Nestled between the Clinton River and the Appalachian Mountains, twenty-five miles from Knoxville,Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed key atomic materials during World War II and the Cold War.

In 1943, the United States government usurped fifty-nine thousand acres to develop Clinton Engineer Works. Residents were given court orders and forced to leave the homes their families had lived in for years. This valley became Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The laboratory, known as X-10, developed a graphite reactor that transformed uranium into plutonium and created U-235, the element needed to produce atomic explosions. The reactor went critical on November 4, 1943.

During World War II, Dupont and the University of Chicago ran the laboratory. Following the war, Monsanto, a chemical development company, took control of the lab.

During the 50s and 60s, the lab used the isotopes discovered during the war and began to study medical uses. Research shifted from nuclear defense to medicine, biology, materials, and physics.

In the 1970s, Oak Ridge research expanded to include energy production, transmission, and consumption.

Today, the lab researches advances in national security to combat terrorism. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been on the cutting edge of science for the past sixty years.

Podcast Written and Narrated by Kelcie Lloyd, Public History Student at the University of West Florida.