The Manhattan Project Developing the atomic bomb WWII saw the development of new technology to fight war Radar, sonar, pesticides, communication, medicine Thousands of people involved in the project did not know what was going on, knew there work but no one else’s Manhattan project takes place across North America What? is a us government project to develop the first atomic bomb during WWII, 1941-1946 Manhattan project is a code name to keep the project concealed Involved 600,000 people and cost more then 2.2 billion yet it remained too secret throughout WWII Project research and productions sites took place all across the US and Canada The site we are going is a production site Why does FDR want to spend so much money if it may not work. Because they want to be the first to do it and Germany was also in the midst of creating weapons Germans had early break through in technology Albert Einstein in 1939 German scientist were the first scientist to split an atom Einstein wrote a letter to president Franklin Roosevelt warning that Germany was developing technology that could be us3d to create an atomic bomb He urged FDR that the US needed to do likewise and encouraged the USA to step up research and development President Roosevelt Roosevelt wrote Einstein back informing him that he set up a committee to begin atomic research FDR believed that they could not wait and allow Hitler to have the power of developing the first atomic war The project was not even funded by congress, they didn’t know. But was rather funded by the presidents private accounts Project site Army corps or engineers’ Manhattan District oversaw the project, led by General Leslie R. Groves Research and production sites were located all across the United States The sites they choose should be remote for peoples safety and so people can’t see what’s happening Laboratories and manufacturing facilities were secretly constructed just for the project Several Canadian sites made critical contributions to the project Hanford Richland (is the uranium production, creating the stuff used in bombs) (where we are going) Oak ridge (Manhattan district HQ) Los Alamos (Project Y- Lab testing) J. Robert Oppenheimer Oppenheimer joined the Ernest Lawrence radiation lab at Berkeley He is in charge of the science and is the director in los Alamo’s In June 1942 he was appointed the scientific director of the project He managed over 3000 people and is often referred as the father of atomic bombs Many years later he regrets creating it and thinks of it as “Pandora’s box’ Enrico Fermi Born in Italy, fermi was the first to create a nuclear fission chain reaction, which was critical to creating the atomic bomb In 1944 he joined the Manhattan project Ernest Lawrence during WWII Lawrence was in charge of electromagnetic separation work as oak ridge which provided uranium 235 for the atomic bomb His nick name was the ‘atomic smasher’ Was the man who best understood the potential of atomic energy The trinity test on July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was exploded at the Alamogordo air base near Albuquerque NM They needed to test if the bomb would work so they did in NM A ball of fire rose rapidly followed by a mushroom cloud extending to 40000 feet It carried more energy then they excepted Was considered a success Was the worlds first atomic explosion After president Harry Truman received word of the successful test, he knew the atomic bomb would be a huge advantage in WWII The Manhattan project has spies all throughout the project that is giving info to Germany Invasion of Japan Japan does not follow the traditional laws of war Japanese soldiers would sacrifice themselves to win US war plans for the invasion of the Japanese home islands estimated that 1 million me would be required to invade and capture Tokyo Casualties were predicted to be at least 35% On July 25,1945, Truman warned Japanese to surrender or face a terrible weapon Japan has an attitude that they will never surrender Use of atomic bombs in WWII The plane is called Enola Gay Truman made the depiction to use the atomic bomb in the war with Japan; two more were created by the project The uranium “little boy” bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 The plutonium “fat man” bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 After the second bomb is dropped Japan believes that another bomb will drop so japan surrenders New York Times front cover of everyone finding out about the atomic bomb The atomic bomb took 43 seconds to destroy Hiroshima 4.4 square miles flattened 80,000 people killed instantly Peoples bodies would disappear because of the heat In Nagasaki, 40,000 killed instantly;60,000 wounded On August 13, 1945 Japan formally surrendered to the US On Truman’s desk he had a sign that said “the buck stops here” meaning it was his decision People aren’t sure if Truman made the right decision Is still very controversial The creation of the atomic bomb brought about a. Swift end to WWII but showed the seeds of a new conflict: the Cold War In the after math right away Americans were proud however after about a year when pictures were released Americans weren’t sure and didn’t realize that they could do that to humans Canada and the Manhattan Project British Columbia Comminco retrofitted an existing plant and producing heavy water Trails heavy water production started in January 1944 and continued until 1956 Ontario the chalk river site was designed to be away from an urban area An entirely new community was built at deep rover Ontario to provide residences and facilities for the team members A pilot reactor known as ZEEP became the first Canadian reactor and the first North west territories the eldorado mine at port rafium became the source of uranium ore for the Manhattan project In 1939 ore from eldorado had been used in the first chain reaction experiments. Scientist had found ore from eldorado contained a rich store or uranium oxide and were successful as a source of nuclear energy The eldorado mine was secretly expropriated by Canadian government in 1943-1944 Uranium ore from the mine was used in the atomic bomb developments of 1945 Cold War It is called the Cold War because there is no active fighting Edward Teller Nuclear energy Is called nuclear energy because it comes from the nucleus Nuclear energy is used in medicine If nuclear reactions are not controlled an explosion will happen and thus cause radiation Nuclear is a big debate as to whether it’s good Nuclear energy when controlled can be a useful source for areas such as medicine When not controlled an explosion will happen and thus cause radiation in cells Overall nuclear energy is a debate as to whether it is a positive or negative Is a relatively new idea of splitting an atom Atoms are made of Protons, neutrons and electrons strong nuclear force holds protons and neutrons together A nuclear reaction derives its destructive force from the relationship between protons and neutrons, releasing vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter People are scared because it is humans in charge of splitting atoms and they make mistakes Nucleus is made of neutrons and positively charged protons, both surrounded by orbiting