EEOICPA Statistics for Claimants Living in Tennessee
DOL Part B and Part E Statistics
NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Statistics
Tennessee EEOICPA Facilities
Facility descriptions credit: DOE
Photo Credit: Brandon Jean on Unsplash
The Clarksville
Modification Center was established in 1958 for
the purpose of testing and modifying the
components of nuclear weapons. The Center was
located near Clarksville, TN, on a corner of the
Ft. Campbell, KY, military reservation. Prior to
1958 some buildings were used by the AEC for
storage. The Clarksville Modification Center was
closed in September 1965 and its functions were
transferred to Pantex and Burlington. In 1967
the AEC surrendered control of the area back to
the Army.
Throughout the course of its
operations, the potential for beryllium exposure
existed at this site.
In 1943, as part of the Manhattan Engineer District, the US. Government purchased 59,000 acres 12 miles west of Knoxville, Tennessee because it needed a remote location to build production plants and laboratories to produce plutonium and enriched uranium for the atomic bomb project. This facility was known as the Clinton Engineer Works (CEW) and was referred to generally as Oak Ridge. The entire CEW was bounded by security fences from February 1943 through March 1949. Within the CEW were the processing plants, known as Y-12, K-25 and X-10 (now ORNL) each of which had its own security fence (a fence within a fence) and has been designated separately for purposes of the EEOIPCA. During this time, Roane Anderson Company managed, operated and maintained residences, apartment, dormitories, guest houses, barracks, hutments, trailers, restaurants, cafeterias, buses, roads, streets, sidewalks, garbage and sewage disposal, heating plants and more for the CEW. Roane did not, however, operate the processing plants and laboratories. The CEW gates came down in March 1949. This meant that people no longer needed a security clearance to enter the CEW, though clearances were still required to enter the plants and laboratories. The fences surrounding the processing plants also remained. It was also in 1949 that the privatization of what is today known as the City of Oak Ridge began.
Manufacturing Sciences Corporation performed beryllium work for Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The K-25 gaseous
diffusion plant was built as part of the World
War II Manhattan Project to supply enriched
uranium for nuclear weapons production.
Construction of K-25 started in 1943. It was the
first diffusion facility for large-scale
separation of uranium-235. It became was fully
operable by August 1945. Additional buildings
involved in the enrichment process were operable
by 1956. Along with the plants in Paducah, KY,
and Portsmouth, OH, the site was used primarily
for the production of highly-enriched uranium
for nuclear weapons until 1964.
From 1959 to
1969, focus shifted to the production of
commercial-grade, low-enriched uranium. In 1985,
declining demand for enriched uranium caused the
enrichment process to be placed on standby. In
1987, the process was stopped permanently.
The Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant was
also a host for centrifuge facilities
constructed as part of a program to develop and
demonstrate uranium-enrichment technology. These
facilities have also been shut down.
Throughout the course of its operations, the
potential for beryllium exposure existed at this
site, due to beryllium use, residual
contamination, and decontamination activities.
Since 1988, the primary DOE mission at K-25 has
been remediation, though on-site DOE contractors
and sub-contractors continue to provide on-site
services which are covered under EEOICPA. Also
during this time, DOE paid for the construction
of the Toxic Substances Control Act. (TSCA)
incinerator which disposed of certain regulated
wastes, much of which originated at various DOE
facilities. In 1997 the name of the facility was
changed to the East Tennessee Technology Park
(ETTP) to reflect its changing nature. However,
during this period of remediation, the process
of privatization of K-25 into the ETTP was
ongoing. This privatization effort involved
leasing portions of the premises out to private
industry to conduct their own business there.
These private businesses and their employees are
not covered under the EEOICPA.
Originally a US Army Hospital for the Manhattan Project workers, this facility was operated for the AEC by Roane-Anderson Co. In 1959, ownership of the hospital was privatized and its operation taken over by the Oak Ridge Hospital of the Methodist Church.
Oak Ridge Associated
Universities (ORAU) is a university consortium
leveraging the scientific strength of 105 major
research institutions to advance science and
education by partnering with national
laboratories, government agencies, and private
industry. 1966, ORINS became known by the name
of the operating contractor, ORAU. In the early
1990s, the name was changed to ORISE, the Oak
Ridge Institute for Science Education. ORAU
manages ORISE for the U.S. Department of Energy.
ORISE focuses on scientific initiatives to
research health risks from occupational hazards,
assess environmental cleanup, respond to
radiation medical emergencies, support national
security and emergency preparedness, and educate
the next generation of scientists.
The South
Campus Facility was originally established to
study accidental irradiation of cattle during
testing of the first atomic bomb near
Alamogordo, New Mexico. This facility was also
known as the Agricultural Research Laboratory
and Farm and then as the Comparative Animal
Research Laboratory (CARL). It was operated by
the University of Tennessee for the Atomic
Energy Commission until it was assigned to ORAU
and ORISE in 1981.
