DOCSLIB.ORG

The Bomb” by Jennifer Caron

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Bomb” by Jennifer Caron Your children's teeth contain Strontium·90 All ('hildm'.C'hddf'ft1" Itftlhffth now (Ontain radloactf\'tradioacth-e StrontlumStrontlum·go·go (rom inIn ('hlldrtnchildren',', (fitlhIHlh andInd bot . It "I" • me~u~mt'~ure of01 tbet~ "M"kntfl"K'k~ 01eat (CfMIt nuckarnuclear 1\'tI;pon'~taponJ lest,te" . 1I1lmhmt!-.o tto:;nn",n It nuettarnuclt:ar Wtapom.\Ij'uPOnJ ItJUIt'U ~'H~Ut loeb)tod.t.,..", Itt.the ...1M,:"'C:um~1at_ um\l1l!tIOa RadiOl(thRadioacth'e'e Strontium' Ironlium I.JI•• • potentiaiall (lU6eflU of I&.tmla,telL.eml • • I'aJ 01ot Strontium'trontlum-90-go "illwill (OnlltluetOntlnuc lortor )~)1'.1"'" .... poinill ted outoul In the1M l'nitedl'nlttd ~'l~.tiontion.. rtportreport on radhuion.radiation. Barl)'&lrl)' ,i,M' (rM WeW, Oppo!lotOppoH nudHrnud"., "tapol"'tapol If'S"",tf.f..hnlf brb,. aU fUiltion_naliuru DI"rlOt onh lit.\It. ofor Jtuktnua)fukrnlla .1J~r'''Pf1'r IIII" lhelht mouth,m~u , h. and dInt!dtntf 1IlA Irtare lamillartamillu with\\'hh C"Aw.euu~ ofor the f"Ontamlnt.ttonronounlnatlort ofuC Wlletbun and ttmhftth ofor ourpur (,~IIId'f'C" 1'I"dN'~n .",11.1Id IMmIhtm. .,.palll"n".t"nLf, but \)e(IUHb«au~ it III~ •a dll"ft'ldlrt!C1 "'"1ulu'IInJulu' t4)W 1Mthe nlnJj_"ra~ ••. , »am_..... ..... :tnt",,enh,-U can ItUttll hfi\\hf,\\' muchm~(h ,..dw.cthendlot.(th'e Strontium.goSt1"OnO~m.90 "II In race. Tht tbtin, J"IIc.ru. onl)"only mulllpjJ("multi pi ml."'btmi ... rwt Ind tton.'....t"nt,t. .. .IrAatJ chIldrenchddl"'tJl"', boMabonH by mtmt".wr.urln,.... urinr the radloacti\'"tradioacl"'e matma1materi.1 In ,Ihthtlrir Inere.hK:.rt-.ua lhethe ('hancuh.~ orof "udellrflucJtatr "ar.:ar,. tHthtt"t!th. A reHnt~nt Inaly.Inal,. I ofot '-bybaby lIet'thetih .1\0aM\\1\1;;1 • 1If.(olcf6-'old IncrtUeIncrt"as. in Tht-rdon:.Thtrtlort. u dentidentu,l", II. oufMoIrr mponalbllilTmpoft6lblllt)" 1to0 P"'mottpftlMlAt lit.hf..... a" Strontlum.goStrontium·OO O\frO\'tr Iht p&Iliput th·'et ytart.rtl,..· Unlike bab)'bab), lIttlhHlh.. ho"'ho"· .. healthhdhh eomptheoMptl.. UJus 10to malr.e.maLe IhlJthu public appnJappn.l to .lIp'trllmtnltoaU lO'''tmmtnlJ, "I. {!\t!r.rur. the J)trmant.tlt.pennAntnt ,.hteeth and bolltlbootS retain Strontlum.iu m.9Q90 Ihrou,throu,h.h.­ «ueCUM: IIUC'WmaC''':.rU "f'apon'" upon If't~ La .nd to dt\rtdtwlopJop dw..thoM Intf'n.li"\Unlt ",,*.... ",utout lMirtMn existtntf-exl~tfnrt . ....'"men"I.,rftmentt \\\\hkhhkh \\'Ould'OUid eliminate thtthe nud., armInn.s.. I"A«D«.. AA, dentllu.dtntlJu. \\t_t df'Plo,..Mplon the buUdup ooff radloedhradlOldl"e.. StroStrontiumntium.go·go PICTURE CREDITS: 18 – U.S. Army, National Atomic Museum; 27 – Bob Paz Used by permission of Peace Action 16 ENGINEERING & SCIENCE NO. 2 Biology and “The Bomb” by Jennifer Caron “We have made a thing,” J. Robert Oppenhei- further development of nuclear weapons. But mer told a joint meeting of the American Philo- despite their efforts, and those of like-minded sophical Society and the National Academy of people, the hydrogen bomb was developed under Sciences three months after the bombings of Hiro- the leadership of Edward Teller and the Atomic shima and Nagasaki, “a most terrible weapon, that Energy Commission (AEC). At least three Strontium belongs to the has altered abruptly and profoundly the nature of members of the Caltech faculty had AEC connec- same chemical family as the world. We have made a thing that by all the tions. President Lee DuBridge served on its standards of the world we grew up in is an evil General Advisory Committee, Provost Bacher calcium, and like calcium, thing. And by so doing . we have raised again served on the commission, and George Beadle, it concentrates