Trinity [Atomic Test] Site
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Everyone in the World, and in That Sense a Completely Common Problem
" . .When you come right down to it the reason that we did this job is because it was an organic necessity. If you are a scientist you cannot stop such a thing . You believe that it is good to find out how the world works . [and] to turn over to mankind at large the greatest possible power to control the world and to deal with it according to its lights and its values. " . I think it is true to say that atomic weapons are a peril which affect everyone in the world, and in that sense a completely common problem . I think that in order to handle this common problem there must be a complete sense of community responsibility. " . The one point I want to hammer home is what an enormous change in spirit is involved. There are things which we hold very dear, and I think rightly hold very dear; I would say that the word democracy perhaps stood for some of them as well as any other word. There are many parts of the world in which there is no democracy . And when I speak of a new spirit in international affairs I mean that even to these deepest of things which we cherish, and for which Americans have been willing to die—and certainly most of us would be willing to die—even in these deepest things, we realize that there is something more profound than that; namely the common bond with other men everywhere . .“ J. Robert Oppenheimer speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientists Los Alamos November 2, 1945 Excerpts from a speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientists in Los Alamos, New Mexico, on November 2, 1945. -
Bob Farquhar
1 2 Created by Bob Farquhar For and dedicated to my grandchildren, their children, and all humanity. This is Copyright material 3 Table of Contents Preface 4 Conclusions 6 Gadget 8 Making Bombs Tick 15 ‘Little Boy’ 25 ‘Fat Man’ 40 Effectiveness 49 Death By Radiation 52 Crossroads 55 Atomic Bomb Targets 66 Acheson–Lilienthal Report & Baruch Plan 68 The Tests 71 Guinea Pigs 92 Atomic Animals 96 Downwinders 100 The H-Bomb 109 Nukes in Space 119 Going Underground 124 Leaks and Vents 132 Turning Swords Into Plowshares 135 Nuclear Detonations by Other Countries 147 Cessation of Testing 159 Building Bombs 161 Delivering Bombs 178 Strategic Bombers 181 Nuclear Capable Tactical Aircraft 188 Missiles and MIRV’s 193 Naval Delivery 211 Stand-Off & Cruise Missiles 219 U.S. Nuclear Arsenal 229 Enduring Stockpile 246 Nuclear Treaties 251 Duck and Cover 255 Let’s Nuke Des Moines! 265 Conclusion 270 Lest We Forget 274 The Beginning or The End? 280 Update: 7/1/12 Copyright © 2012 rbf 4 Preface 5 Hey there, I’m Ralph. That’s my dog Spot over there. Welcome to the not-so-wonderful world of nuclear weaponry. This book is a journey from 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated in the New Mexico desert to where we are today. It’s an interesting and sometimes bizarre journey. It can also be horribly frightening. Today, there are enough nuclear weapons to destroy the civilized world several times over. Over 23,000. “Enough to make the rubble bounce,” Winston Churchill said. The United States alone has over 10,000 warheads in what’s called the ‘enduring stockpile.’ In my time, we took care of things Mano-a-Mano. -
Museum Newsletter Issue 3 2019
MUSEUM OF HERITAGE & ARTS September 2019 Gerald Armijo Art Exhibit Location September 14 - November 2, 2019 Los Lunas Museum of Heritage & Arts 251 Main St. SE Los Lunas, NM 505-352-7720 Museum Hours Tuesday 10:00am to 5:00pm Wednesday 10:00am to 5:00pm Thursday 10:00am to 5:00pm Friday 10:00am to 5:00pm Gerald Armijo, Artist Saturday 10:00am to 5:00pm Sunset in Arizona (acrylic) Check us Out!!! Local artist Gerald Armijo won the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage & Art's Visit the Exhibits Attend a Public Program 2018 Juried Art Show entitling him to a solo exhibition. The art on exhib- Research Local & State it is in a variety of media that express the area’s rich history as well as History portraits and other subject matter that displays Gerald's artistic talent. Find Your Family History His work will be on display September 14 - November 2, 2019. Contribute Your History 7th