An Atomic History 0-3 8/11/02 7:30 AM Page 4 PART 1 The Big Picture CONTENTS Chapter One Nuclear Awakening Chapter Two World War II and the Manhattan Project Chapter Three The Savannah River Plant was a product of history and science, a child of the Cold War which began at the end of World War II, as Communist Eastern Europe emerged The Cold War and the Early as a threat to western democracy. By the late 1940s, the Communists would test their own Atomic Energy Commission nuclear weapon and the United States’ brief tenure as the only nation with a nuclear capac- (1945–1950) ity would end. The Communists were global in their vision. As tensions increased between east and west, and conflict arose from communist insurrections in various corners of the world, the threat of nuclear warfare increased. The only defense available was one of retaliation, and the United States unleashed its technological and industrial forces to refine the nuclear bomb and stock the atomic arsenal. The Savannah River Plant was a key element in this national system of defense. The uses of atomic energy were debated from the discovery of radiation on. From the almost casual discovery of x-rays in 1895, scientific knowledge of atomic structure and radioactivity underwent exponential growth in the early 1900s. By the late 1930s, the dis- covery of nuclear fission opened up the possibility of an atomic bomb, a significant dis- covery in a world that was almost immediately engulfed by the Second World War. The Manhattan Project emerged, and the atomic bomb resulted from the efforts of its military, scientific, and industrial personnel. In the immediate wake of World War II, and in light of the destruction witnessed at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, many scientists felt that nuclear warfare was too horrible to con- sider and should not be pursued. The emergence of the Soviet Union and its atomic capa- bilities cut short that debate. Part One of Savannah River Site at 50 looks at the national (Opposite) Leo Szilard with newspa- per announcing first Soviet atomic and international events and discoveries that would ultimately result in the creation of a blast, 1949. Courtesy of AIP Emilio new facility for the production of plutonium and tritium, the Savannah River Plant. Segré Visual Archives. An Atomic History 0-3 8/11/02 7:30 AM Page 4 PART 1 The Big Picture CONTENTS Chapter One Nuclear Awakening Chapter Two World War II and the Manhattan Project Chapter Three The Savannah River Plant was a product of history and science, a child of the Cold War which began at the end of World War II, as Communist Eastern Europe emerged The Cold War and the Early as a threat to western democracy. By the late 1940s, the Communists would test their own Atomic Energy Commission nuclear weapon and the United States’ brief tenure as the only nation with a nuclear capac- (1945–1950) ity would end. The Communists were global in their vision. As tensions increased between east and west, and conflict arose from communist insurrections in various corners of the world, the threat of nuclear warfare increased. The only defense available was one of retaliation, and the United States unleashed its technological and industrial forces to refine the nuclear bomb and stock the atomic arsenal. The Savannah River Plant was a key element in this national system of defense. The uses of atomic energy were debated from the discovery of radiation on. From the almost casual discovery of x-rays in 1895, scientific knowledge of atomic structure and radioactivity underwent exponential growth in the early 1900s. By the late 1930s, the dis- covery of nuclear fission opened up the possibility of an atomic bomb, a significant dis- covery in a world that was almost immediately engulfed by the Second World War. The Manhattan Project emerged, and the atomic bomb resulted from the efforts of its military, scientific, and industrial personnel. In the immediate wake of World War II, and in light of the destruction witnessed at Nagasaki and Hiroshima, many scientists felt that nuclear warfare was too horrible to con- sider and should not be pursued. The emergence of the Soviet Union and its atomic capa- bilities cut short that debate. Part One of Savannah River Site at 50 looks at the national (Opposite) Leo Szilard with newspa- per announcing first Soviet atomic and international events and discoveries that would ultimately result in the creation of a blast, 1949. Courtesy of AIP Emilio new facility for the production of plutonium and tritium, the Savannah River Plant. Segré Visual Archives..