Reactor plutonium - DOE-HDBK-1145-2001

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.