OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — Bill Wilcox, a former nuclear scientist, is committed to saving a slice of history that links Oak Ridge to Japan through enriched uranium that was once produced here for the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima in 1945.
While buildings are being torn down at one of the World War II-era Manhattan Project sites, there is a fear that the historical ties to that event and the Cold War that ensued could be lost forever if efforts are not made to preserve them in perpetuity for future generations.
As chairman of the Partnership for K-25 Preservation, Wilcox has spent the past six years focusing on ways to save the vestiges of the past. K-25, the largest of the three Oak Ridge facilities that once churned out bits of enriched uranium, is being demolished to make way for new uses as part of the East Tennessee Technology Park.