"Here in Oak Ridge, we glow in the dark..."
By Mr.Coffee and Flash Light Boy
It all started one hot, humid lunch hour in Oak Ridge, TN. Having been forced by the elements to eat lunch in the air-conditioned confines of my van, I drove around looking for a suitable location to park and enjoy my vittles without interruption. In the industrial park where my workplace was located, I stumbled upon a large, seemingly abandoned building, with a large, fenced-in area. As I munched on my burger and fries, I noticed that the trash chute had it’s compactor removed, and that access to the building was both a) Protected from light pollution and b) Not usually thought of as an entrance, and therefore probably still open.
That evening,bolstered by this knowledge, I grabbed my trusty maglite (6 cells of luvin, great forearm workout!) and Flash Light Boy, and we headed out to see what lay inside the walls that were the old M4 plant (also known as Molten Metal Technologies)
I clambered up the sheet metal ex-trash chute, hopped down into the building proper, raised my head and exclaimed "Oh my god". "What is it?" replied Flash Light Boy. "This place is beautiful, c’mon." was my response, and we headed off into what would be a very interesting place indeed.
Upon entering the building we turned left and examined a room the size of a small airplane hangar, with one major exception: this one was full of some rather nasty chemicals, a lot of chemical absorbent, and some rather interesting signs.
After seeing this room we paused to discuss whether or not to continue, when a thought crossed my mind. If all of the chemicals were in this room, that meant the rest of the plant had already been decontaminated (we hoped). Besides, with an interior space the size of an airport beckoning, who could resist?.
Walking back out the way we came we entered what must have been the main plant floor. It consisted of a large plant floor with some rooms in the middle, turning the space into a giant donut. This was the largest open space in the plant and could easily have contained a 747 or two. About this time Flash Light Boy spotted something shiny and red. “Elevator!”, he shouted, and we headed off to investigate.
Upon further investigation (reading the signs), we decided against taking a ride to the yet-unexplored basement, and continued onto the upper lever midget storage room.(Flash Light Boy is 6’5", I’m 6’4" the ceiling was about 7 ft)
Flashlightboy and I were frolicking in this room when I heard a clicking noise coming from the door behind me. I turned, and gasped; I had just set off a motion detector. As a plethora of excuses (for the cops) flooded into my mind, Flash Light Boy pointed out that the motion detector was connected to only one thing: it’s power supply. Breathing a sigh of relief, we left the midget room and continued exploring the main floor.
From the stairs we went into the men’s bath/locker room, through what must have been a break room, and into a side entrance that proved to be one of the most relieving rooms in the building. It contained two (empty) SCBA emergency boxes, and the best thing of all: the deactivated security alarm panel. It was at this point that Flash Light Boy and I realized that the motion detectors were actually a part of the electronic door locks, and not of the security system. There was another exit to the women’s bath/locker room, but since neither Flash Light Boy nor I were perverts, we decided to go back the way we came.
Taking the stairs down we found the main power distribution, and some sort of (presumably HVAC) equipment. The power distribution was massive. The main breaker being 3 phase, 600 volts and 3000 amps. Like the breaker in Jurassic Park, this one had to be pumped to be thrown. As the power was turned on and there were large pools of water on the floor, we Snapped a few quick pics and headed back up the stairs.
Crossing from the stairs to the middle rooms we encountered the power room for the reactor. The first part was an anteroom separated from the rest of the room with a roll up door. Judging from the conduit in here, there was some rather serious equipment in this place. Just past that was the power room proper, which had a large bank of switches or breakers, many of them labeled with radiation warning signs. Looking up, we discovered the ceiling was actually a maze of high voltage cable trays.
From that room we crossed over into what was quite possibly the most interesting area of the building: the reactor. With four different levels, a ten ton gantry crane (with functional remote control), and enough pipes and valves to make any urban explorer think he died and went to heaven, we simply had to stop and stare. This place was getting better and better! Walking across the first level, we encountered the "maze". Here numerous pipes of different sizes, shapes, and colors were routing their way all around us. I had a thought and checked my cell phone reception. Sure enough, I was right, there were enough pipes around us to make a faraday cage!
It was due to our awe of this room that we actually explored the third level next: Flash Light Boy discovered a ladder, and being only mildly afraid of heights, started climbing. Upon reaching the top we discovered two things: 1) More pipes, and 2) Control panels! Navigating this level was a bit tricky due to the pieces of plywood that had been laid overtop of several large holes in the metal flooring. Once we got around these, we had a look at the control panels and pipes. It turns out the two large green pipes that are prevalent in this building carried something called “glycol”. Also, upon further inspection of the control panel we learned that “Reactor” does not necessarily mean nuclear, as this one wasn’t.
From the third level we discovered the stairs down to the second level and up to the fourth. We decided to check the fourth first, and hit the second on our way down.
The fourth level was not as interesting as the other three, it had an open platform that just seemed to "end". Cautious of falling, we stuck to the sides of it, while snapping some decent pics. This is where we discovered the gantry crane.
