More than a dozen teenagers from the Appalachian region attended an environmental cleanup summer camp in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, sponsored by the Office of Environmental Management.
The camp included a tour of the Oak Ridge Reservation, where nuclear weapons were manufactured.
“I thought it was really cool,” Naomi Vargas, a student from North Carolina, said of the tour. “I got a lot of pictures."
Students from 13 states attended the camp in July, according to the Office of Environmental Management's website.
“I love telling the stories and then also just answering the questions,” Roger Petrie, a regulatory affairs specialist with the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, said on the website.
Students took a bus to different areas of the Oak Ridge facility, including the former K-25 site.
"Building K-25 was the largest structure in the world at the time of its construction in 1944," the Office of Environmental Management website said. "Its mission was to help end a global war by producing uranium for the world’s first nuclear weapon."
The four-story, 44-acre facility was demolished in 2013.
Student Isabelle Gladson from North Carolina hopes that attending the camp will help her decide on a career.
“I really like the nuclear and how they’re disposing of everything, and their mission statement was really interesting,” she said, according to the Office of Environmental Management website. "A lot of people don’t feel the need to take care of the surrounding areas, and they really wanted to. They said it was their duty to do that."