Annual Juried Art Show Applications For information on Deadline October 12, 2019 programs & collections please contact: The Los Lunas Museum of Jan Micaletti, BA Heritage & Arts is accept- Museum Specialist ing submissions for the [email protected] Seventh Annual Juried Art Rebecca Ortiz, ABS Exhibit "Frontiers of New Museum Technician Mexico." Selected entries [email protected] will be displayed from November 9, 2019 to Christina Marshall, BFA Museum Technician January 10, 2020. The [email protected] entry deadline is October 12, 2019. Encino Ranch House Enhanced photo by Cynthia J. Shetter Page 2 September 2019 Museum of Heritage & Arts The Preservation of the Abo Ruins & History of Federico Sisneros September 21, 2019 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM The San Gregorio de Abo Mission of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument sits west of the town of Mountainair, New Mexico, and contains approximately 370 acres. -
Trinity Site July 16, 1945
Trinity Site July 16, 1945 "The effects could well be called unprecedented, magnificent, beauti ful, stupendous, and terrifying. No man-made phenomenon of such tremendous power had ever occurred before. The lighting effects beggared description. The whole country was lighted by a searing light with the intensity many times that of the midday sun." Brig. Gen. Thomas Farrell A national historic landmark on White Sands Missile Range -- www.wsmr.army.mil Radiation Basics Radiation comes from the nucJeus of the gamma ray. This is a type of electromag individual atoms. Simple atoms like oxygen netic radiation like visible light, radio waves are very stable. Its nucleus has eight protons and X-rays. They travel at the speed of light. and eight neutrons and holds together well. It takes at least an inch of lead or eight The nucJeus of a complex atom like inches of concrete to stop them. uranium is not as stable. Uranium has 92 Finally, neutrons are also emitted by protons and 146 neutrons in its core. These some radioactive substances. Neutrons are unstable atoms tend to break down into very penetrating but are not as common in more stable, simpler forms. When this nature. Neutrons have the capability of happens the atom emits subatomic particles striking the nucleus of another atom and and gamma rays. This is where the word changing a stable atom into an unstable, and "radiation" comes from -- the atom radiates therefore, radioactive one. Neutrons emitted particles and rays. in nuc!ear reactors are contained in the Health physicists are concerned with reactor vessel or shielding and cause the four emissions from the nucleus of these vessel walls to become radioactive. -
The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942-1952
Igniting The Light Elements: The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942-1952 by Anne Fitzpatrick Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STUDIES Approved: Joseph C. Pitt, Chair Richard M. Burian Burton I. Kaufman Albert E. Moyer Richard Hirsh June 23, 1998 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: Nuclear Weapons, Computing, Physics, Los Alamos National Laboratory Igniting the Light Elements: The Los Alamos Thermonuclear Weapon Project, 1942-1952 by Anne Fitzpatrick Committee Chairman: Joseph C. Pitt Science and Technology Studies (ABSTRACT) The American system of nuclear weapons research and development was conceived and developed not as a result of technological determinism, but by a number of individual architects who promoted the growth of this large technologically-based complex. While some of the technological artifacts of this system, such as the fission weapons used in World War II, have been the subject of many historical studies, their technical successors -- fusion (or hydrogen) devices -- are representative of the largely unstudied highly secret realms of nuclear weapons science and engineering. In the postwar period a small number of Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory’s staff and affiliates were responsible for theoretical work on fusion weapons, yet the program was subject to both the provisions and constraints of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, of which Los Alamos was a part. The Commission leadership’s struggle to establish a mission for its network of laboratories, least of all to keep them operating, affected Los Alamos’s leaders’ decisions as to the course of weapons design and development projects. -
