Manhattan District History; Book V - Electromagnetic Project; Volume 6 - Operation

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The colorful illustration t the left represents the heart ot the eleotronagnetio eparatlon proo a in oper tion. Thi volume tells how the huge Electro gnetio Pl.ant, oont ining hundred• of similar separation -.. units, e uooea fully oper ted to produce materi l for the atomic bomb. The period covered in thia x rrativ• began in January 1943, spanned a year of preparation and almoat two years of operation to 1 January 1947. By 1 October 1946 the jor objective ot the plant operating organization had Thia volume is the last ot six volumes describing separate phases 0£ the Electromagnetic Project and it is recommended that the other volume• be read first , in order to chi ve full ppreoiation ot the story ot plant operation, which even more colorful than the illustration. The volumes ot Book V• Eleotromagnetio Pro jeot are as follows a The volume is oompletely referenoed and oonta ins glossary or t ohnioal and code te which are designated by an sterisk where th y first appe·ar in the text. A soparate top oeoret appendix ha been prepared to thi volume in whioh production data,. oh rts a nd ~raphs are shown.

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1. In 1942, by 1pecif ic dele ation ot the_ Preal ent•1 authority uiuler the ar Powers Acts. an Electromagnetic t the pera'blon or tiae resulting plant wae to produce the largest poaaible aou t ot Vranlum 2.35 ln the 1horte1·t peed.bl• time. the phytlcallr. or uranium 1alta, the norulting and training ot labor. develo ent work on the proceaa, "11• 1olving of housing and tranatrolled by the l>ietr1ot Bnglaeer of the_llanhattan Diatriot, through the 2. Contractual Agreements. - Al though S'tone and ebater Engineering Corporation wae or1g1nally oonaid.ered tor both operation ad eon1truction r 'the projeot, it •oon beoame apparent that thie woulcl be too big a job and a 1eparat.e opera ting eon.tractor •• eought. Atter aeked to aeeept thi1 aaelgmnent. elnoe lt waa telt that they bad the wre not alnady eagag-4 in •r work. Following a letter ot latent on 7 June 1943. Thie tollowed the atandard. War D partment ooet-plua-af1xe4-t e operations oontrac t to • oalling tor 1 rvlees aa a con ultant

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sign. en ·ineering, d con1truetion.1 for recruiting and training penonnel1 tor reae -rch d dev. lo ent wor on the proees i and for op ration or th Y riou p rts or the pl t c ecmpletio or itid by ~ au ple nta H e cop ~. obilitation. • ollowin the eleotioa ot Tenneea e 1znan Corporation as the operating oontractor, it • · eee11 ey to be In di te t ining ot their key p reormel 1n the proceae and w 1n1· ed. 1xi. order to 4o th1a !EC by p n onnel w re eent to Berkeley, the ex rimental unite whioh wre ••t up in the Univ r lty ot Cal.itornia kdiation Laboratoey. Bepree ntathea of the Btcme and Webster Engineer1ng Corporation, the Weetinghouae Elecvle end Muutaoturing Corporation. the General leotrio C :y and the A re aleo at Berkeley at thl1 ion, operation and tebrioation. Tn.in1n 1n the oh 1oal operations tions •re rrled ut at looheetet. .Y. Ko1t or the people 11ho h a d dr1n to obtab the aeoeaaary labor tor peration ot the plant ··· begun. 13,500 and e aifl, in December 19W+. to 25,000. inoe it was tound lm.•

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the lavy to the operating eontraotor. 1n rder to train •ueh • large training continued on the de el ent un1tt. the Alpha devel nt -1ta thia eeotien bad a tr endoue 1k and. virtually the entire procunaent &ltlal o eratione the Alpha or tir t at ,e eh• try be u the onm oxide (uo3) • as r• ived ro the Di triot, with arbon tetra•

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ur Upha l -;tn.ok1 b pe ae t z OD lnl\lla re. tull pera ti • lon ot "1•