in the the question of whether science is good for man.” chairman of the Division of Biology, served as teeth and bones, especially Among the men who participated in the develop- a science consultant. of growing children. Stron- ment of the atomic bomb were Caltech faculty The first hydrogen-fusion device, Mike, was members, as well as scientists who would come secretly detonated at Eniwetok atoll on November tium-90, or Sr-90, has a to Caltech after the war. 1, 1952, destroying the mile-wide island of half-life of 29 years, Physicists Robert Christy, Richard Feynman, Elugelab and leaving a crater in the ocean floor. meaning that half of it will and Robert Bacher worked on the Manhattan The public was told nothing of the power re- Project. Feynman worked on bomb theory and leased—only that the AEC had successfully have decayed during that Christy helped design the trigger mechanism. detonated a fusion device in the Pacific. time. Until it does, Bacher was at various times in charge of the The AEC planned to secretly test six hydrogen however, it exposes the nuclear physics division and the bomb division. bombs in March and April of 1954. The might of body to beta rays from Physicists Thomas Lauritsen [BS ’36, PhD ’39] Bravo, the first one, surprised everyone, including and Jesse DuMond [BS ’16, PhD ’29] and electri- the scientists and engineers who built it. The first within, damaging cellular cal engineer Robert Langmuir [PhD ’43] worked news of these tests to reach the American press was DNA. In 1957, Caltech for the Office of Scientific Research and Defense; a brief notice that residents of the Marshall Islands geneticist Edward Lewis geochemist Harrison Brown worked on the had been evacuated due to radioactive fallout. published a calculation of isolation of plutonium at the Oak Ridge National Two weeks later a Japanese tuna boat, the Lucky Laboratory. Dragon, which had been about 85 miles down- radiation-induced leukemia After the war, Brown returned to the University wind, returned to its home port of Yaizu with its risks to humans that of Chicago and served as executive vice chairman crew of 23 suffering from severe radiation sickness. included Sr-90 as an exam- of Einstein’s Emergency Committee of Atomic Panic spread from Japan to the United States. Scientists, working to educate the public about The H-bomb made it possible to obliterate even ple. His work was exploit- the threat of nuclear weapons. Within a year he the largest cities with a single weapon, and, with a ed by organizations like published a 160-page book arguing for interna- large number of such bombs, to end human life on SANE, which ran this full- tional control of nuclear power, Must Destruction Earth. Such potential for catastrophe was beyond page ad in the New York Be Our Destiny? Brown came to Caltech in 1951; the grasp of most people. So, in an attempt to because of his growing activism he was given a communicate the dangers of nuclear war, the Times on April 7, 1963. joint appointment as professor of geochemistry Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists had earlier created and of science and government in 1967. Chemist the “Doomsday Clock.” When first published in Linus Pauling [PhD ’25], though he was not 1947, it read seven minutes to midnight. After involved in the bomb project, also served on the Soviet Union detonated their first atomic Einstein’s Emergency Committee. bomb in 1949 it was moved to three minutes. In Christy, Brown, and Pauling all opposed the 1953, after both the United States and the Soviet ENGINEERING & SCIENCE NO. 2 17 Union exploded their first hydrogen-fusion devices, the hands read two minutes to midnight, the closest to Armageddon they