Daily Archives: July 10, 2013

July 10, 2013 Heiskell, TN

Today we arrived in Heiskell, TN where we had a reservation at Raccoon Valley RV Park, which is an Escapees park.  While in the area we drove to Oak Ridge to tour the AMSE (American Museum of Science and Energy) which chronicles the World War II Manhattan Project.  The museum is self guided, but we struck up a conversation with one of the workers there and he showed us through some of the museum and answered questions.  He had actually worked for the government at Oak Ridge and was very knowledgable about the museum and area.  We took a three and a half hour bus tour which included highlights of the history of Oak Ridge, and the history of science and technology at the three U.S. Department of Energy/Oak Ridge facilities.  Our first stop on the tour was the Y-12 New Hope Visitor Center which featured displays about the Manhattan Project, the Cold War, and other Y-12 missions.  Next we saw the Graphite Reactor located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory which served as the pilot project that led to the first production of plutonium.  We saw the exterior of the world’s oldest nuclear reactor.  Lastly we saw  the K-25 Overlook where we learned about the gaseous diffusion process that enriched uranium powering the first atomic bomb.  It was amazing to see the “city” where people lived and worked long ago, completely unaware that they were working on the first atomic bomb.  They knew they were working on behalf of the war effort, but for most of them, the first time they knew what they had been working on was when they read about it after the bombs had been dropped at the end of World War II.  In many ways it was rather surreal to walk where they had walked and worked so many years ago.  The work was done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until the war was over.  For those of you who may want to visit Oak Ridge and take the bus tour, we would suggest you get to the museum by 9:00 AM, get a ticket for the bus, and sign the log. The $5 admission fee included the bus tour but they only run one bus a day which leaves at noon and only holds 30 passengers.  Once the 30 tickets are handed out at the museum, no one else is allowed on the tour.  You also need proper identification to be allowed on the bus and photography is restricted in some areas on the tour.IMG_20130711_110317

On a lighter note, we found out on the bus tour why our campground was called Raccoon Valley.  It appears there is an abundance of raccoons in the area.  It seems the raccoons are also very smart and have learned how to open trash cans and get around many of the ways the people of the area have tried to keep them out of trouble.  The guide said the day the raccoons learn how to punch a code into a keypad or pick a lock, the town will be in real trouble!