The Wheat Colony

The Wheat Colony. Keeping the Lines Ready. In late summer 1943, Manhattan Project administrators awarded a construction contract to Ford, Bacon, and Davis, Inc. to build support facilities for the K-25 plant. A new housing camp, Wheat Colony, was quickly built to provide housing, stores, and recreation to the 2,000 residents. Though Ford, Bacon, and Davis was originally just a construction contractor, operation of these buildings was also assigned to the firm until early 1945 when Carbide and Carbon took over full operation of the K-25 Complex., The gas processed at K-25, uranium hexafluoride (UFG), is highly corrosive and reactive creating challenges to the enrichment process. Due to this corrosivity, all large equipment and piping were constructed of or plated with nickel, a nonreactive metal, and smaller ones constructed of copper or nickel-copper alloy. Workers cleaned and conditioned every pipe, valve, pump, and converter using solvent degreasing, alkaline cleaning, acid pickling, scratch brushing, and surface passivation; this eliminated any contamination. When finished, the parts were sealed until they could be installed within K-25., The Wheat Colony construction camp, and the other housing in Happy Valley, was removed by 1947. K-1401, the Conditioning Building, would continue to operate throughout the Cold War and was demolished in 2008., [Caption]: , Workers at the K-25 Complex installing equipment within a position pressure balloon to prevent contamination.