Transcription
A retrospective
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
Tennessee's contribution to a U.S. WWII clandestine effort
by Dawn Charles
Managing Editor
EDITOR'S NOTE: 1992 will mark the 50th anniversary of what is now known as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Land was purchased for the massive super-secret installation in the autumn of 1943, and with construction beginning in the early 1943, and the community of Oak Ridge - now a Tennessee city - was born as well.
Tor years it was known, or not known, as the Secret City. Now named Oak Ridge, it was a well kept secret from the time the government acquired the 59,000 acres (92 square miles) of rural forest and farm land in 1942, displacing some 1,000 East Tennessee families (3,000 people), until August 6, 1945 - the day the United States of America unleashed the world's second atomic bomb (Little Boy) on Hiroshima, Japan, ultimately claiming some 70,000 human lives. It was delivered in the belly of a B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, weighed 9,000 lbs., was Uranium-235 based, and exploded 1,850 above the ground with the force of 20,000 tons of TNT. Three days later the U.S. dropped another bomb (Fat Man), this time on Nagasaki, Japan, killing an estimated 36,000 people. That bomb was plutonium-based and weighed 10,000 lbs. Oak Ridge, Tennessee had given birth to the nuclear age.
In 1940, well before the Dec. 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese - the event which finally thrust the nation into the thick of WWII - a commitment had been made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to fund research on the atom in the specific hope of producing an atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project was organized to accomplish that goal.
In 1942, when the government went shopping for a site on which to locate the super secret research and development laboratories which would develop the bomb, it found a location on the Clinch River in Tennessee's Anderson and Roane Counties that fit all the criteria:
- High, densely wooded ridges provided safety from air attack and made security for such a vast installation possible;
- There was enough level ground for three large plants, each in its own valley:
- The Tennessee Valley Authority could provide the vast quantity of power the project would demand;
- Nearby Knoxville could supply a labor force; and
- The warm climate made year-round work feasible.
There was an unexpected bonus that came with the decision to locate the facilities near the Black Oak Ridge and swallow up the communities of Wheat, Scarboro, Robertsville, and Elza - it was the very people that were thrown off their land and out of their homes.
Many of the residents' land had been settled by ruggish Scotch-Irish ancestors and had been handed down by three or four generations of trappers and farmers. For the most part, they were poor, proud, fiercely independent and stubborn hill people. Yet when the government man knocked on the doors of their hewn log cabins and clapboard homes to tell them that their land had been condemned, they packed up, said said goodbye to their neighbors and friends of a lifetime, and moved on.
They were told the land was needed to build something called the Kingston Demolition Range (a ruse for security reasons) which later became known as the Clinton Engineer Works. They were also told that the project was needed to help win the war. Apparently, that was all they needed to hear to convince them to accept the price the government was offering, move in a hurry, and keep quit.
One resident said, "What do you do? The government needed your land to win the war. Who would have refused such a request as that?"
Another resident was quoted as saying, "I was born in the house my grandfather built back in 1846 (when the United States and Mexico began war). This is mighty pretty country around here - the Great Smokey Mountains to the east and the Cumberland Mountains to the west. Don't blame my grandfather a bit for settling here.
"All the folks in these parts were farmers. They worked the ground and minded their own business, peaceful folks living a simple life. Of course, the Civil War came along, we sent a few of our boys out to fight. And then in World War I we did our share. But other than that, we didn't pay much attention to the outside world and they didn't bother with us. That was up to 1942, anyway, when one day a man came to our house and said he was from the government. 'We're going to buy up your land,' he said to me. 'All of it?' I asked. 'Yes sir,' he said, 'we're going to buy all the land in this section. Everyone has to go.'"
"Well I went outside the house with the visitor and looked around me . . . up at the green hills my grandfather had come across 100 years earlier, and I looked at the farm I'd worked for half a century. I asked the visitor what the government was going to do and he said he didn't rightfully know, but it was for winning the war. I had three sons in the service - two overseas - and I figured if giving up my home and my land would help bringing them home sooner, I'd be happy to do it."
In December of 1942, Dr. Enrico Fermi and his colleagues at the University of Chicago, successfully achieved the world's first nuclear chain reaction in what was known as the Chicago Pile. On February 1, 1943, ground was broken for the Clinton Pile, now known as the Graphite Reactor - the first of three major installations to be built on the Oak Ridge site to house research laboratories and facilities for the large-scale production of plutonium and uranium-235. (NOTE: The Graphite Reactor, a national historic landmark, will re-open to the public this fall after renovations.)
Building was frenzied and complicated by transportation problems - the old saying "You can't get there from here" was applicable. A pontoon bridge was installed across the Clinch River to replace an aging ferry boat (the bridge was used, with modifications, until 1963), and despite horrific dirt roads which wound precariously through the area, for a long time all materials were brought in by truck from the nearest railroad station. Eventually railroad spurs were built.