L%%LOSALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY Post Office Box 1663 Los Alamos
..— ..—. LA-71 21-H, Rev. History (!3. Thirty-Five Years at Pajarito Canyon Site 1 -, L%%LOSALAMOS SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY Post Office Box 1663 Los Alamos. New Mexico 87545 An Affumative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer This work was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the US Department of Energy, Reactor Research and Technology Division. Photocomposition by Mary Louise Garcia DISCLAIMER This report wus prep-edas an accmunt of work sponrmed by an agency of the United States Gm’ern- ment. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of thek employees, makes my warranty, exrwes$ or implbd, or assumes my Icgal Iiabfity or responsibility for the accur- aCY, COmPleteneW Or U5CfUhWSSof any information, appardtus, product, ot process disclosed, of rep resents that its usc would not infringe privately owned rkht$. Reference herein to any spccillc com- mercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufactum, or otherwise, does not necessarily mnstitute or imply its endorsement, recommendatbn, or favoring by the United Slates Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not nec- essarily state or reflect those of the United States Covesnment or any agency thereof. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY CONTRACT W-7405-ENG. 36 LA-7121-H, Rev. History UC-46 Issued: May 1981 Thirty-Five Years at Pajarito Canyon Site Hugh C. Paxton ‘--’--- ‘-r-- = ‘---- % .— —. —.. -- ——:– ,-- -. ,. *—. -.-. —-— .. —--- .— .-. --- ,—.=._ .....--, .— . Pajarito Site, March 1969. Main building with control room is at center; outlying buildings containing critical assemblies are Kiva 1 at right rear, Kiva 2 at Ieli rear, and Kiva 3 in Ietl foreground. -
Trinity Site
TRINITY SITE TRINITY SITE the U.S. Department of Energy National Atomic Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico 1 TRINITY SITE The First Atomic Test On Monday morning July 16, 1945, the world was changed forever when the first atomic bomb was tested in an isolated area of the New Mexico desert. Conducted in the final month of World War II by the top- secret Manhattan Engineer District, this test was code named Trinity. The Trinity test took place on the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, about 230 miles south of the Manhattan Project's headquarters at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Today this 3,200 square mile range, partly located in the desolate Jornada del Muerto Valley, is named the White Sands Missile Range and is actively used for non-nuclear weapons testing. Before the war the range was mostly public and private grazing land that had always been sparsely populated. During the war it was even more lonely and deserted because the ranchers had agreed to vacate their homes in January 1942. They left because the War Department wanted the land to use as an artillery and bombing practice area. In September 1944, a remote 18 by 24 square mile portion of the north- east corner of the Bombing Range was set aside for the Manhattan Project and the Trinity test by the military. The selection of this remote location in the Jornada del Muerto Valley for the Trinity test was from an initial list of eight possible test sites. Besides the Jornada, three of the other seven sites were also located in New Mexico: the Tularosa Basin near Alamogordo, the lava beds (now the El Malpais National Monument) south of Grants, and an area southwest of Cuba and north of Thoreau. -
Dunes and Dreams: a History of White Sands National Monument