have ever been. While atomic bombs created local fallout for a short time, H-bombs sent radioactive debris into the stratosphere. From there it spread over the globe, descending to Earth for up to two years afterward. On March 31, 1954, nearly a month after Bravo, the chairman of the AEC, Admiral Lewis Strauss, stated that nuclear tests had resulted in a small increase in radiation in some places in the United States. He claimed that this increase was “far below the levels which could be harmful in any way to human beings.” Strauss assumed that, as in the case of many Mike, the first fusion chemical toxins, there existed a threshold dose “device,” created a mush- below which radiation did no harm and that the low dose to which the public was exposed did not room cloud (above) that exceed this threshold. The threshold assumption rose to 135,000 feet—the was widely held—in fact, shoe stores of the day top of the stratosphere— routinely contained X-ray boxes so that patrons in five minutes and lofted could see the bones in their feet. Only a select community of biologists under- 80 million tons of freshly stood that the United States and Soviet govern- radioactive soil into the ments were killing people without realizing it. air. Mike wasn’t exactly In the late 1920s, geneticist Hermann Muller portable (right)—it was had discovered that high-energy radiation caused genetic mutations in fruit flies at a rate propor- about 20 feet tall and tional to the dosage received. (He won the Nobel weighed 82 tons, including Prize for this in 1946.) After the H-bomb tests 12 tons of cryogenic became public knowledge, he felt morally obli- gated to warn policymakers and the public about apparatus to keep its the risk of mutations in the germ line—the deuterium fuel liquid. The reproductive cells in the testes and ovaries— first “real” bomb, Bravo, from radioactive fallout. used solid lithium Muller and Caltech genetics professor Alfred Sturtevant had been graduate students of Thomas deuteride, making it a Hunt Morgan—founder of Caltech’s biology 1 manageable 15 × 4 /2-foot division—at Columbia University.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl. Atoms
    ATOMS PEACE WAR Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission Richard G. Hewlett and lack M. Roll With a Foreword by Richard S. Kirkendall and an Essay on Sources by Roger M. Anders University of California Press Berkeley Los Angeles London Published 1989 by the University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England Prepared by the Atomic Energy Commission; work made for hire. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hewlett, Richard G. Atoms for peace and war, 1953-1961. (California studies in the history of science) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Nuclear energy—United States—History. 2. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission—History. 3. Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969. 4. United States—Politics and government-1953-1961. I. Holl, Jack M. II. Title. III. Series. QC792. 7. H48 1989 333.79'24'0973 88-29578 ISBN 0-520-06018-0 (alk. paper) Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 CONTENTS List of Illustrations vii List of Figures and Tables ix Foreword by Richard S. Kirkendall xi Preface xix Acknowledgements xxvii 1. A Secret Mission 1 2. The Eisenhower Imprint 17 3. The President and the Bomb 34 4. The Oppenheimer Case 73 5. The Political Arena 113 6. Nuclear Weapons: A New Reality 144 7. Nuclear Power for the Marketplace 183 8. Atoms for Peace: Building American Policy 209 9. Pursuit of the Peaceful Atom 238 10. The Seeds of Anxiety 271 11. Safeguards, EURATOM, and the International Agency 305 12.
