Clinton Engineer Works
Encyclopedia
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
production facility in World War II for enriched uranium
Enriched uranium
Enriched uranium is a kind of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Natural uranium is 99.284% 238U isotope, with 235U only constituting about 0.711% of its weight...
(Uranium 235) used in the Little Boy
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the codename of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon...
atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, and would have produced enough enriched uranium for a second Little Boy
Little Boy
"Little Boy" was the codename of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets of the 393rd Bombardment Squadron, Heavy, of the United States Army Air Forces. It was the first atomic bomb to be used as a weapon...
gun-type bomb by December 1945. The secret “semiworks” plant is on Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
in the eastern part
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, about 18 miles (29 km) west of Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, and was named after the town of Clinton, Tennessee
Clinton, Tennessee
Clinton is a city in Anderson County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 9,409 at the United States Census, 2000. It is the county seat of Anderson County. Clinton is included in the "Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area".-Geography:...
, 8 miles (12.9 km) to the north. The plants are mainly in Roane County with the northern part of the site in Anderson County
Anderson County, Tennessee
Anderson County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, its population is 75,129. Its county seat is Clinton.It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee, Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
.
The construction workers for the K-25
K-25
K-25 is a former uranium enrichment facility of the Manhattan Project which used the gaseous diffusion method. The plant is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on the southwestern end of the Oak Ridge Reservation.-History:...
and other plants were housed in a community known as Happy Valley
Happy Valley, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Happy Valley was a construction camp of trailer homes and hutments at the Clinton Engineer Works of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s. It was located near the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to lessen travelling time for the seventeen thousand construction men working...
. Built by the Army in 1943, the temporary Happy Valley community housed 15,000 people in trailer homes.
The town of Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
was established to house the production staff. The operating force peaked at 50,000 workers just after the end of the war. The construction labour force peak was 75,000 and the combined employment peak was 80,000. Developed by the federal government as a segregated community, black residents lived only in an area known as Gamble Valley, in government-built "hutments" (one-room shacks) on the south side of what is now Tuskegee Drive.
Ken Nichols the MED Deputy District Engineer from June 1942 and District Engineer from August 1943 was responsible for the Clinton and Hanford production “semiworks”, and their houses were of a higher quality than those approved by Groves
Leslie Groves
Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, Jr. was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. As the son of a United States Army chaplain, Groves lived at a...
at Los Alamos
Los Alamos
-United States:*Los Alamos, California*Los Alamos, New Mexico**Los Alamos Ranch School, boys' school**Los Alamos National Laboratory**Los Alamos County, New Mexico**Los Alamos Museum, unofficial name of the Bradbury Science Museum was a large floating dry dock...
. He moved the Manhattan District headquarters from Manhattan, New York to CEW in August 1943. In 1954 Nichols transferred responsibility for coordinating supply of feed materials for both Oak Ridge and Hanford to Oak Ridge from New York, as with only two plants "the need for coordination had essentially been eliminated (but) as usual in government operations, no one wanted to take the onus of telling employees they no longer are needed."
Establishment
A survey team from the engineering company Stone & WebsterStone & Webster
Stone & Webster is an American engineering services company based in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Stone & Webster was founded as an electrical testing lab and consulting firm by electrical engineers Charles Stone and Edwin Webster in 1889. It was acquired by The Shaw Group in 2000. The company...
had already scouted a site for the production plants, and recommended several sites in the Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
area, an isolated area where the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
could supply ample electric power and the rivers could provide cooling water for the reactors. Site X or the Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
site, selected by James Marshall and Nichols in June 1942 had:
- ... all the necessary requirements for the future atomic plants; an isolated area with plenty of electric power, abundant water supply, almost no population, good access by road and train, and a mild climate that permitted outdoor work the year round.
- This portion of the quiet rural area was called Black Oak Ridge and was the northernmost of five principal oak- and pine-covered ridges around the meandering Clinch RiverClinch RiverThe Clinch River rises in Southwest Virginia near Tazewell, Virginia and flows southwest through the Great Appalachian Valley, gathering various tributaries including the Powell River before joining the Tennessee River in East Tennessee.-Course:...
. It was a verdant, beautiful countryside with rolling hills covered with dogwood and full of partridge and deer. To the east were the Great Smoky MountainsGreat Smoky MountainsThe Great Smoky Mountains are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge Physiographic Province. The range is sometimes called the Smoky Mountains or the...
, to the west the peaks of the Cumberland MountainsCumberland MountainsThe Cumberland Mountains are a mountain range in the southeastern section of the Appalachian Mountains. They are located in southern West Virginia, western Virginia, eastern edges of Kentucky, and eastern middle Tennessee, including the Crab Orchard Mountains...
.
Marshall had delayed purchase of the site until at least the chain reaction was proven, but on taking over Groves
Leslie Groves
Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves, Jr. was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. As the son of a United States Army chaplain, Groves lived at a...
immediately (19 September) approved purchase of the 52,000 acres of land required. On 23 September the newly promoted Groves impressed Secretary of War Stimson and others at his first meeting with them by leaving early to catch the train to Tennessee to "inspect Site X."
Postwar, on 19 March 1949, the residential and commercial portion of Oak Ridge, known as the "townsite," was opened to public access, and access to the AEC
Atomic Energy Commission
Many countries have or have had an Atomic Energy Commission. These include:* Australian Atomic Energy Commission * Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission * Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique...
facilities was controlled by three gatehouses
Oak Ridge gatehouses
The three Oak Ridge gatehouses, also known as "checking stations", "guard houses", or "guard shacks", are security checkpoints in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, built circa 1948-1949 to control access to the Atomic Energy Commission production and research facilities in Oak Ridge. These are individually...
which replaced the seven wartime gates: Blair Gate to Harriman
Harriman, Tennessee
Harriman is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, primarily in Roane County, with a small extension into Morgan County. It is the principal city of and is included in the Harriman Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Roane County and is a component of the Knoxville-Sevierville-La...