Dunes and Dreams: A History of White Sands National Monument Administrative History White Sands National Monument by Michael Welsh 1995 National Park Service Division of History Intermountain Cultural Resources Center Santa Fe, New Mexico Professional Paper No. 55 Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Foreword Chapter One: A Monument in Waiting: Environment and Ethnicity in the Tularosa Basin Chapter Two: The Politics of Monument-Building: White Sands, 1898-1933 Chapter Three: New Deal, New Monument, New Mexico, 1933-1939 Chapter Four: Global War at White Sands, 1940-1945 Chapter Five: Baby Boom, Sunbelt Boom, Sonic Boom: The Dunes in the Cold War Era, 1945- 1970 Chapter Six: A Brave New World: White Sands and the Close of the 20th Century, 1970-1994 Bibliography List of Illustrations Figure 1. Dune Pedestal Figure 2. Selenite crystal formation at Lake Lucero Figure 3. Cave formation, Lake Lucero Figure 4. Cactus growth Figure 5. Desert lizard Figure 6. Visitors to White Sands Dunes (1904) Figure 7. Frank and Hazel Ridinger's White Sands Motel (1930s) Figure 8. Roadside sign for White Sands west of Alamogordo (1930) Figure 9. Early registration booth (restroom in background) (1930s) Figure 10. Grinding stone unearthed at Blazer's Mill on Mescalero Apache Reservation (1930s) Figure 11. Nineteenth-Century Spanish carreta and replica in Visitors Center Courtyard (1930s) Figure 12. Pouring gypsum for road shoulder construction (1930s) Figure 13. Blading gypsum road into the heart of the sands (1930s) Figure 14. Hazards of road grading (1930s) Figure 15. Adobe style of construction by New Deal Agency Work Crews (1930s) Figure 16. -
The Oppenheimer Years 1943-1945 6
" . .When you come right down to it the reason that we did this job is because it was an organic necessity. If you are a scientist you cannot stop such a thing . You believe that it is good to find out how the world works . [and] to turn over to mankind at large the greatest possible power to control the world and to deal with it according to its lights and its values. " . I think it is true to say that atomic weapons are a peril which affect everyone in the world, and in that sense a completely common problem . I think that in order to handle this common problem there must be a complete sense of community responsibility. " . The one point I want to hammer home is what an enormous change in spirit is involved. There are things which we hold very dear, and I think rightly hold very dear; I would say that the word democracy perhaps stood for some of them as well as any other word. There are many parts of the world in which there is no democracy . And when I speak of a new spirit in international affairs I mean that even to these deepest of things which we cherish, and for which Americans have been willing to die—and certainly most of us would be willing to die—even in these deepest things, we realize that there is something more profound than that; namely the common bond with other men everywhere . .“ J. Robert Oppenheimer speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientists Los Alamos November 2, 1945 Excerpts from a speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientists in Los Alamos, New Mexico, on November 2, 1945. -
Nm-Trinity-Nhs.Pdf
ATTENTION: Portions of this scanned document are illegible due to the poor quality . of the source document. I ..I. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I ----l~----.· . ·'.·.. - '. ~ .. , , .·. --. :· ~,:~----L-- .. 0 A.. "-\..-- ~ ~--- 0 ""' ~ : .: : ~Ew '1.E)..\C..O . - -1 - .. - . 0 · Ji.../6uylA._~r 1u...c... '-.... .J,. ·:·.· '------- T f'.\~\\"( ' \ ~~·no~,._'- \\,~,O~\C.. s \TE CONTENTS 2 INTRODUCTION 3 GENERAL SETTING 4 THE RE$pURCE 8 THE ALTERNATIVES 10 INTERIM PROTECTION 11 RECOMMENDATIONS Atw~ MAPS 2 Regional Map 3 Historic Resources 7 [5oundary Map 7 General ~opment I .1 I I I I At 5:31 on the morning of July 16, 1945 I occurred the climax of what was probably the most dramatic and scientific venture I in history. I Ai this moment, on the dry, hot desert of Jomado del Muerto I in southern N.ew Mexico, 11101n's first attempt to ~oduce a nuclear explosion I IUCC8eded. I I I I 1 INTRODUCTION I This study provides data for the Department of the A sPedal res>Ort In 1965 by the Setvlce urged natlonal Interior 111port on S.288, a bill introduced by Senators historic landmatk dlllgnatlon and Immediate Interim Anderson and Montoya of New Mexico. The bill preservation efforu. Announcement of landmark eli· would provide for identification and pr«!Servation of ijbility followed, which resulted with tha introduction historic resources at Trinity Test Site, pendir.g estab of legislation in 1966 and 1967. llstunent 'Jf a national historic site. Estatilishment would occur only when national security pe.-mits, for the Trinity Test Site is located within a re:stricted •• of the White Sands Missile Range. -
Trinity at 50
TRKNKTYAT 1945-1995 Written by Morgan Rieder and Michael Lawson Edited by Meliha S. Duran and Beth Morgan 1995 WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE HUMAN SYSTEMS RESEARCH, INC. TRINI1Y AT FIFTY THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF TRINITY SITE NATIONAL HISTORIC l.AND MARK. WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE. SOCORRO COUN1Y. NEW MEXICO Morgan Rieder and Michael Lawson. Authors Meliha S. Duran and Beth Morgan, Technical Editors Contract No. DAAD07 -94-D-0 104 Delivery Order No. 22 Prepared for White Sands MfssUe Range. New Mexico Submitted by Human Systems Research. Inc. Tularosa. New Mexico HSR Report No. 9439 WSMR Archaeological Report No. 95-8 1995 Cover photograph: Detonation ofn-inity (WSMR photograph file). 11 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 TR1Nl1Y PRESERVATION 73 ENVIRONMENTAL SETfJNG 5 Administrative Status 73 7he Environment Today 5 Trinity Recording Project and Past Environment 6 Architectural Conseroation 7 4 CULTURAL HISTORY OFTHE Development 74 NORTHERN JORNADA DEL REFERENCES CITED 77 MUERTO 7 Paleoindian Hunters 7 Archaic HunterI Gatherers 7 Jomada MogoUon/Anasazi Agriculturalists 8 Protohistoric Hunters 9 Apache Indians 10 Historic Ranchers and Developers 10 ARCHAEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY 15 Archaeological Survey 15 Archival Research 16 Oral History 16 TRlNITY SITE 19 The Manhattan Project 19 TheSetup 19 7he Archaeology ofTrinity 21 Trinity Summary 42 Trinity Site Since July 1 945 43 GEORGE MCDONALD RANCH 45 Ranch History 45 The House and Related Structures 4 7 Resotration and Stailization Efforts 50 MCDONALD BROTHERS RANCH 51 Ranch History 51 Houses and Other Structures 53 Reconstruction and Stabilization Efforts 55 HISTORIC RANCHING 57 Story Ranch 57 Story WeU 59 Foster Ranch 61 Foster WeU 61 Greens Baber WeU 65 Green Tank 67 Summary 68 PREHISTORIC USE OF THE TR1NI1Y SITE 69 til tv INTRODUCTION "The effects [of the Trinity Test) intelligence that the Nazis were could well be called unprecedented, developing nuclear weapons. -
What's Inside the Mushroom Cloud
United States Atmospheric & Underwater Atomic Weapon Activities National Association of Atomic Veterans, Inc. 1945 “TRINITY“ “Assisting America’s Atomic Veterans Since 1979” ALAMOGORDO, N. M. Website: www.naav.com E-mail: [email protected] 1945 “LITTLE BOY“ HIROSHIMA, JAPAN , R. J. RITTER - Editor July 2013 1945 “FAT MAN“ NAGASAKI, JAPAN 1946 “CROSSROADS“ BIKINI ISLAND 1948 “SANDSTONE“ ENEWETAK ATOLL 1951 “RANGER“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1951 “GREENHOUSE“ ENEWETAK ATOLL 1951 “BUSTER – JANGLE“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1952 “TUMBLER - SNAPPER“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1952 “IVY“ ENEWETAK ATOLL 1953 “UPSHOT - KNOTHOLE“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1954 “CASTLE“ BIKINI ISLAND 1955 “TEAPOT“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1955 “WIGWAM“ OFFSHORE SAN DIEGO 1955 “PROJECT 56“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1956 “REDWING“ ENEWETAK & BIKINI 1957 “PLUMBOB“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1958 “HARDTACK-I“ ENEWETAK & BIKINI 1958 “NEWSREEL“ JOHNSTON ISLAND 1958 “ARGUS“ SOUTH ATLANTIC 1958 “HARDTACK-II“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1961 “NOUGAT“ NEVADA TEST SITE 1962 “DOMINIC-I“ CHRISTMAS ISLAND JOHNSTON ISLAND 1965 “FLINTLOCK“ AMCHITKA, ALASKA 1969 “MANDREL“ AMCHITKA, ALASKA 1971 “GROMMET“ AMCHITKA, ALASKA 1974 “POST TEST EVENTS“ ENEWETAK CLEANUP - - - - - - - - - - - - WHAT’S INSIDE THE MUSHROOM CLOUD ? ? “ IF YOU WERE THERE, YOU ARE AN ATOMIC VETERAN “ The Newsletter for America’s Atomic Veterans COMMANDER’S COMMENTS ARE YOUR DUES UP TO DATE ? ? ? ? As a reminder, the Veterans Advisory Board To insure that you receive your periodic newsletters, we must remind on Radiogenic Health Issues ( VBDR ) is you to keep your dues current. You can do this my looking at the scheduled to meet on July 23 ( 2013 ) at the mailing label on your newsletter. The numbers following your name, is your dues expiration date .