    [Show full text]
  • Pauling-Linus.Pdf
    NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES L I N U S C A R L P A U L I N G 1901—1994 A Biographical Memoir by J A C K D. D UNITZ Any opinions expressed in this memoir are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Academy of Sciences. Biographical Memoir COPYRIGHT 1997 NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS WASHINGTON D.C. LINUS CARL PAULING February 28, 1901–August 19, 1994 BY JACK D. DUNITZ INUS CARL PAULING was born in Portland, Oregon, on LFebruary 28, 1901, and died at his ranch at Big Sur, California, on August 19, 1994. In 1922 he married Ava Helen Miller (died 1981), who bore him four children: Linus Carl, Peter Jeffress, Linda Helen (Kamb), and Edward Crellin. Pauling is widely considered the greatest chemist of this century. Most scientists create a niche for themselves, an area where they feel secure, but Pauling had an enormously wide range of scientific interests: quantum mechanics, crys- tallography, mineralogy, structural chemistry, anesthesia, immunology, medicine, evolution. In all these fields and especially in the border regions between them, he saw where the problems lay, and, backed by his speedy assimilation of the essential facts and by his prodigious memory, he made distinctive and decisive contributions. He is best known, perhaps, for his insights into chemical bonding, for the discovery of the principal elements of protein secondary structure, the alpha-helix and the beta-sheet, and for the first identification of a molecular disease (sickle-cell ane- mia), but there are a multitude of other important contri- This biographical memoir was prepared for publication by both The Royal Society of London and the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
    [Show full text]
  • John D. Roberts
    John D. (Jack) Roberts 1918 – 2016 John D. Roberts, the Institute Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, and one of the most influential chemists of the 20th century, passed away on October 29, 2016 at the age of 98 following a stroke. John Dombrowski “Jack” Roberts was born on June 8, 1918 in Los Angeles, California. He spent most of his 98 years in Southern California and witnessed first hand its transformation from a reasonably under- populated region into one of the world’s busiest metropolitan areas. In fact, Jack (or “JDR” as he was oft referred in the labs at Caltech) was born essentially right underneath what is now the famous four level interchange connecting the 101 and 110 freeways in modern day downtown LA. JDR also witnessed the growth and explosion of science and in particular chemistry over that century span. As summarized in his J. Org. Chem. 2009, 74, 4897-4917 article and numerous talks over the later part of his life, the explosion of instrumentation capabilities available to the organic chemist progressed in the course of his scientific career from no less than the melting point apparatus to some of the most advanced instruments on the planet. Without doubt, the advances most influential to JDR’s monumental career in chemistry were the advent of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and the accompanying explosion in computing. Combined, these tools greatly facilitated the insightfully designed experimentation and careful analyses that became the hallmark of JDR’s career. It is clear that Jack’s thoroughgoing nature combined with his deep understanding of instrumentation and fundamental chemistry served as an inspiration to nearly four generations of scientists.
    [Show full text]
  • Walter Loveland Oral History Interview, “Of Glenn Seaborg and Super Heavy Elements: a Nuclear Chemist Looks Back”, July Page 3 of 24 22, 2015
    Walter Loveland Oral History Interview, July 22, 2015 Title “Of Glenn Seaborg and Super Heavy Elements: A Nuclear Chemist Looks Back” Date July 22, 2015 Location Valley Library, Oregon State University. Summary In the interview, Loveland discusses his colorful family background and upbringing in blue-collar suburban Chicago. He also describes his earliest interests in science, his path through undergraduate and graduate studies, and those who influenced him as he made his way through his higher education, including his contacts with luminaries like Charles Coryell and John Huizenga. From there, Loveland begins to reflect on his long association with both Oregon State University and the University of California, Berkeley. In so doing, he shares his memories of his initial impressions of OSU and Corvallis, his first contacts with Glenn Seaborg, a few initial research experiences in research, and his impressions of Seaborg as a personality. He likewise recounts his interactions with Linus Pauling as well as major figures in nuclear science at OSU, Chih Wang, John Ringle and Dale Trout among them. Loveland next recounts his memories of the Radiation Biology program at OSU; discusses the life and career of a former student, Sister Mary Joseph Bouchard; and comments on the climate for women and people of color in the sciences at OSU and in the community at large. Loveland's research is the next focus of the interview. In this he provides an overview of his work with super-heavy ions while also describing his research collaborations and the frequent trips to Berkeley that these collaborations demanded. He also recounts his interactions with OSU's Campus Radiation Safety Committee, his disinterest in working at the Hanford Nuclear Site, his experience of co-authoring two books with Glenn Seaborg, and hindrances to scientific advancement that he has noted as a result of denials of security clearance.
