Oak Ridge, Tennessee - The Secret Atomic City

For my wife's birthday, I purchased her "The Girls of Atomic City" The Untold Story of The Women Who Helped Win World War II" by Denise Kiernan. The book explores the often untold history of Women during the Second World War. Many people in seminar's across University Campuses have studied Women's contributions to the War, building bombs, aircraft, tanks, trucks and many other things that cannot be listed as it would take more than the space available on this free blog!  

Available from Amazon.com

What I was surprised to learn, was that the United States built an entirely secrete city during the war to help build the Atomic Bomb. Everyone has heard about Los Alamos labratory, and many believe the bomb was built, developed, and tested at this location. I was even under this impression. "The Girls of Atomic City" tells the story of the thousands of women, who were moved to the newly built secrete military city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee to help build the Atomic Bomb, all while they did not fully know what they were developing. Each facility was responsible for a different piece of the weapon, and no one ever saw a finished product leave the facility, so no one knew what was being built. 

The city itself was established in 1942 as a production site for the Manhattan Project - conducted by the United States, United Kingdom, and Canadian governments contributions. The area was selected because its relatively low population made the acquisition of the land relatively affordable, as almost all of the local residence were forced to evacuate their homes and move elsewhere. Oak Ridge became a military town, checkpoints to enter and exit the city, surrounded by fencing. The low population also helped keep the town a secrete. The population in 1942 was a mere 3,000 -  but this would boom to more than 75,000 by 1945 and the end of the War. The largest facility built in Oak Ridge, the K-25 Uranium separation facility covered more than 44 acres. For a number of years, this was the largest building in the world. Aside from K-25, S-50 and Y-12 plants were built to separate the fissile isotope uranium-235 from its natural state. The United States also built the X-10 plant which is currently the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was originally established as a pilot project for the production of plutonium for a Graphite Reactor. 

With the quick influx of people to this secrete town, prefabricated housing, apartments and dorms were established with a basic community layout, and dirt roads, as there was no time to pave the roadways, as the city was growing faster than it could accommodate. 

Not only was the city a secret, what people were working on was a secret. No one working in the various plants (despite the Army and Government officials overseeing the community) knew what they were working on. People were to swear that they would not talk about what their were doing to their neighbours and colleagues living with them in Oak Ridge. 

The vast majority of the population of Oak Ridge were women. They were completing much of the scientific exploration and projects that led to the development and success of the Trinity Test in 1945, and the weapons used against Japan in August of 1945.  

When news of the first atomic bombing of Hiroshima Japan on August 6th 1945 made its way back to the United States, and President Harry S. Truman thanked all those who worked diligently at the Oak Ridge facility, was it revealed to the residents of Oak Ridge what they had been working on developing. 

Even today Oak Ridge is still a national nuclear research and weapons facility. Here is what happened to the facilities operated at Oak Ridge: 

K-25 where uranium was enriched until 1986 is in the process of being decommissioned and decontaminated. 

Y-12 which was used for the separation of Uranium is sill in use for nuclear weapons processing and materials storage.

X-10 where the test Graphite Reactor is located, is now the site of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

S-50 liquid thermal diffusion plant was demolished at the end of the war.  

As of the 2010 census, the population was at 29,230. 

Now we can all be aware of the contributions of Oak Ridge Tennessee for ending the Second World War, that Los Alamos was not alone in its efforts during the Manhattan Project.  

Remembering History - Oak Ridge - The Secret Atomic City 

The Dieppe Raid of 1942 - 70 years later - The Truth is Known, but is it being taught?

Almost a year ago, Montreal historian David O'Keefe announced that he had uncovered the true meaning behind the 1942 raid on the city of Dieppe. For nearly 70 years many Canadian veterans felt that they had fought on the beaches of Dieppe for nothing, that their comrades died for nothing. For 70 years, historians have argued that the Dieppe Raid was a test run for D-Day in 1944, that it was merely to test Hitler's Atlantic Wall defences, that it was to prove to Stalin a Second Front was impossible.

Each of these reasons has been discussed in high school history classrooms, in seminars on university campuses since the end of the Second World War. I am sure more students than I can count have written essay's arguing for an against each of the reasons given by historians. For years the true reasons behind the raid were kept from the world as the file was still considered "Top Secret."