During the Manhattan
project, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(ORNL) site was used by the University of
Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory to construct
the first pile semiworks - a test plant that
would move the plutonium product process from
the research stage to large scale production.
DuPont began construction of the test pile, the
X-10 reactor in March 1943 and was ready for
operations by January 1944. A research facility
designated as the Clinton Laboratories was built
during the war to support X-10 reactor
activities and included chemistry, health and
engineering divisions.
After the war, the
laboratory was transformed from a war production
facility to a nuclear research center and
changed its name to Oak Ridge National
Laboratory in 1948. The Laboratory's research
role in the development of nuclear weapons
decreased over time, but the scope of its work
expanded to include production of isotopes,
fundamental hazardous and radioactive materials
research, environmental research, and
radioactive waste disposal.
Throughout the
course of its operations, the potential for
beryllium exposure existed at this site, due to
beryllium use, residual contamination, and
decontamination activities..
The S-50 Plant at
Oak Ridge was constructed in 1944 to enrich
uranium feed material for the Y-12
electromagnetic facility using a liquid thermal
diffusion process. The process was originally
developed at the Naval Research Laboratory in
Washington, DC, and tested on a pilot plant
level at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
Located near the K-25 gaseous diffusion
facility, the S-50 Plant operated for a limited
period during 1944-1945. The plant was closed in
September 1945 because the thermal diffusion
process was not as efficient as the gaseous
diffusion.
The S-50 plant was reopened in
1946 as part of the joint Air Force/AEC project
to investigate the possibility of developing a
nuclear-powered airplane. This project, known as
Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft
(NEPA), was housed at S-50 and the contractor
was the Fairchild Engine and Aircraft
Corporation. Fairchild's NEPA Division at S-50
conducted a number of experiments involving
beryllium powder during the time period
1946-1951.
The Office of Scientific and Technical lnformation was created to serve as a federal government repository for all technical reports pertaining to the Department of Energy and its predecessor agencies.
Records indicate
that "Vitro Corporation" of Chattanooga, TN
performed some beryllium work for Y-12 during
the period 1959-1965. A 1962 document also
mentions that the AEC met with members of the
beryllium industry, including representatives
from "Vitro Chemical" (no address), but does not
mention whether any contracts were involved in
these discussions.
The original owner of this
site was Heavy Metals Inc. and possessed an AEC
license to process uranium and thorium products
beginning as early as 1957. Documentation
indicates that the company provided price quotes
to the AEC for thorium products as early as
1954, but there is no indication that it
received a contract for that work. Vitro
Chemical of Chattanooga, TN, a subsidiary of
Vitro Corporation, took over the site at the end
of 1959 and was under contract to the AEC to
produce thorium metal, thorium fluoride and
thorium oxide. The current owner, W.R. Grace,
purchased the site in 1965 and continued
operations until 1983, but records do not reveal
any weapons-based link after 1968. The State of
Tennessee took over licensing of this site in
1968.
During the period of residual
contamination, as designated by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and
as noted in the dates above, employees of
subsequent owners and operators of this facility
are also covered under the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.
The Davison Chemical
Division of W.R. Grace Co. (later Nuclear Fuel
Services) processed unirradiated uranium scrap
for the AEC, recovering enriched uranium from it
for use in the nuclear weapons complex.
Correspondence from 1963 also indicates that the
company also worked with thorium, which was
associated with their work for the civilian
nuclear reactor industry and the naval reactors
program.
During the period of residual
contamination, as designated by the National
Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and
as noted in the dates above, employees of
subsequent owners and operators of this facility
are also covered under the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.
Built in a rural
section of East Tennessee, the Y-12 National
Security Complex, previously known as the Oak
Ridge Y-12 Plant, was part of the Manhattan
Project. Its job was to process uranium for the
first atomic bomb. Construction of Y-12 started
in February 1943; enriched uranium production
started in November of the same year.
Construction, however, was not entirely finished
until 1945.The first site mission was the
separation of uranium-235 from natural uranium
by the electromagnetic separation process. The
magnetic separators were taken out of commission
at the end of 1946 when gaseous diffusion became
the accepted process for enriching uranium.
Since World War II, the number of buildings at
Y-12 has doubled. Its missions have included
uranium enrichment, lithium enrichment, isotope
separation and component fabrication. For more
than 50 years, Y-12 has been one of the DOE
weapons complex’s premier manufacturing
facilities. Every weapon in the stockpile has
some components manufactured at the Y-12
National Security Complex.
Throughout the
course of its operations, the potential for
beryllium exposure existed at this site, due to
beryllium use, residual contamination, and
decontamination activities.