University of Chicago, IL   Oak Ridge, TN   Los Alamos, NM   Trinity Site, NM

  Historic Manhattan Project Sites
Oak Ridge, TN - July 12, 2012
 
During WWII Oak Ridge, TN became the fifth largest city in the state of Tennessee yet was not on any map.  This is because Oak Ridge was the primary and first Manhattan Project location built and was a top secret site.  Locating it at Oak Ridge was part of the secrecy as at that time is was out in the middle of nowhere located in a valley that was not readily accessible to the outside world.  Depending on which source you read at the end of the WWII it had between 50,000 to 75,000 persons working on the 59,000 acres that were taken over by the US Government in late 1942 and early 1943.  15,000-25,000 of the persons working at Oak Ridge during WWII were construction workers. Its primary purpose was to produce uranium-235 for making of an atomic bomb and do the primary nuclear research.  It was one three secret cites that were built as part of the Manhattan Project which also included Hanford, Washington and Los Alamos, New Mexico.  Oak Ridge supplied the uranium-235 that went into the Hiroshima bomb and the design for the nuclear reactors at Hanford that provided plutonium-239 for the Trinity Site Test bomb and the Nagasaki bomb. Design of both the uranium and plutonium bombs was done at Los Alamos.  80% of the work on the Manhattan Project was done at Oak Ridge.  

Critical Mass for the Hiroshima Uranium bomb was 33 pounds which is about the size of a quart container due to its high density.  Oakridge produced just enough for the one bomb and scientific experimentation and weapons development.  I think I read somewhere this was no more than 50 pounds total. Obviously producing the U-235 was and is a tedious and expensive task which is the major impediment for countries wanting nuclear weapons. 

The test bomb at Trinity Site in New Mexico and Nagasaki used 13 pounds of plutonium-239 each produced in Hanford, WZ.

When the war ended there was not enough uranium-235 or plutonium-238 to make any more bombs.

Oak Ridge was an enclosed city with fence and guards patrolling the perimeters.  Workers had to pass through security gates if they left or upon return.  The three main activities at the site were the X-10 Graphite Reactor, the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Building (44 acres under roof and the largest plant in the world at the time.), and Y-12 Beta-3 Racetracks.  The last two facilities are what produced the maximum 50 pounds of bomb grade U-235.

Three thousand persons among 1,000 families living in the valley that became the Oak Ridge nuclear site had less than a month to pack up and leave.  While they could contest in court the value of their property, they could not contest the US government's taking of the land.  This was the result of the War Powers Act enacted by Congress which also was used to purchase land for munitions, aircraft and other war related plants and facilities during the war. Things were different then than they are today.

A small part of the complex.

This is one of the original security gates from WWII as taken from the tour I was on during a rainy day.
Today the Oak Ridge Facility is operated by the Department of Energy and after 9-11 is not accessible to the public unless on a tour provided by the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge.  The tour only runs once a day and I believe only during the summer months.  The tour stops at X-10 Graphite Reactor and drives around what used to be K-25, as it has been torn down.  For the WWII historian it a good tour.  Y-12 is only accessible one day a year in June when the town holds a festival.  It is only open to US citizens as this is the area that the DOE is storing all of the weapons grade uranium.  The tour may or may not be allowed in the future as July 28, 2012, two weeks after I was there, three anti-war protesters were able to breach all of the security and get to the building where the uranium is stored.  The one incidence should not affect the tour but sometimes officials over react and punish the wrong people.  One of the persons that cut through the chain link fences and got past the security cameras that weren't working was an 82 year old nun.  So much for good security when and 82 year old nun can do it!!.  But the security of our nuclear weapons stockpile is probably contracted out to the lowest bidder of rent-a-cops, so what can you expect.  You always get what you pay for.  Barney Fife with one bullet and a box of jelly donuts.

This notice of eviction shows the human side of those being forced off their land.  Many had had the same thing happen to them 10 years earlier when the TVA came in and built a dam in the area.

One of the stops is this church that has been turned into a small museum where the above previous photo was taken.

This is the front loading face of the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge.  The interesting thing is that back in the 1980's before 9-11 when security drastically increased I had driven to this location with my family while on a vacation to Florida.  Actually I am not sure how I knew about it or found it as it is miles beyond the new security gate and out in the middle of nowhere.  Once the tour bus turned up the road to the Reactor I remembered being here.  Photos were not allowed outside of the Reactor.  The Reactor was the only place I visited with the family as I was unaware of the American Museum of Science and Energy until this trip in 2012. The Museum was open in the 1980's when we came through here.


The control room from the outside.

This is a historical location because it is the world's first production nuclear reactor.  We have to qualify the term "first" because the world's first reactor was under the football stadium in a squash court at the University of Chicago for proof of concept of a nuclear sustained reaction on December 2, 1942.


The operators are standing on an elevator which allowed them to access all of the holes for insertion of Uranium and other materials.

A simulated operation of the Reactor as it is now non functional.

The right side of the elevator and its guide to the top of the reactor face.

Remember the size and number of holes or channels on the front.  1,248 from the photo above.

A view from the stairs leading to the control room.  A later photo will show the space behind the operators for the 35 foot rods that go into the reactor.

Mr. Jernigan would be inserting Uranium into the Reactor.  U-238 is not all that dangerous to handle in the solid state.  However, one does not want to ingest it in powder form or get it on ones hand, hence the heavy rubber gloves.  Once the U-238 is in Reactor it can be bombarded with neutrons which then creates more dangerous isotopes of uranium along with other nuclear elements.

A model of the face of the reactor which shows the elevator at a higher position.

A side view of the model.  The little stand on the second level is where isotope samples could be removed from out of the reactor.

This model shows the internal cross section of the X-10 reactor.  Note that it is 34 feet in depth not including the water tank for cooling at the left.  There would have had to have been 1,248 holes precision drilled through seven feet of concrete just inside the operators face at the right, 1,248 guides to carry the fuel slugs over the three feet of cool air space and then another 1,248 precision holes drilled through the 24 feet of graphite, which was constructed of graphite bricks.  From the letters above we know that the US Government started purchasing the land and hence began construction of all of the facilities at Oak Ridge in late 1942 and early 1943 including this reactor.  As you will see several photos down the X-10 Reactor went critical (operational) on November 4th, 1943, less than a year after construction began and 11months after the first reactor went critical at the University of Chicago. 

No computers here!  Just analog gauges and strip recorders.

A simple log book recorded the time the reactor went critical.

This is area along the side where isotopes came out of the reactor.

 
Looking down from the control room.  I never really understood why all this space was left open until I realized that the rods that pushed the fuel slugs in would have to be at least 35 feet long and the open space allows room for the rods when they are pulled back out.  During operation the seats would not be there.  Today visitors sit and listen to the tour guide as he give some history of the reactor while he stands in front of the loading face.

The isotopes that were made for the first time right in this building.

Next stop on the tour was an overlook of where the K-25 plant used to be.

A converter from K-25.

The bus then takes a trip around where K-25 used to be.  There is really no good way to photograph where it was due to the distance.  What looks like a small clearing above the building with rounded roof is the 44 acres of concrete where the building was located. 

Another guard house as we left the area.

University of Chicago, IL   Oak Ridge, TN   Los Alamos, NM   Trinity Site, NM