Cold War, Deterrence, Nuclear WeaponBy E.Fermi

Dropshot: The American Plan for World War III

War plan “Dropshot” arose from the military planners’ conviction that World War III was inevitable and that the only deterrent available to the U.S. was superiority in nuclear stockpiles. Dropshot led to requests by the military to increase the production of nuclear weapons, which the president approved. Thus, the decision to build a facility to increase production of nuclear weapon components was approved, and that facility would be the Rocky Flats Plant. The world changed in late August 1949 when the Soviet Union detonated an exact duplicate of the Trinity device several years before some had estimated that it was possible (not knowing the efficiency of their spy networks). A “WB-29 weather reconnaissance plane on routine patrol from Japan to […]

Nuclear Weapon, Plutonium, Rocky Flats PlantBy E.Fermi

Colorado’s Nuclear Weapons Factory

In late 1948 massive forces of Soviet tanks and armed forces lined up in Eastern Europe facing a diminished and war-wearied Allied defenses. Stalin continued to amass combat forces and materiel that the Soviet military had prepared for a World War III. Stalin had been planning this offensive as he fought alongside Allied Forces during World War II. He was waiting for the moment that his increasingly powerful armies could sweep through Western Europe and initiate his visionary communist world domination. All Stalin needed to do was to give the order for his armored divisions to begin their rapid advance through Western Europe. There was only one thing deterring Stalin: the U.S. had a nuclear arsenal. And they had proven […]

Criticality, Los Alamos, Manhattan ProjectBy E.Fermi

Los Alamos or Tickling the Dragon’s Tail

Oppenheimer began recruiting for the laboratory with help from James Conant immediately after the site was chosen. There was reluctance of some in working to build powerful bombs and the belief by some that the project was a boondoggle that would have nothing to do with the war. Many declared they would not join the project if they had to be Army officers. Oppenheimer accepted the designation of lieutenant colonel and had ordered his uniforms, but Rabi warned him that others would resist joining him. Conant negotiated a compromise to begin the project under civilian administration and transition to the military later. The transition never happened, and recruits began to travel to Santa Fe to receive the clearances that allowed […]

Plutonium, RadioactivityBy E.Fermi

Quest for Plutonium

Edwin McMillian and Glenn Seaborg had discovered element 93, named neptunium, in 1940 at the University of California, Berkeley and Seaborg continued researching after McMillan was persuaded to leave to do research in radar technology. Seaborg and his collaborators found that neptunium underwent beta decay to form element 94 that, as mentioned previously, Seaborg named plutonium in February 1941. Research on the new element determined that plutonium 239 was fissile, and plutonium’s role in the quest for developing a weapon began. Seaborg began the task of determining how plutonium could be separated from the uranium at the University of Chicago, and the foundation began to be developed for the technology used in the giant chemical separation facilities that would eventually […]

Criticality, Nuclear ScientistBy E.Fermi

Fermi’s Pile

The Manhattan Project depended heavily on American industry through all of its activities, and the ability to build and operate Fermi’s reactor was no exception. Little or no uranium metal had been produced up to 1940. The open literature said that the melting point of the metal was “below 1850 degrees Centigrade.” Carbon was produced in the hundreds of tons, but its purity was unacceptable for a nuclear reactor. Westinghouse and the Metal Hydrides Company produced uranium pellets. Mallinckrodt Chemical provided a source that had reduced impurities. Harshaw Chemical and DuPont produced uranium tetrafluoride. The National Carbon Company and Speer Carbon Company were enlisted to produce the graphite that met high standards for purity. Fermi began to assemble the large […]

Nuclear Scientist, RadioactivityBy E.Fermi

Lise Meitner

Meitner’s escape from Germany is an interesting story. Niels Bohr led the efforts to arrange for her to take a train to the Dutch border. She had received notice she was forbidden to leave Germany, and she did not have a current visa. One account mentions that a Nazi officer examined her expired visa while she was on the train. He returned the visa to her without comment and moved on. We will never know whether his lack of action after looking at the expired document was because of incompetence or compassion. I choose to believe the officer looked at the small, frightened woman and allowed her to escape to Holland and then to Stockholm, Sweden, where Bohr had found […]