A rendering of the K-25 Viewing Platform. It is scheduled to open to the public next summer.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - When crews with Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and cleanup contractor UCOR finished demolishing the mile-long K-25 Building more than a decade ago, they left behind a massive 44-acre footprint that's now part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

With the addition of the K-25 Viewing Platform, now underway, visitors will be able to learn more about the former uranium enrichment facility that helped end World War II while viewing the area from a new perspective.

Construction crews are making significant progress on the project. When complete, the elevated viewing platform will provide a sweeping, panoramic view of the K-25 footprint through 10-foot-tall wraparound glass windows.

Plans also involve installing visual indicators at each corner of the footprint, delineating the height and dimensions of the structure that once stood there to help visitors understand its immensity.

The K-25 Viewing Platform will provide an elevated and panoramic view of the former K-25 Building's 44-acre footprint.

"The K-25 Viewing Platform will provide engaging displays that help visitors see and comprehend the full scale and magnitude of the former Manhattan Project and Cold War-era site," said Steve Cooke, OREM's project manager overseeing historic preservation. "This understanding will lead to a deeper appreciation of what previous generations accomplished here."

Through an interagency agreement signed in 2022, OREM provided funding for the project, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) oversees construction. USACE awarded Geiger Brothers a $9.9 million contract to build the platform last year.

UCOR and subcontractor Smee + Busby Architects designed the platform. They also provide engineering support during construction.

The facility is taking shape with Geiger Brothers finishing the concrete slab and erecting the structural steel framework. Construction is expected to be complete next spring, and the platform is set to open in summer 2025 after exhibits are installed inside.

The K-25 Viewing Platform is taking shape with construction crews from Geiger Brothers finishing the concrete slab and erecting the structural steel framework. Construction is expected to be complete next spring.

Its construction is one of the final components of a multi-project agreement OREM signed in 2012 to commemorate the history of the former Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, where the K-25 Building was located. OREM completed the other elements in previous years, including constructing the K-25 History Center and preserving the historic Alexander Inn.

Built in 1944, the K-25 Building was the largest structure in the world at the time. It carried an equally immense, important mission to help end a global war by producing uranium for the world's first nuclear weapon. Despite the vastness of the building and urgency of the work, the public would not learn of K-25's existence in Oak Ridge until the end of World War II.

Uranium enrichment operations ceased there in 1985, and the site was permanently shut down in 1987. Afterward, the U.S. Department of Energy committed to a massive environmental cleanup to transform the site into a multiuse industrial park for the community. That effort involved tearing down five massive enrichment facilities, including K-25 and 500 other structures that supported operations at the site.

Crews are making progress on the K-25 Viewing Platform being built adjacent to the K-25 History Center, background, and overlooking the former K-25 Building footprint.

OREM and UCOR completed demolition of the K-25 Building in 2013 and all other demolition at the site in 2020. Additionally, they finished all soil remediation required on the K-25 footprint this summer.

The transformed site, now called the East Tennessee Technology Park, already has numerous private businesses onsite along with large conservation areas and a national park. The K-25 Building footprint is within the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park Service that also includes Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Hanford, Washington.

-Contributor: Wayne McKinney