The first edition of A Citizen's Guide to Oak Ridge was published in 1989 by the Foundation for Global Sustainability's Oak Ridge Education Project (OREP). The Guide grew out of a realization that few people outside the Department of Energy's (DOE) fence in Oak Ridge had a working understanding of what took place inside the fence.
The second edition of the Guide was published in 1992, the year Oak Ridge commemorated its 50th birthday. In short, the guide examines Oak Ridge Operations (ORO) from a historic perspective, takes note of current conditions, and explores possible visions for the future.
The Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) is a sprawling operation, covering more than 37,000 acres, bridging two counties in East Tennessee, and housing three major nuclear facilities. The size and complexities of Oak Ridge's operations can be barriers to those who want to learn what happens there.
A Citizen's Guide to Oak Ridge attempts to provide basic information about Oak Ridge Operations (ORO) in an understandable format. It should be viewed as an evolving document. Each chapter offers opportunities for further research, and the work at Oak Ridge itself continues to evolve as decisions in the government shift the focus and direction of the country's nuclear program.
This first chapter provides the context necessary for understanding the city, the people, and its problems. The chapter provides a chronology of Oak Ridge's development from the construction of the secret city to the present day, through three "openings." In the beginning, the fence around Oak Ridge surrounded not only the nuclear operations, but the entire city. At the end of world War II, the fences were drawn in, enclosing only the nuclear reservation. In the early 1980's, after disclosures and a congressional hearing, a subsequent period of openness began.
Each of the three major facilities--the Y-12 Nuclear weapons Component Plant, the X-10 Oak Ridge national Laboratory, and the K-25 Site--receives its own chapter, which opens with a history of the plant, followed by a report of its present status and activity, ad concluding with a look at some of the known environmental problems related to the plant. The guide explores other aspects of ORO with a brief look at the DOE's facilities at Paducah, Kentucky, and Portsmouth, Ohio, also managed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems (MMES); and the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), which is charged with cleaning up sites left over from the Manhattan project.
Transportation issues for nuclear materials are complex; A Citizen's Guide provides an overview of Oak Ridge's role in nuclear materials transportation in Chapter Eight.
The movement of contaminants, hazardous and radioactive, off the boundaries of the nuclear reservation is treated in a chapter on off-site contamination new to this second edition.
The health effects of Oak Ridge Operations' release of contaminants on surrounding populations, animals, and the environment are discussed in the next chapter. Included here is a summary of findings of major epidemiological studies near nuclear facilities.
A chapter on economic issues in Oak Ridge considers the feasibility of economic conversion. The chapter explores current mechanisms for economic deversification and development which are being developed by DOE and Martin Marietta; the chapter also discusses prospects for the Oak Ridge workforce.
The concluding chapter addresses the future of Oak Ridge as the community enters the post-Cold war era and its second fifty years. In the final chapter, OREP presents a vision of the future of Oak Ridge, including information about current activities which provide opportunities for growth that is sustained and sustainable.