antarmike Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 (edited) Construction begins for Y-12 at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a massive electromagnetic separation plant for enriching uranium. This is an important part of the Manhatton project. The Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Because of a wartime shortage of copper, the massive electromagnetic coils were made with 14,700 tons of coinage silver from U.S. government vaults at West Point. Initially Kenneth D. Nichols said he needed six thousand tons, and Daniel Bell the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury replied "Young man, you may think of silver in tons, but the Treasury will always think of silver in troy ounces." The facility began operating in November 1943, separating uranium-235 from natural uranium, which is 99.3% uranium-238, by using calutrons to perform electromagnetic isotope separation. Y-12 produced some of the uranium-235 for Little Boy, the nuclear weapon that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. Edited February 15, 2009 by antarmike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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