Once the outer shells of buildings were finished, staff members moved in immediately and builders built around them to finish the interior work. Cots were installed in vacated school buildings and other structures to create barracks until other arrangements could be made for the influx of workers. And everywhere there was mud. Researchers and scientists could be seen trudging around in mud splattered lab coats and galoshes - or hip boots if they had them. Workers dubbed in the installation Mud City.
It was just as bad during hot weather when the mud dried into thick dust. At times the dust made it impossible to open the windows and with no air conditioning the workers suffered from from the summer heat and humidity. At one point face masks were issued when workers began to experience health problems from breathing the dust.
The three Oak Ridge installations were code named Y-12, K-25, and X-10 - names that they retain even today. Each had a specific purpose. The Y-12 plant produced enriched uranium using the electromagnetic separation process. K-25 produced enriched uranium-235 via the gaseous diffusion method. And X-10 housed the laboratories and nuclear reactor.
Although it was the Manhattan Project's primary facility, Oak Ridge was not alone. A second facility in Hanford, Washington, also produced plutonium and a third facility, in Los Alamos, New Mexico, was charged with the actual bomb design and construction.
Although Roosevelt made the decision to research, develop, and build the first atomic weapons, his death on April 12, 1945, left the decision to test and use the world's first atomic weapons up to his successor - President Harry Truman.
The Trinity test, the first explosion of an atomic bomb, took place on July 16, 1945, on a stretch of New Mexican desert near Alamogordo Air Base about 200 miles from the Los Alamos facility. When the desert lit up and the mushroom cloud ascended, Little Boy was already on the Pacific Island of Tinian ready for its Hiroshima mission.
From its inception through June 1945, the price tag for what is now known as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory - construction and operation - came to $24.5 million. Three bombs were produced. The first was used in the Trinity test; the second decimated Hiroshima, Japan; and the third wreaked destruction on Nagasaki, Japan.
On August 14, 1945; a mere eight days after the first military use of the atomic bomb, Truman announced the surrender of Japan - thus ending WWII.Transcriber
Teagan RussellTranscription
MUSEUM OPENS SCIENCE CLASSROOM
Originally known as the American Museum of Atomic Energy when it opened to the public in a wartime-era cafeteria in March 1949, the American Museum of Science & Energy has grown into a valuable tool for teachers and an exciting learning experience for students. The focus of the early museum was to explain to newly developed science of atomic energy through live demonstrations, working models and exhibits on a guided tour. Popular mementos of the day were the radioactive dime and the hair-raising experiment on the Van de Graff generator.
That tradition of instructional excellence continues to expand with the scheduled September 1, 1991 opening of a new Science Classroom for students and teachers.
The new Science Classroom will offer a space dedicated to and appropriate for hands-on science - messy or not, explained exhibit manager Audrey Williams.
"To extend the museum experience with the exhibits and offerings of live demonstrations, the hands-on/minds-on activities are geared to enhance the textbook and science curriculum," emphasized Williams.
The Science Classroom experience will also offer a significant enrichment activity to students with no current access to laboratory equipment.
The museum concept was born out of the need to explain to the public the World War II mission of the Manhattan Project which created the super-secret Oak Ridge installation in 1942. With a population of 75,000 residents from all over the United States, Oak Ridge and its three mystery plants researched and developed the two atomic weapons that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Japan in August 1945, effectively ending World War II.
Today's museum moved into its present two-level, contemporary facility in March 1975 and changed its name to the American Museum of Science & Energy in March 1978. This name change reflected the expanded mission of the newly created U.S. Department of Energy to provide information on all energy sources, including fossil fuels and alternatives.
The elements of doing science - exploring, experimenting and discovering - continue to dominate the museum educational experience, whether through 30 computer games, over 200 interactive exhibits, numerous models and audiovisuals or in the new science classroom.
Learning how the world works through physics and chemistry as related to energy is the focus for pre-school through sixth grade in the present lab offerings, which are free of charge.
Available to kindergarten through third grade is Solids, Liquids, and Gases, a program which compares the three main states of matter and shows floating and sinking in liquids. This lesson is designed for smaller class size groups. Also popular with this age group is Magnetic Attraction, which demonstrates magnetic fields, strength, and properties. The students will develop and test hypothesis in several of the of the experiments. In addition, a 12-minute puppet show, Who is a Scientist, is offered to pre-school through first grade. A stick puppet activity is available as a follow-up classroom activity.
Fourth through sixth grade students may participate in two activities. Problem with Solutions reviews the three main states of matter and demonstrates the factors that affect the rate of solution formation. This is the best for small classes. Sports and Science teaches active youngsters the physical applications of center of mass, coordination, concentration, angles and momentum in sports, such as baseball, track, and field, tennis, and football. Activities include testing reflex time, center of mass and angle of toss, among other physics laws.
Pre-visit and post-visit activities for these hands-on classroom activities are not currently available.