, Oliver Springs Gate, Elza Gate
Elza, Tennessee
Elza was a community in Anderson County, Tennessee, that existed before 1942, when the area was acquired for the Manhattan Project. Its site is now part of the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.Elza formed around a flagstop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad...
to Clinton, Edgemoor Gate to Clinton, Solway Gate to Knoxville, White Wing Gate to Lenoir City
Lenoir City, Tennessee
Lenoir City is a city in Loudon County, Tennessee, United States. Its population was 8,642 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area....
and Gallaher Gate to Kingston
Kingston, Tennessee
Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Roane County, Tennessee, United States, and is adjacent to Watts Bar Lake. Kingston, with a population of 5,264 at the 2000 United States census, is included in the Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area....
.
Facilities
- K-25K-25K-25 is a former uranium enrichment facility of the Manhattan Project which used the gaseous diffusion method. The plant is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on the southwestern end of the Oak Ridge Reservation.-History:...
; where uranium was enriched by the gaseous diffusion process until 1985, was subsequently decommissioned and decontaminated. A coal-fired power station (235 MVA) was included for reliability and to provide variable frequency, although most electric power came from the TVATVA-Organizations:*Tennessee Valley Authority*Toronto Vegetarian Association*Tibetan Volunteers for Animals*TVA Media, a media corporation operating out of Littleton, Colorado formerly called The Valley Authority.*Tidewater Volleyball Association-Television:...
. - Y-12Y-12 National Security ComplexThe Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory...
; originally used for electromagnetic separation of uranium, was shut down in 1947, but is still in use for nuclear weapons processing and materials storage. A production facility for the hydrogen bomb exploded in Operation CastleOperation CastleOperation Castle was a United States series of high-energy nuclear tests by Joint Task Force SEVEN at Bikini Atoll beginning in March 1954...
in 1954 was hastily installed in 1952. - X-10X-10 Graphite ReactorThe X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, formerly known as the Clinton Pile and X-10 Pile, was the world's second artificial nuclear reactor and was the first reactor designed and built for continuous operation.When President Roosevelt in December 1942...
is now the site of the Oak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak Ridge National Laboratory is a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by UT-Battelle. ORNL is the DOE's largest science and energy laboratory. ORNL is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near Knoxville...
. The original building is now a National Historic LandmarkNational Historic LandmarkA National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. The test graphite reactor which produced the first significant amounts of plutoniumPlutoniumPlutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
was superseded by the Hanford Engineer Works. - The S-50 liquid thermal diffusion plant was demolished soon after the war.
Operation
The three uranium enrichment plants had different capabilities:- the K-25K-25K-25 is a former uranium enrichment facility of the Manhattan Project which used the gaseous diffusion method. The plant is located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on the southwestern end of the Oak Ridge Reservation.-History:...
gaseous diffusion plant could raise the enrichment from 0.7 to 36%. - the Y-12Y-12 National Security ComplexThe Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory...
electromagnetic separation plant had two different alpha stages, one more advanced. The alpha stages could raise it from 0.7% to 15 to 20%. The beta stage could raise it from 20 to 36% to an enrichment suitable for weapons. - the S-50 liquid thermal diffusion plant could raise the enrichment from 0.7 to 0.9%
Nichols realised in autumn 1944 that coordinating the use of the three plants would be much more difficult than anticipated. Initially it was planned to feed 1.1% material from K-25 into the Y-12 alpha stages, and as sufficient sections of K-25 were completed use them to produce 20% or higher enriched material to feed into the Y-12 beta stages. But a considerable equilibrium time was necessary to move from 1.1 to 20%.
In early September he appointed a production control committee, headed by A. V. (Pete) Peterson (a reserve officer, and his wife’s sister’s husband). Peterson’s staff tried various combinations, using mechanical calculating machines, and decided that the S-50 production should be fed to K-25 rather than Y-12, which was done in April 1945. The charts also showed that the proposed top stages for K-25 should be abandoned, as should Lawrence’s recommendation to add more alpha stages to the Y-12 plant. Groves accepted their proposal to add more base units to the gaseous-diffusion plant (K-27 not K-25) and one more beta stage track for Y-12. These additions were estimated to cost $100 million, with completion in February 1946.
Because the enriched uranium was shipped out discretely by courier in a suitcase, there was a local rumour that the secret CEW project must be a failure or a boondoggle. Many of the local residents and workers observed that thousands of railroad cars were carrying supplies into the CEW but no one had ever seen anything shipped out.
Other wartime facilities
- Oak Ridge High School (Oak Ridge, Tennessee)Oak Ridge High School (Oak Ridge, Tennessee)Oak Ridge High School is the public high school for Oak Ridge, Tennessee, enrolling grades 9 through 12. It was established in 1943 to educate the children of Manhattan Project workers. It currently has about 1500 students.-Founding and first location:...
established 1943 - United Church, The Chapel on the Hill established 1943
- Oak Ridge Symphony OrchestraOak Ridge Symphony OrchestraThe Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra is a community-based orchestra in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.The founder and first conductor was Waldo Cohn, a Manhattan Project biochemist and an accomplished cellist who started hosting chamber music sessions in his home upon arriving in Oak Ridge in 1943...
established 1944
External links
- Site X A map of Manhattan Project Era Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
- The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb