Topic+17+(Oak+Ridge)

Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, officially known as Clinton Engineer Works (CEW), was the site of almost all the uranium production in WWII. There were only two basic methods at the onset of WWII for separating the useless U-238 from the less abundant, but fissile U-235. However, both these methods were slow and laborious, and required large plants to be able to produce uranium in sufficient quantities for the war effort. ("Manhattan Project") Gen. Groves saw the problem, and decided on the obvious solution. Since it would clearly take an enormous amount of plants, he purchased half a million acres near Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and began construction.



Wartime construction was a difficult, if not impossible job. Almost all men had been mobilized for the war effort. Furthermore, the secrecy surrounding Oak Ridge was so great, construction workers would have no idea what they were doing. Fortunately, Groves was able to come up with the required amount of men, who, in a span of a few months, were able to build the largest industrial complex in America. It consisted of modified spectrometers and diffusion chambers, and was only able to produce a few grams of uranium per day. ("Manhattan Project") Running the plants proved to be equally difficult. Due to Groves’s extreme paranoia, the workers knew only that they were supporting the war effort, and whatever other knowledge was necessary to accomplish their jobs. This clearly created a huge psychological imbalance, compounded through Groves’s ridiculous security measures. Furthermore, there was a constant lack of adequate housing, as Oak Ridge repeatedly proved to be larger than expected. (Sullivan 37) By the end of the war, Oak Ridge had been home to four different plants, housed over 75 000 people, and required 20% more energy than the state of New York. It was the fifth largest city in Tennessee, but was so well guarded that only those living there knew it even existed. (Sullivan 35) Due to the inefficient process of making uranium, Oak Ridge was only able to create enough uranium for one gun type device.