The Oak Ridge Conundrum of War and Peace

Oak Ridge, Tennessee, "the city that made the atom bomb," clearly
illustrates the difficult conundrum people must face when their
government decides to build a stockpile of highly lethal nuclear
weapons.

The origins of this conundrum are steeped with justifications like (a)
"the bomb" ended the World War II and saved American lives; (b) the
weapons protect us from our enemies and have prevented World War III;
and (c) the research and manufacture of nuclear products preserve jobs,
homes, and the local economy.

From its beginning in 1942 Oak Ridge was an unsettling place. Located
in the lush and beautiful Clinch River Valley of eastern Tennessee, it
"mushroomed" into a government "reservation" of 75,000 people living
and working in the middle of nowhere so research and production of the
atomic bomb could be hidden from the enemy fascists of Germany.
Unfortunately, the farmers and their families who lived there were
dispossessed of their property and told to clear out in 10 days.

Oak Ridge finally produced the plutonium for the "Little Boy" and "Fat
Man" bombs dropped on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9)
killing 140,000 and 80,000 respectively. Since then, tens of thousands
more Japanese have died from leukemia and various cancers attributed to
exposure to radiation released by the bombs. Nevertheless, when Japan
surrendered on August 15, Oak Ridgers were jubilant because they were
told that their work made a direct contribution toward ending the war.

Life in the "Secret City" wasn't easy for the Oak Ridgers, who were
mostly civilians literally living behind a security fence under the
authority of the Army. Residents were expected to report any
suspicious behavior of their neighbors and fellow workers. Employees
had to sign a pledge not to divulge any secrets about their work, which
was so broken down into smaller parts that only the top directors of
the Manhattan project knew that the atom bomb was actually being built!

Oak Ridge was conceived of as a temporary city with a single purpose
and no one expected it would continue after the war. Housing was made
of cheap, pre-fabricated materials. Facilities and amenities were
meager and mud was everywhere.

Soon after the war when the Oak Ridge mission was accomplished, some
people left the "Secret City" relieved to get out. Many people,
however, wanted to stay because they believed that the knowledge
discovered there was too valuable not to be further developed. Others
stayed because they just wanted to keep their jobs. Then, Eugene
Wigner, one of the legendary refugee scientists from Europe who
provided the theoretical and practical knowledge that fueled the
Manhattan project, created a new, peacetime purpose for nuclear
research. As a result, the city was saved and this new purpose came in
the form of radioactive isotopes that are used extensively in medicine
(especially for thyroid disease and cancer therapy), agriculture,
powering spacecrafts, smoke detectors, DNA analysis, diagnostic imaging
and other advanced scientific applications. Now, the facilities behind
the fence are known as the world-famous and highly-respected Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL).

Oak Ridge, today, is a thriving multicultural community of 27,000. It
has a rich and proud history, good schools and wonderful cultural and
environmental amenities that make the city an attractive place to
live. ORNL and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (25 miles
away) help populate the city with well-traveled, well-read,
well-educated, well-informed people who are very smart and like living
in Oak Ridge. But even this is a conundrum when it comes to
peacemaking activities.

Residents have been involved in various peace causes over the years.
For example, the city entered into a sister-city relationship with
Naka-shi, Ibaraki-ken, Japan, on October 29, 1990. It also hosts the
Ulster Project (https://www.ulsterproject.org) where Catholic and
Protestant teenagers from Northern Ireland "build a peaceful parity of
esteem between each other by building tolerance, trust, and ongoing
positive relationships."

So far, 11 greenways comprise 1,566 acres of sanctuary for wildlife and
native plants as well as trails and other opportunities for residents
to enjoy nature in unspoiled settings. Walking tours and excursion
trains take people through the area's history.

The American Museum of Science and Energy (https://www.amse.org)
provides exhibits on the peaceful uses of atomic energy and serves as a
"center for exploration dedicated to personalizing science and
technology." However, while museums generally help visitors to
remember and reflect on the past in order to shape the future, this one
has a sense of ironic tragedy with its shiny war exhibits like a
replica of "Little Boy" and a Mark 28, the oldest thermonuclear bomb in
the U.S. arsenal. I found these exhibits difficult to admire. In
fact, they were downright frightening--second only to the elderly
gentleman at the museum's info desk. He had worked on "the bomb" and
now he was breathing from an oxygen machine and living with cancer,
presumably due to his exposure to radiation.

Being a peace activist in Oak Ridge creates a confrontation with the
legacy of the "Secret City," where residents resist engaging in talk or
activities that might affect the ORNL's nuclear weapons research or
production. They risk losing their jobs, government contracts,
lifestyles or valued relationships in this tight-knit community and
company town. Now that is a terrible conundrum to live with.

Nevertheless, the Oak Ridge Peacemaking Alliance (ORPAX), begun in
1982, joined other Americans in their concern about the nuclear arms
race. ORPAX joined a group of "outsiders" (another legacy of Oak Ridge
living where you were either "inside" or "outside" the security fence)
to commemorate Hiroshima Day in 1983. Even so, it was careful to
stipulate that the day would be a memorial to those who died and not a
condemnation of Oak Ridge or of the Y-12 plant that made "the bomb."
These demands were not realized.

Since 1988, the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA) has also
demonstrated against nuclear weapons at the gates of the Y-12 plant in
its Stop the Bombs campaign (www.stopthebombs.org). It, too, holds a
Hiroshima Day and since 1998 members have made over 500 presentations
on WMD and militarism and invited thousands of people to Oak Ridge to
demonstrate against nuclear weapons. Hundreds of OREPA members have
also been arrested for acts of civil disobedience on this issue.

Peace activists report that their Hiroshima observances have been
mocked. Newspaper editorials have issued scathing commentaries against
their anti-war activities. During the 1990s, obstructionists tried to
scuttle proposals for an International Friendship Bell whose aim was to
unite the people of Oak Ridge and Japan in friendship and remembrance
over the terrible death and destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki so
that it would never happen again. But this issue was eventually
resolved and the bell stands tall in A.K. Bissell Park and is promoted
as a must-see site on the Visitors and Convention Bureau city map.

When the United States threatened war against Iraq in 2002, Oak Ridge
peace activists demonstrated against it--and were met with
counter-protests across the street by people who dismissed the
activists as "way overboard." Nevertheless, some activists are
undeterred. One elderly woman regularly writes letters to the editor
in the local newspaper about her opposition to the war despite
bloggers' labeling her a "radical activist."

Another woman wrote a booklet for high school students on the practical
realities of enlisting in the military in order to balance the
influence of military recruiters. She informed parents that the
military has access to students' records and then lobbied the school
board to give parents the option of having their child receive
information on enlistment.

And one more conundrum: a lot of the local residents appreciated the
activists' peacemaking efforts even though they don't stand with them.

Today, members of ORPAX conduct their demonstrations "in very harmless
ways." said one middle-aged member.

"We're not trying to get coverage in the newspaper. And when we go out
to ring the International Friendship Bell on Sundays [in honor of the
fallen Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan], we do it more for ourselves
in a private way. If we were public about it, we'd put ourselves at
risk."

Oak Ridgers understand what it means to be a part of a place that has a
great effect on the world--in both war and peace. And in some ways, Oak
Ridge still remains a "secret city"--for those who thirst for peace.

However, it is important to recognize that the Oak Ridge conundrum of
war and peace reflects the conundrum of our entire nation. Oak Ridge
may be the place where WMD were and are constructed, but all Americans
share a responsibility for what we do with these weapons. For my
money, especially on this day of remembrance in Hiroshima, they should
all be banned and disassembled.