Other science activities that can be presented in 45 minutes with post-visit materials are Trash Analysis, Acid Rain, Electric Motors, and Radiation Basics. These programs are geared for fourth through sixth grade.
- A sample of clean trash is brought to the classroom for sorting and classification in Trash Analysis. The results are then compared to national landfill average and evaluated for ways to reduce waste.
- Acid Rain involves students in simulating acid rain and investigating the buffering effects of different soils on acid rain before it reaches the water table.
- In the Electric Motor program, students can construct a simple motor as well as an electromagnet. The close relationship between electricity and magnetism is explored.
- Using a geiger counter, radioactive sources, and a light spectrum Radiation Basics are discussed for sixth grade and above. Basic atomic structure and the emission of radiation from atoms is included in the presentation. Also included are the properties and characteristics of nuclear radiation and methods of detection.
To continue to enrich the science discovery experience, special museum events are added to help the student use creativity and science principles to applied technology including a model bridge building design contest plus writing about science. Scholastic competitions like Energy Bowl and Science Olympiad create interest and awareness of science and energy, spark the imagination, and recognize student and teacher participation. Rules and entry forms are available by writing or calling: Amer. Museum of Science & Energy
Attention: Special Events
300 South Tulane Avenue
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
615/576-3200.
The dates scheduled for these events are:
- February 8. 1992 - Paper Airplane Contest for all ages. Distance, duration and/or precision landing competition and models that fly 15 feet.
- February 22, 1992 - Model Bridge Building Contest for seventh through twelfth grade students. Student build a model bridge of balsa and glue, according to prescribed size and weight specifications, that is capable of supporting the greatest load per unit of mass.
- March 14, 1992 - East Tennessee Regional Science Olympiad for pre-registered seventh through twelfth grade school teams. Regionals are also held in March in Middle Tennessee and West Tennessee. Teams participate in 23 object oriented building projects, laboratory skills, and oral competitions in biology, chemistry, physics, computers and applied technology.
- March 16-20, 1992 - Annual Bowl for sixth through twelfth grade school teams. Single elimination tournament with oral questions on energy concepts, conservation, fossil fuels, alternative sources, and energy history.
- May 1992 - Writing About Science - for seventh through twelfth grades. Students use their writing skills to explain a science question so that a person with little knowledge of scientific concepts could understand.
To expand the museum visit, traveling exhibits are offered in our lobby such as The Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci, including 23 working models of his inventions, auditorium program on his life and contributions, and special student activities associated with this exhibit from August 24 through October 6, 1991. These exciting and challenging additions to the permanent exhibits are scheduled through the Smithsonian Institution, Association of Science Technology Centers, Center for History of Chemistry, American Nuclear Society, Nikon and others.
Teachers can schedule a museum visit by calling 615/576-3200 daily. Admission is free. The museum is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. EST, except June through August when the hours are extended to 6 p.m. When making reservations, be prepared to give date and time of arrival and departure, number of students and adults, grade level, and classroom programs or live demonstrations requested. The length of a museum visit is normally two hours. While there are no food facilities in the museum, a picnic area is available.
When a school group arrives at the museum, the teacher completes a tour group card and is greeted by an exhibit manager. The school group is given a museum orientation and a live demonstration in the museum auditorium before the self-guided tour begins. The live demonstrations a teacher may request include:
- Atoms and Atom smashers, a 20-minute program using an atom model and a Van de Graaff generator to demonstrate the principles pf atomic structure, state electricity, and particle acceleration - a hair-raising experience.
Harnessed Atom, a 25-minute offering in the Atomic theater where a large, animated reactor model is used to demonstrate how a nuclear powerplant operates; and
- Petroleum, a 15-minute look at the U.S. demand for petroleum where we get it worldwide and the economics of consumption.
Although the classroom presentations, special events, and live demonstrations are an integral facet of a museum visit, the eight exhibit alls coax student and teacher involvement to keep learning fun.
Oak Ridge will celebrate its 50th birthday 1992. The Oak Ridge Story exhibit hall off the museum lobby presents the chronology of the birth of Oak Ridge from the frontier of Appalachia to the frontier of the nuclear age. A 12-projector slide show The Secret City is a must for history enthusiasts and particularly for seventh graders studying Tennessee history. Memorabilia, photographs, music and furnishings set the scene for the history, mission of the Manhattan Project of World War II, and the lifestyle of the super-secret city of Oak Ridge, a city that did not appear on any map until 1957.
From the Oak Ridge Story, the visitor moves to the Oak Ridge Mission room to learn more about current and future programs being administered by the U.S. Department of Energy Field Office in waste management, uranium enrichment, defense, energy research, development, and education.
On the upper level, Energy Science Lab, The American Experience, The Age of the Automobile, Earth's Energy Resources, and the most recent offering The World of the Atom are exhibit halls packed with challenging ways to learn about the world of energy.Transcriber
Teagan Russell