Except for the north end of K-25, the 1.4-million-square-foot plant will be demolished by 2008. (Atomic Heritage Foundation)

Although the largest building in the Manhattan Project is in the process of being demolished, preservationists have convinced the Department of Energy (DOE) to save part of the 1.4 million-square-foot facility that helped produce uranium for the first atomic bomb.

Demolition began last fall on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, known as K-25, located in Oak Ridge, Tenn., less than an hour from Knoxville, but workers are saving some artifacts for a future museum. The facility's 54 adjoining buildings comprised the world's largest roofed structure when it was built in 1945. The plant closed in 1977.

In the spring of 2003, with the help of the Washington, D.C.-based Atomic Heritage Foundation, a local group stepped forward to convince the federal government to save K-25's u-shaped northern section, which covers 44 acres.

"We need to make this story accessible. We've done a poor job in the past, and that's one reason people don't understand what Oak Ridge did in the war," says Bill Wilcox, K-25's former technical director and co-chair of the Oak Ridge Heritage Preservation Association's advisory committee on K-25.

Although K-25 did not develop the uranium for the first atomic bomb—its Oak Ridge neighbor, Y-12, did—it is listed as one of the DOE's eight Manhattan Project Signature Facilities. The DOE had to proceed with demolition in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act.

Late last year, the DOE signed a memorandum of agreement to retain the north end of the facility. Now the Atomic Heritage Foundation and the association must determine who will fund an exhibit and renovation.

"The DOE has agreed that they will preserve it, but it's up to us and the city of Oak Ridge to decide how," says Colin Clay, the foundation's program manager.

Some have suggested that the building be used as a a brew pub, skating rink, or arts center in addition to a museum open to the public.

"The public has never been allowed to see it," WIlcox says. "We don't want to save any of the secret equipment, but we want to save enough of it so that people can go in there and walk along as much of the football-field length as they care to and see the same views that the generals saw in WWII."

The $294 million demolition of K-25 is scheduled to be completed in 2008.

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