The K-25 Earthcache EarthCache
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These coordinates will take you a little park with a view of where the “K-25” plant is. There is plenty of parking. There is also a covered pavilion here and some picnic tables.
This area has a lot of really cool history. There is obviously way more information than I can fit in this Earthcache description but I will hit some of the highlights. If you have the time and want to learn more you should check out the “American Museum of Science and Energy” Link Text that is here in Oak Ridge. They have a whole exhibit dedicated to the history of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, (ORNL).
I am going to put this up here in case your GPS cannot download as much. There is a lot of good information about the Manhattan Project and Uranium in here so make sure to read it. To log it you can get a picture of yourself, group or something around the site but that is optional. Then email me the answers to these questions.
They seem to have moved the “converter” so we are changing to questions. These answers can be found by looking at the sign next to the building.
A. Which two types of Uranium are said to have been there and what is the difference in the two?
B. How many years did it take to build?
C. What is the half-life of Uranium measured in? (This can be found in the Earthcache description)
D. How many “construction personnel” worked on the plant?
E. Who commissioned this sign?
F. How many acres did the main building encompass?
Any pictures or logs giving away the answers will be deleted. THANK YOU for finding our Earthcache. We will email you if you are missing anything.
The History
The ORNL started as part of the “World War II Manhattan project” in 1943. When the Manhattan project began everything was secret. Even the name. The first name that was proposed was the Laboratory for the Development of Substitute Materials. But this was thought to bring too much attention so since it started in Manhattan New York it got the name Manhattan Engineering District which was shortened to the Manhattan Project. This was one of at least 10 sites but in a just over a year one moved to Oak Ridge Tennessee.
There were no main roads coming in or going out of it and at night everyone had to turn their lights out. There were armed guards and guard shacks at all of the entrances and no one could enter without clearance. All the vehicles were searched as they went in and came out, even government official’s cars were searched. They did not want anyone to know that there was even a town here and they did not want anyone sneaking in. A lot of the workers at least in this lab were women because a lot of the men were in the war. For the most part there were only a handful of scientists that knew what was really happening; everybody else just had a job to do. At the time there were only four major deposits of uranium that for known of. They were in Colorado, northern Canada, Czechoslovakia and the Belgian Congo. There was a Belgian entrepreneur that in time helped get about two-thirds of all the uranium the project needed.
What is happening now?
It is the largest science and energy national laboratory in the Department of Energy system. Now about 26% of their time is dedicated to National Security research and 16% on Energy research. The bulk (about 56%) of their research is dedicated to Science. Now they have been decommissioning and decontaminating some of these reactors. Some of the things that need to be considered in managing the Used Nuclear Fuel (UNF) are what can be reused? Will it be needed for further research? Could it be used for alternative fuel? What needs to be done to store it while it is used? Will it be safe to transfer some of it to another facility? Can it be recycled/ recovered? They have some of the largest “supercomputers” so several thousand scientists and other people visit each year.
Uranium
A “converter” like this one in front of you was used to enrich Uranium. Uranium (chemical symbol U) is a naturally- occurring radioactive element, with atomic number 92.There are eight elements that make up about 98% of the Earth's crust, uranium is number 51 in order of abundance. The top eight most common elements in Earth’s crust (by mass) are: br/>br/> 1. Oxygen (O), 46.6%
2. Silicon (Si), 27.7%
3. Aluminum (Al), 8.1%
4. Iron (Fe), 5.0%
5. Calcium (Ca), 3.6%
6. Sodium (Na), 2.8%
7. Potassium (K), 2.6% and
8. Magnesium (Mg), 2.1%
Uranium is commonly found in very small amounts in rocks, soil, water, plants, and animals (including humans). Uranium is weakly radioactive and contributes to low levels of natural background radiation in the environment.
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