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The fir t B rao re. d s th Alp tr ok could f und tob uns ti nk inr. Alpha product a a r t d and aatiafac tory ono"1t - tion s ob ined 1n product.. I n Jun 1944, Beta · traok 2 a rated on no 1 terial, a nd lt b an u 1 Alph&. product a s teed in Septa r 1944. By Dece r 1944, there were } Beta traoke operating two addl tional traoks, to \>ring the total t track to eight. The s.50 and K-2'j plants be .,,.an to r aoh appreciable produ · tion, received in February 1945 tro S-50, and in · oh 1945 trom K-25· Durin the uae or thia enrS.ohed toria.l Alpha production naohed a 1m , durln one ek in July 1945 • It s expected that 1-2) pro• a nd I<·25 as uran1un hexafluorid (UF6), it s n oen ry to place a etep ln both Alpha . d eherni try tor t h oon ersion t .o t he o!'ange ox1d

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Val oori entra · 1o ro ired oo 35 in t1ae.l p uct. had o be u and _OUT8P d lo the rlti l

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t op · tion i n ugu t 1945, ~ · y

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Thi don y tur ieh1ng employees only uf fic1e t into tion to do ir job • ·and b 1 tur and piotur s disoouz-aging loo e talk · d r 1943 d event lly m&J':w~um of over 9000 g rd& gua.rd ttea i ti I •hio . r provided or rtl lly provided included tran ~or ti on, housing. o reteriaa, laundry • rvio and ter n pow r •upply. 8. In ord r to . in in oon " t ith Y-12, a s h ded by t Y-12 Op r tione 0tf1c ,. and • organit d on the

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1•1. Purpose ... The purpose of the Electromagnetic Project w to operate a plant to produce the largest possible amount ot oonoentr ted uranium 235 in the shortest po sible time . The final production rat ot the plant exo ded he original goal many f.oid and the pero nt U•235 in the finaI was considerably high r than that originally ot uranium salts, procuring auxiliary ra material as needed , pro• viding replacement parts fbr machines which r. pidly wore out in the process , and gathering the large number or personnel neoosse.ry to operate the plant . Concurrent with operation, continuous resear ch and improvement had to be conducted, to improve the proceos wherever possible. in order to operate the plant at the high st possible pe k of pertor,,., - "8.rlety of entirely new industrial problems , and ork wh1oh had been recently done on raw material measured in grams hfl d to be expanded to handle tons • The aoienti ats who h d been doing the research work had to have •ome 20. 000 workers to operate the ne plant . Mo$t of these worker had to be recruited f r om le.bor im.rket within a r d1us of approximately 300 miles, with Knoxville s t he center. All these opera• tions bad to be o rried out in the utmost secrecy to preserve the security of t he project .

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to operat the plant ie oontnined in th a.me public 1 ws and dir c• tiv which authorited the design nd construction. The uthorit1 re fully described in Volume 1 of this book. In brief, the District uthority is based upon specific delegation or the Preeident•s Author1ty under the War Powers Aets 1 upon reoommondations contained in th lng General, Army Service Foroes to Brigadier General L. R. Grovee, pl.acing him in complete oherge ot all aoti vi tie of the Manhattan Die• 1~4. Admin1etrat1on. • As with the other production plants of Otfio • In ord r to achie~ the most etteot1ve r aulte from all in the operational plan and it then became the reaponsib111ty of the Y-12 operations office and the operating contractor to produce the *quantities and concentrations r quired,

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2-1. ~ 1 otion of Contr tor . during D eemb r 1942 and J uary 1943, requirements of n operation oontraotor for th Eleotr netio Separation Pl nt, which included pri: rily indu trial t•kno ow", nd ilability of key per onn 1. looking tor 'long be rd ' ut rtioul rly th t h v nted operating p opl ho could t t ok th proble fro a production ·tandpoint (3 e oonsid rad the Stone nd ,; b t r Engine ring Cor por tion for both oon• struotion and por ti n of the projeot ( ·e Vol. 3) . quit avid nt tat thi ould be ' too 1 r"e job for any one or aniz tion, d si n and oo truction it va d cid d th t a sep rate operating eon• tr otor shoul d be oho an. Th Gen ral El eotrio Com.pany1 a stinghou - n Corpor tion er oth r £1 co id r d. Of thes , the fir t two w re co id red to be oooupi d on other wor to th ir c p city, nd they dld not h v utfioi nt key p r onn l to put on the job (See App . n Corporat on. - Duri D oemb r 19 4:2 and January 19 3 , sever 1 me ting were he ld by General

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Corpor tion, tmd r • Lov joy, r v • Gro 1 i-e th ext ne ity t r •eore Yi e il . b Tenn a Eaaand h n outl in d th prob lowin he atand.ard ar Depa i•• pla ln oonneotion with oonstruotion work on pr uetion a th Contraoting Ottio r on y questio a ~ - in oonn otion 111 th tix•d-tee o on doll r was to paidI

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the proces d op ration lnvolv d , · th the a ini tr t1on o f te o on doll r • eoltl • tor er o f u.lh r earoh an ev lopan lantity ould 4 rtak all pr ceaaa tor t ui ble apeelftl 'tio auoh ulld.ing to their ac1ty and 4 of Nparing te the eon raot all .o he orl inl en n pr uetl n · . 1t

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ee o er 1943, au or11td O•I uni I . ration or not.

