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Radiological Safety Training for Plutonium Facilities
DOEHDBK11452001
Instructor's Guide
It was soon realized that this "atomic energy" could
possibly be used as a weapon. Because of the
possibility of using atomic energy for military purposes,
the discovery of plutonium was not announced
publicly. Further work with plutonium was done in
strict secrecy. Although very small quantities of
plutonium could be produced in a cyclotron, this
method was not capable of producing the large
quantities desired for military use.
This problem was solved on December 2, 1942, at
the University of Chicago, when a self-sustaining
nuclear chain reaction was achieved. By using U-238
atoms to absorb the excess neutrons, plutonium could
be produced.
Show OT 7.
C. Reactor plutonium
Within a few months, two plutonium-producing
reactors were built: one in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
and one near Richland, Washington. The actual
weapons were built at Los Alamos, New Mexico, which
was known as Project Y.
The first atomic bomb (made with plutonium) was
detonated in the desert 60 miles northeast of
Alamogordo, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945. The
atomic age had begun.
More plutonium production reactors were later built
at the Savannah River Plant near Aiken, South
Carolina, and at the Hanford Engineering Works near
Richland, Washington. These sites became the
principal sources of plutonium for weapons production
in the United States.
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