David O'Keefe uncovered the true reason for Dieppe was to steal German Naval intelligence from the Naval HQ which was stationed in Dieppe, as well as steal an Enigma machine and operation manual to continue to decode the German's messages. Sir Ian Fleming (most famous for his 007 James Bond Novels) was involved in the planning an was even in the English Channel that night in hopes of success.

To learn more about O'Keefe's discovery please read Random Houses' post.

What I am interested to know, is how many Teachers took into account this recent discovery when teaching the minds of tomorrow about the 1942 Dieppe Raid this past 2012-13 School year? Or did History teachers continue with the lessons they have been using their entire career, keeping the Dieppe myth alive? It is something to think about...history is continually changing, and we as teachers, who have agreed to a life continued learning. I am extremely passionate about history, and have met my fair share of history teachers who don't actually enjoy or engage with history. It is I believe these teachers that give history the impression of being boring...causing students not to enjoy or look forward to taking history.

Remembering History - The 1942 Dieppe Raid, the Truth behind the raid - make sure to teach it!

Operation Greenhouse - Nuclear Test Series 1951

Much of the post war period that was the Cold War, was spent attempting to build a bigger, more powerful, and more accessible nuclear/thermonuclear weapon to deter the enemy from attacking. The Cold War saw the establishment of Churchill's famous "Iron Curtain" dividing the world between the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc.

In 1951 the United States conducted its 5th Nuclear test series, code named Operation Greenhouse. As with any scientific test, the United States began experimenting with the concept of thermonuclear weapons, more commonly known as Hydrogen Bombs. This series of tests took place at the newly established Pacific Proving Ground. The test series would encompass four detonations, each mounted on steel towers to simulate areal detonations.

The four tests of Greenhouse represented a new aggressive design of nuclear weapons, looking to take the ultimate weapon one step further. Traditional nuclear weapons were very large in size, weight and required a high amount of fissile material. The ideas behind Greenhouse were to reduce each of the above traditional requirements to build more powerful weapons with less material, making them more operational.

A year and a half before Operation Greenhouse, on August 29 1949, the Soviet Union detonated RDS-1, nicknamed "Joe-1." The test yielded 22 Kilotons, and surprised the world. The United States only detected radioactive fission products days after the blast, and traced them back to the USSR. On September 23rd 1949, President Harry Truman announced to the world that the Soviet Union had successfully detonated an atomic bomb. This statement is considered by many to be the official beginning of the Cold War, as both the United States and the Soviet Union began working on the first Hydrogen Bomb.

The first two tests of Greenhouse, were of traditional nuclear weapons with minor adjustments to the firing mechanism. "Dog" tested on April 8th 1951 yielded 81 kilotons, and "Easy" tested on April 21st 1951 yielded 47 kilotons. It was the last two tests of this series that took major steps forward to designing a Hydrogen Bomb.

"George" was tested on the 9th of May 1951 and was the first recorded thermonuclear experiment conducted by the United States.  "George" was actually considered a thermonuclear burn, due to the addition of a small amount of heavy isotopes of liquid hydrogen (deuterium and tritium) that were injected into the core of the bomb. "George" acted more liked a boosted nuclear bomb than a Hydrogen bomb. The findings from "George" validated the theories that brought about the ideas of a thermonuclear weapon, and would be used when designing "Ivy Mike." "George" yielded 225 kilotons.

"George" Test shot mushroom cloud. nuclearweaponarchive.org

The final test of Operation Greenhouse was "Item." Like "George," "Item" was a test of a boosted fission weapon. "Item" was injected with deuterium-tritium gas into the uranium core.The heat of the gas produced a thermonuclear fusion reaction, but not enough to be fully considered a fusion bomb. The planning behind "George" and "Item" was from the great mind of Dr. Edward Teller in 1947. Teller has designed the idea of a booster to create a more powerful reaction, causing a larger detonation. While much smaller than "George", "Item" yielded 45.5 kilotons, but proved effective in pumping the booster gas into the weapon before detonation. The test was primarily a test of the nuclear principles involved and to gain valuable research data. It was never considered a design for weaponizing a device.

The nuclear discoveries that Operation Greenhouse provided helped the United States design and successfully test "Ivy Mike" in November 1952.  Thermonuclear Weapons would change the face of the Cold War, as would bigger and larger nuclear bombs.

Remembering History - Operation Greenhouse