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Linus Pauling Named Recipient of Priestley Memorial Award
    Dr. Linus Pauling named recipient of Priestley Memorial Award December 16, 1968 Dr. Linus Pauling, Professor of Chemistry in Residence at the University of California, San Diego, was recently named the 18th recipient of Dickinson College's Priestley Memorial Award. Presentation of the award next March 27 will be the highlight of the annual Priestley Day celebration at the Carlisle, Pa., college. Howard L. Rubendall, Dickinson president, said Pauling will be honored for his work in physical chemistry. The award is named for Joseph Priestley, discoverer of oxygen, and consists of a portrait medallion of Priestley. A check for $1,000 accompanies it. Dickinson, which owns one of the largest collections of Priestley memorabilia in America, created the award in 1952 to recognize modern scientists for research, discovery or other production benefiting mankind. Pauling is a winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry and also holds the Nobel Peace Prize. During recent years, much of his work has been on the application of chemistry to biological and medical problems. Last spring he advanced a highly controversial theory that mental patients could well be treated by giving them "optimum amounts" of vitamins, amino acids and certain fatty acids. During the early war years, he worked on rocket propellants and other explosives but was among the scientists who opposed dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. His work to abolish war began in 1945. Few scientists have been honored so often. Pauling holds the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society, the American Chemical Society Award in Pure Chemistry, the Nichols Medal, Presidential Medal for Merit, Gibbs Medal, Richards Medal, the Gilbert Newton Lewis Medal, the Davey Medal of the Royal Society, the Thomas Addis Medal of the National Nephrosis Foundation, the Phillips Medal of the American College of Physicians and other awards.
    [Show full text]
  • Radiocarbon After Four Decades RADIOCARBON R.E
    Radiocarbon After Four Decades RADIOCARBON R.E. Taylor A. Long R.S. Kra Editors Radiocarbon After Four Decades An Interdisciplinary Perspective With 148 Illustrations Springer Science+Business Media, LLC R.E. Thylor Austin Long Department of Anthropology Department of Geosciences Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics The University of Arizona University of California, Riverside Thscon, AZ 85721 USA Riverside, CA 92521-0418 USA Renee S. Kra Department of Geosciences The University of Arizona Thscon, AZ 85721 USA Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Radiocarbon after four decades: an interdisciplinary perspective / [editors], R.E. Taylor, Austin Long, Renee S. Kra. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4757-4251-0 ISBN 978-1-4757-4249-7 (eBook) DOI 1O.l007/978-1-4757-4249-7 1. Radiocarbon dating. I. Taylor, R. E. (Royal Ervin), 1938- II. Long, Austin. III. Kra, Renee S. QC798.D3R3 1992 546'.6815884-dc20 91-44448 Printed on acid-free paper. © 1992 Springer Science+BusinessMedia New York Originally published by Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. in 1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written per­ mission of the publisher,Springer Science+Bnsiness Media, LLC, except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereaf­ ter developed is forbidden. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc., in this publication, even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone.