electrons Electrons are negatively charged Electromagnetism holds electrons in orbit Most atomic nuclei are stable, but a few are Gand these nuclei spontaneously emit particles that scientists refer to as radiation Physics as a Weapon Weapons of mass destructions From chemistry to nuclear power Elements combined into compounds (atoms become molecules) release electro magnetic energy as heat, light, etc. Before 1945 all weapons used this chemistry (explosives, napalm, toxins, etc.) Nuclear weapons use strong nuclear force for destruction More powerful then any chemical reaction Plutonium is a man made chemical that is made of uranium Uranium in plutonium out Canada has lots of uranium which is key to creating plutonium Centrifuges extract the small percentage of the isotopes Centrifuges are big Releasing nuclear energy There are two basic ways that nuclear energy can be released from an atom: Nuclear fission: the nucleus of an atom is split into two smaller fragments with a neutron Nuclear fusion: the bringing together of two smaller atoms to form a larger one In either process, large amounts of heat Nuclear fission was discovered by Enrico Fermi in the 1930’s Fermi demonstrated that elements subjected to neutron bombardment could be transformed into new elements Uranium isotope U-235 is one of the few materials that can undergo induced fission Instead of waiting more then 700 million years for uranium to naturally decay, the elements can be broken down much faster if a neutron runs into its nucleus The nucleus will absorb the neutron without hesitation, become unstable and split immediately When it melts down it creates large amounts of radiation Chain reaction: polymer Story spine for video Once upon a time there was a town called white bluffs in rural Washington, one day it disappears Everyday Germany was talking about creating an atomic bomb for the war but America wanted to make one first Because of that family’s were forced to leave there town Because of that Hanford was created, an atomic workplace that was a brand new community Because of that atomic bomb was made however workers did not know they were creating was a bomb Until finally the the bombs dropped in Japan and World War II finally ended as a result of one small town changed the world

Introduction: On January 16, 1943 two thousand people were told that they would have to leave their homes because the government was taking control of the Hanford area. Little did these people know but that area would soon become the home of the largest production of plutonium in order to create an atomic bomb for a project called the Manhattan project. The Manhattan project was led by J. Robert Oppenheimer as he was instructed by president Theodore Roosevelt to develop an atomic bomb before Germany created one. Hanford would soon be a huge contributor to the production of the atomic bomb, in this video you will learn 5 interesting facts about Hanford! Point 1: Before WWII many women didn’t work because working was the man’s job. With so many soldiers going off to fight in WWII women were needed to work and this included working on the Manhattan project. Women weren’t just hired as secretaries but had a wide variety of roles that needed to be filled such as doctors, teachers, cryptographers, machine operators, chemists and even the women’s army corps. However even after the advance in women’s roles women were still underpaid, under recognized and overworked compared to men who had the same jobs. The Manhattan project in general was very secretive however women were kept in the dark even more so than men. Point 2: The main job at Hanford was to create large quantities of plutonium for the atomic bombs. Plutonium is a highly radioactive material and is very dangerous to work with. The radiation causes DNA damage in tissue, which then boosts the risk of cancer so, many safety precautions had to be put into place to keep everyone safe and healthy. They had to detectors to detect the amount of radiation at the site to make sure it was safe for everyone. Nose swabs were also in use to detect the inhalation of plutonium dust. They tried to make it as safe as possible but most people who worked their were over exposed to the radiation and had gotten cancer at some point in their life because of it. Point 3: As DuPont was the manufacturing company in charge of producing plutonium they were also in charge of acquiring the workers to build the plant. Because of the urgency to get everything built DuPont hired approximately 15,000 African Americans. To express the massive increase in African Americans in Pasco a surrounding town in 1940 the African American population jumped from a mere 27 people to just under 1000 in 1950. This meant that out of the approximately 50,000 workers at Hanford 10 percent or 5000 people were African Americans. However as this was still the 1940’s there was still a major fact of racial segregation happening. In Hanford approximately only 20 percent of restaurants would serve African Americans. DuPont was also not prepared for that amount of African Americans and as a result only had one barrack building (a housing building for military personal) and one bunkhouse so many African Americans had to find there own housing. However aside from all of the segregation African Americans were allowed to eat in the dining halls with the whites. Point 4: As you may know the Manhattan Project was a top secret project that very few people knew about. There were over 50,000 employees who worked at Hanford and they didn’t know exactly what they were working on and couldn’t tell anyone what they did. Lie detector tests became a common practice to make sure people weren’t sharing information. The authorities made strict warnings to punish anyone who disclosed the secrets of the project. Some punishments included up to 10 years in prison or a $10,000 fine which is equal to about $150,000 today. Many billboards and signs were put up to remind people not to disclose any information and warn them of the consequences if they did. Point 5: DuPont was the manufacturer for the plutonium in Hanford and at first they didn’t want to produce it because after WWI they were known as “war profiteers” for producing gun powder so the US government said it would belong to them and that its fee would be only one dollar. Originally the plutonium production was supposed to be manufactured in Oak Ridge however DuPont felt that this would not be a safe location as it was to close to Knoxville as well as being close to electromagnetic and gaseous diffusion plants. Thus a team went travelled through Washington, Oregon and California and in the end decided that Hanford would be the safest location for manufacturing plutonium. Conclusion: Soon after WWII Hanford’s nuclear production complex was decommissioned. The work in Hanford with plutonium caused damage to the environment and is the home to 79% of all nuclear waste in the United States. Hanford is currently the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States and is the focus of the nations largest environmental clean up. In 2015 Hanford was made part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park and you can visit it today.