Heading down to the second level, we found it to consist of one small passage, lined with yet more pipes, a very interesting box which I deigned to open, and some really nifty signage. As it had stairs down, we descended into the pipe room, and exited through a side door into what was presumably an office space. The door was interesting, it had a 6 inch (15 cm) tall barrier around it to prevent the escape of either: a) the fluids that may have filled the floor in this room, or b) the radioactive attack hamsters that may or may not have been bred here.
The office room had some nifty things in it as well. An emergency shut-off switch, another (deactivated) alarm panel, and a key box! My heart jumped at the thought of being able to access any and all parts of the building, but being as every door we had encountered was unlocked I decided to leave the keys and return only if necessary. The rooms off of this were mainly the same, except that one of them had another key box. Making a note of this, we pressed on.
Coming out the back of this room, we were now at the opposite side of the main floor. This area was divided into several large rooms, many of which with bobcat-like tire marks on their floors. The condition of these rooms led me to believe that they had contained massive machinery. There were also some large air ducts, as well as the in-floor conduit that ran everywhere throughout the building. It was here where I spied some blue warning lights that begged me to take them home. But alas, being a true infiltrator (and not wanting to be carrying them if we were caught), I decided it was best they stay where they were. Continuing past these, we discovered another melting pot (where the air ducts terminated), several more sexy pipes, another fluid barrier, and a door to the outside-but-fenced portion of the building.
Venturing out into the night air, we discovered a weed-strewn concrete yard with an outbuilding down to the right, and a smokestack. Seizing the opportunity for a night-sky pic, I scurried up the ladder, only to find that the breeze was moving the smokestack too much for pictures, drat! Coming back down, we explored the outbuilding instead.
The outbuilding turned out to be the boiler room, and what a boiler room! It reeked of diesel, and nearly every gauge was in an explosion-proof box, but it was simply packed with valves, pipes, dials, switches, knobs, a tank with an access hatch, and of course, a boiler. Being as this room had questionable air quality, we left rather quickly.
Going back the way we came (Flash Light Boy had propped the door open with a pipe fitting), we crossed the back wall to find the cafeteria and lab. Yes, they were right next to each other.Along the way a hall opened up on the left, and we realized we could see the aforementioned elevator on the other side of the building. The lab turned out to be a big, empty room that smelled like pine bedding (hence the hamster hypothesis), but the cafeteria was great! Not only did it have two old soft drink machines (I want to come back for one so I can fill it with beer), but also at the rear of it were doors that led to the office portion of the building.
Once through this door we were confronted with a hallway that led to the left. Moving joyfully down this, I walked straight into the middle of the second floor offices and accidentally shined my maglite through the large front window. Switching off and retreating to cover, we realized that no pictures could be made of this area, as one entire wall was glass and the flash would be too risky. Crestfallen we crossed the floor to a door that was hanging open. This led to the office stairwell.
Going up, we came upon an identical office space, with a comms room in the corner. This building had a massive PBX system, as well as fiber optics. We snapped a few pics and headed back down the stairs, to check out the first floor offices.
Once at the bottom of the stairs, we encountered a brightly-lit hallway. Fearing visibility (the three office floors all have one wall that is entirely glass), I went through the door on my immediate right and walked into… a movie theatre! Wonder of wonders, this building was amazing! The movie theatre was quite small, and still had the fresnel-like rear-projection screen installed. Upon closer examination of this wall we found a hidden door that led to the control room.
Leaving the theatre, we dashed to the opposite end of the hallway and turned left. There we found proof that we were not the first to explore this wonderland of architecture. One of the small side offices had some very large, bad graffiti on the wall. Exploring the rest of this hallway, we found more small offices, sans graffiti.
Heading back the way we came, we backtracked through the cafeteria, and returned to our entry point. We paused for a moment to reflect on the wondrous things we had seen, and left through a side door one hour and 45 minutes later, feeling as though we’d been on one of the best adventures of our lives.
While taking pictures of the lab area, Flash Light Boy thought he heard a noise, and went to investigate. Sure enough, it was an alarm siren, since he didn't have his police scanner with him, we left immediately and went to get it. We met up at his truck, and to our relief, there was nothing on the scanner. Figuring the alarm to be local, we went back into the plant (future readers should take heed here: NEVER DO THIS!!!) upon re-entering, we went to the alarm panel. Sure enough, it was beeping, and had a display that said something about the trash compactor door. I snapped a pic of the scba stations, and was turing to get the fire alarm panel when Flash Light Boy said "we need to go, NOW". I inquired why and he responded "I just heard this street address on the radio." we left instantly (the benefits of parking nearby). sure enough, about 45 seconds after we left, 3 police cars drove up into the parking lot where we had been just moments before. It turns out that sombody else had broken into the place and had been stealing chemicals, lucky for Flash Ligh Boy and myself that we got away, or we probably would have been arrested for theft. Sadly this wonderous building is no longer safe for exploration, but Flash Light Boy and myself consider ourselves lucky for having gotten to see such a wonderful place.
