In a few weeks, Dennis and I are taking a discretionary tour, really another visiting trip with stops to see Matt and Sue in Virginia, see Victoria in Tennessee and Ilana in Ann Arbor.
I spent much of the first year of my life in Oak Ridge Tennessee (1952-3). My father attended the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology (ORSORT), a program for engineers from business, military and academia teaching nuclear engineering before it was in the universities (where it's mostly gone now). Only the best and the brightest. All "white' men, of course.
Not sure if I would characterize my family as "white" but that's another issue. For this (and most purposes) he was "white".
Since the trip to Victoria may not pan out (we will be in the area for 27 hours), I thought, why not do the Oak Ridge thing? Oak Ridge is closer to Victoria anyway.
So we'll give it an Oak Ridge theme, why not? I finally got in touch with the staff member who's in charge of tours and he scheduled us for a 10am tour on the day we are there. Maybe we'll be the only ones? I better start learning about it. It's big time nuclear.....
ORSORT ran from 1950-1965. From the ORNL site:
Ultimately, ORNL's greatest impact on nuclear power during the 1950s came not from reactor design but reactor training: In 1950, at the AEC's request, the Laboratory established the Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology to share nuclear know-how with visiting personnel from universities, industry, and the military. Over the next decade and a half, the school's one-year curriculum would train nearly 1,000 graduates, including many of the pioneers of commercial nuclear power.
I've featured my father at Oak Ridge before. Many of the attendees were young married adults with babies (like my parents). A picnic with new moms and dads.. And a picture of him doing work with other students featured in a promotional piece.
Picture of a Oak Ridge National Laboratory complex (or similar)
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