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and that n ddi tional 7.500 would be paid eaoh month for e oh process unit up to maximum of' 7 unit , with 64, 000 'per month for oh process unit in exce s of 7. . his uppl ent o provided tor prov l of the oontr oti officer. The contr ot - ul'ther prov id d tor ei nment , to th.'e oontr tor1 et uoh teobnio 1 m n troin cr~tio l needs in cert in of the plant op r ting d1v1 ion (S App. D3)

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( leotJ'O g~ tie) Pl t olv d only one o the m y problems £ac d b th Diatr et. the ! nness e · s t Corpor tio haa m ny able n 'Within th ir org ii tion, and could at or tro t he parent · nee with t his ork, whioh s compl tely navel.. The key personnel h to be trained t1rs_t, ' 10 ~hat they in turn oould. 1n1tniet thoee i n t he varlou operations ', they h«d to e cruit d without being ven he leas hin of at work they woul ng ge 1n. A pro cureun own ad to e 1 nned . A enr n r1n r-: off :lo e had to be orrred to tudy and approv de 1 s ell s to ove rsee layouts or build- !EC had o oepted the task o op rating the electro netic pl t, certain of the bers •er taken to Berk ley, C liforni , where th Unive r 1ty of California s oonducting jor res rob and developCont rences held ong the Stone nd ebster Engin rin Cor. and uf' oturing Comp ny, Radi tion L bo tories or the Un1versi ty o Calitornia, the Anny am Tenn see

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At thes meeting problems ere discussed , ide s for attacking the vid first-htmd inform tion for key dmi nietre.ti e a nd t ehnio l personnel, to analyze design, and to study trai n1ng methods for chemical, meoh nical, eleotrioal, engineering and prooese phases of i•3.. Training at Berkeley, California. • The Radiation Labor • torie t ur ned over two experi•ent l mass spectrograph units known as the XA Tanks• to the Tennessee Eastman Corporation so that per• eonn l could begin training nd become acquainted with operational procedures. The number or personnel at Berkeley grew until it had reached peak of 164 persons who Jere actually engaged in the new work, (S e Vol. 2, App . B4). Bi-weekly seminars on phase of the work connected with the XA tanks, which proved to .be of great help in di cussing and solving problems, were oonduoted by the Radiation Laboratories. This group worked in Berkeley until September 1943, when most of them went on to the Clinton Engineer Works (See App . Dl) • poration beg n participating in the project, muoh or the basic chemical researoh had been done, but a great deal of work till remained to be completed before large -scale preparati on and recovery operations oould be carried out . Some of this work was done et Berkeley, some at the Eastman Kodak Laboratories in Rochester, New York, and eome at the University of California Agricultural School at Davi ( See Vol . 2 Re• ee.roh). Approximatel y 4000 pounds of feed aiterial • , t he grey• green

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alt (UC14 ), · s prepar d at Davis, hile activity at Rochester con• prooessin{; (conversion of uranium orange oxide t o grey-green salt) cuum dietill tion) . 'ork continued in these loo tions until September 3-5. Boston O£tice. - In February 1943, an office wa set up by TEO in Boston, to provido closer coordination between the operations contractor nd the construction contr otor, the Stone and Webster En• gineering Corporation (See Volume 5, Construot1.on). In Me.rch 1943, TEO was imde responsible for coordination of design and work of research groups• eonstruction contractors and supplier • All plant layouts and rious designs were revi wed at this office until its personnel was moved to CEW at the beginning of August 1943 (See App . Dl)+ a. Civilian. • While preliminary work and training of key per onnel were being carried out, an intensive drive to obtain labor personnel needed for operation of one track was 1 1 450 people and for five tracks. 2,500. Employment office were set up at various points in the country, but considerable difficulty s experienced. Recruiters wer aent to distant points to interview and hire personnel , but th be t …