    [Show full text]
  • CHAD A. MIRKIN, PH.D. Northwestern University
    CHAD A. MIRKIN, PH.D. Northwestern University, Department of Chemistry 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-3113 Phone: 847-491-2907 Fax: 847-467-5123 Email: [email protected] Education 1991 NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 1989 Ph.D. in Inorganic & Organic Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 1986 B.S. in Chemistry (Phi Beta Kappa), Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA Professional Experience 2008-present Director, International Institute for Nanotechnology; George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Medicine, Materials Science & Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical & Biological Engineering, Northwestern University 2004-2008 Director, International Institute for Nanotechnology; George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Medicine, and Materials Science & Engineering, Northwestern University 2000-2004 Director, Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly and George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry, Northwestern University 1997-2000 Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry, Northwestern University 1995-1997 Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University 1991-1995 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University Awards and Honors (selected, over 230 national and international total) 2020 ACS Division of Colloid and Surface Science Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nanoscience; AAAS Philip Hauge Abelson Award 2019 Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine; SCI Perkin
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix E Nobel Prizes in Nuclear Science
    Nuclear Science—A Guide to the Nuclear Science Wall Chart ©2018 Contemporary Physics Education Project (CPEP) Appendix E Nobel Prizes in Nuclear Science Many Nobel Prizes have been awarded for nuclear research and instrumentation. The field has spun off: particle physics, nuclear astrophysics, nuclear power reactors, nuclear medicine, and nuclear weapons. Understanding how the nucleus works and applying that knowledge to technology has been one of the most significant accomplishments of twentieth century scientific research. Each prize was awarded for physics unless otherwise noted. Name(s) Discovery Year Henri Becquerel, Pierre Discovered spontaneous radioactivity 1903 Curie, and Marie Curie Ernest Rutherford Work on the disintegration of the elements and 1908 chemistry of radioactive elements (chem) Marie Curie Discovery of radium and polonium 1911 (chem) Frederick Soddy Work on chemistry of radioactive substances 1921 including the origin and nature of radioactive (chem) isotopes Francis Aston Discovery of isotopes in many non-radioactive 1922 elements, also enunciated the whole-number rule of (chem) atomic masses Charles Wilson Development of the cloud chamber for detecting 1927 charged particles Harold Urey Discovery of heavy hydrogen (deuterium) 1934 (chem) Frederic Joliot and Synthesis of several new radioactive elements 1935 Irene Joliot-Curie (chem) James Chadwick Discovery of the neutron 1935 Carl David Anderson Discovery of the positron 1936 Enrico Fermi New radioactive elements produced by neutron 1938 irradiation Ernest Lawrence
    [Show full text]
  • UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The new prophet : Harold C. Urey, scientist, atheist, and defender of religion Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3j80v92j Author Shindell, Matthew Benjamin Publication Date 2011 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO The New Prophet: Harold C. Urey, Scientist, Atheist, and Defender of Religion A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History (Science Studies) by Matthew Benjamin Shindell Committee in charge: Professor Naomi Oreskes, Chair Professor Robert Edelman Professor Martha Lampland Professor Charles Thorpe Professor Robert Westman 2011 Copyright Matthew Benjamin Shindell, 2011 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Matthew Benjamin Shindell is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2011 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page……………………………………………………………………...... iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………. iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….
    [Show full text]
  • Nevada Test Site: Desert Annex of TESTS SINCE the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories 1945 Q Denotes “Subcritical” Introduction Test
    Western States Legal Foundation Nevada Desert Experience Information Bulletin Summer 2005 update 1,000+ U.S. NUCLEAR The Nevada Test Site: Desert Annex of TESTS SINCE the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories 1945 q denotes “subcritical” Introduction test Aardvark 1962 Abeytas 1970 The Nevada Test Site (NTS), an immense tract of desert and mountains northwest of Las Abilene 1988 Able 1946 Able 1951 Vegas, is the test range where the United States government set off over 900 nuclear Able 1951 Able 1952 explosions during the Cold War phase of the arms race. For most Americans, the Test Site is Abo 1985 Absinthe 1967 only a symbol of a closed chapter of history, a time of great danger that now is over. Even Ace 1964 Acushi 1963 those who know that the Nevada Test Site still is used for “subcritical” testing of nuclear Adobe 1962 Adze 1968 weapons materials and components underground may think operations largely have been Agile 1967 Agouti 1962 Agrini 1984 suspended, with unused facilities retained only against the eventuality of a return to full scale Ahtanum 1963 Ajax 1966 underground nuclear testing. But the Test Site remains an important part of the nuclear Ajo 1970 Akavi 1981 weapons complex, both a remote site where dangerous activities can be conducted with little Akbar 1972 Alamo 1988 public knowledge and a weapons laboratory unto itself. High risk programs involving nuclear Aleman 1986 Algodones 1971 material, such as nuclear criticality experiments, are slated for transfer to the Test Site, and it Aligote 1981 Aliment 1969 Allegheny 1962 also is being considered as a location for a proposed factory to mass produce plutonium pits, Alma 1962 Almendro 1973 the atomic explosive “triggers”at the core of most nuclear weapons.
    [Show full text]
  • Sandia's Weapons Program
    Sandia’s weapons program: Exciting work ahead, but the fiscal environment will be challenging Joan Woodard talks about program’s accomplishments, prospects, budgets, and staffing The Lab News had the opportunity recently to sit three things that are important. First of all, we down with Deputy Labs Director for Nuclear Weapons need to have a stockpile that’s sized appropriately, Joan Woodard to talk about the state of the program. and the president has made his decision about The interview was conducted by John German and where to go with that stockpile and we’re on that Stephanie Holinka. Here’s a transcript of their course to get there by 2012. conversation. The second part of this issue is that the stock- * * * pile needs to be capable of addressing the interna- Lab News: Let’s start with a big question . tional threat environment; it needs to have the What are the strongest arguments today for mainte- right capabilities. The military and DoD will need nance of the existing stockpile as a credible deterrent? to make that determination. As a nation, we talk There’s a national debate on this subject and the about capabilities-based strategy for national secu- outcome of that debate will determine much of the rity and defense; this strategy needs to be applied Labs’ future. in the nuclear deterrent arena. Joan Woodard: Let me first note that I don’t The third part is maintaining the technical think there’s a person at Sandia — and it would strength and competency to understand nuclear probably be hard to find anyone in the nation — weapons physics, weapons design engineering, who wouldn’t welcome a nuclear weapons-free, advanced technology, survivability, surety technol- peaceful world if we could really get there with ogy and systems, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nevada Test Site and the Socializing Practices of a Nuclearized World
    C H A P T E R 1 The Nevada Test Site and the Socializing Practices of a Nuclearized World The Nevada Test Site is a devastatingly holy place. —Anne Symens-Bucher1 “So this is how it feels,” Mary Ann Cejka thought, as she stared down at the handcuffs loosely fastened about her wrists. Writing about the act of nonviolent civil disobedience she took part in at the Nevada Test Site the first week of January, 1986, Ms. Cejka mused how, strangely, “I felt perfectly calm as I waited my turn to be frisked by a female official from the U.S. Department of Energy.”2 A campus minis- ter at California State University Long Beach at the time, Cejka had been drawn by a compelling sense of urgency to take nonviolent action at the United States’ nuclear proving ground sixty-five miles north of Las Vegas. Concerned about what she perceived as the increasing threat of nuclear war, Cejka decided to take part in the Nevada Desert Experience “New Year’s” ritual of prayer and nonviolent witness. Driving east from Southern California across the Mojave Desert and then skirting Death Valley, Cejka had arrived at St. James Catholic Church in Las Vegas the day before the activities at the test site began. She joined nearly two hundred people in preparation for their journey to a site where the United States and Britain had detonated hundreds of nuclear bombs. They participated in a nonviolence training that set the tone for the peace witness and prepared some of them to risk arrest.
    [Show full text]