility is to interpret them.”
The DOE and the NPS will work together on how to interpret the World War II Manhattan Project facilities and artifacts.
Atkins said she couldn’t predict what annual costs will be needed to support the three-site park in the future.
“I couldn’t tell you right now. It’s too far down the road, and it’s hard for me to differentiate what the Park Service and DOE will do,” she said.
“WE HAVE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO BE REALLY THOUGHTFUL ABOUT HOW WE PLAN THE EXPERIENCES THAT WE WANT TO SHARE WITH THE PUBLIC. IT’S GOING TO TAKE A LITTLE WHILE TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN.”
— TRACY ATKINS, MANHATTAN PROJECT NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT