Timeline for Nuclear Weapon Development: 1932 1952 In the Beginning - PDF document

Timeline for Nuclear Weapon Development: 1932 – 1952 In the Beginning… • February 1932: James Chadwick discovers the neutron • December 1938: Hahn and Strassman discover fissioning of uranium by neutrons. • July 1939: Szilard and Wigner draft letter for Einstein to send to Roosevelt re: possibility of bomb. • October 1939: Roosevelt establishes Advisory Committee on Uranium; first meeting on Oct. 21, 1939. (Lyman Briggs, Ch., + Szilard, Teller, Wigner, Carnegie Inst. Member, + Army and Navy members). $6000 allocated to Fermi & Szilard to purchase uranium and graphite for research. • March 1940: Frisch and Peierls memo and MAUD Report in U.K. assert uranium bomb is possible at reasonable size and yield more than 1 KT. • September 1942: Col. Lesli e Groves selected to head Manhattan Project. Shortly thereafter, he selects J. Robert Oppenheimer to be his scientific advisor. • November 1942: Los Alamos, NM selected to be primary R&D site by Groves and Oppenheimer. Groves subsequently selects Oak Ridge, TN for enriched uranium site and Hanford, WA for construction of production reactors and separation plants to produce plutonium. • December 1942: V. Bush estimates cost of program at $400 million. • November 1942: Laboratory construction starts at Los Alamos. • December 1942: Fermi successfully operates the first “pile” at U. of Chicago’s Stagg Field. • July 1945: Trinity test of first plutonium bomb at White Sands, NM. Uranium bomb never tested. • August 1945: Uranium bomb detonated at Hiroshima, followe d by plutonium bomb at Nagasaki • December 1945: Program cost said to be $2 billion • January 1947: AEC formed • May 1949: Sandia Corporation established at Albuquerque, NM • August 1949: USSR tests Joe -1 device (plutonium design) • September 1952: LLNL fo rmed at Livermore, CA • October 1952: Mike test in the Pacific proves feasibility of H-Bomb

Timeline for Buildout and Operation of the Nuclear Weapons Complex (1942 – 1956) R&D Laboratories Los Alamos, NM • November 1942: Construction starts at Los Alamos (to become LASL and then LANL) • April 1943: Bomb design work gets Underway Albuquerque, NM and Livermore, CA • May 1949: Sandia Corporation established (now Sandia National Laboratories) • 1956: Sandia California Laboratory established Livermore, CA • September 1952: University of California Radiation Laboratory established (now LLNL) Production Facilities, Manufacturing Plants and Test Sites Oak Ridge, TN • June 1943: Construction starts on K -25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP) at Oak Ridge • August 1943: Calutron construction starts • November 1943: X -10 reactor begins operations • June 1944: S20 Thermal Diffusion Plant construction starts • February 1944: Y -12 sends 200 grams of U-235 to Los Alamos • 1953: Y -12 begins producing Li-6 Hanford, WA • August 1943: 100B Pu Production Pile construction starts • September 1944: 100B Pile goes critical • December 1944: PUREX Separation Plant begins operation • February 1945: F -reactor begins operation • July 1949: Pit manufacturing begins operation • October 1949: H -reactor begins operation • October 1950: DR -reactor begins operation

• November 1952: C -reactor begins operation • January 1955: KW -reactor begins operation • April 1955: KE -reactor begins operation Atmospheric Testing in the South Pacific: • April 1948 — full-scale atmospheric testing begins at Enewetak Atoll in the South Pacific Atmospheric and Underground Testing in Nevada. Atmospheric and Underground Testing in Nevada: • December 1950 — Truman selects Nevada Proving Grounds for full-scale underground testing in the US Component Manufacturing and Weapon Assembly Burlington, IA • 1947 — Weapon assembly operations begins Mound, OH • 1947 — Neutron initiator manufacturing begins Picatinny Arsenal, NJ • 1949 — Detonator manufacturing begins; later moves to Mound, OH Kansas City Plant • February 1949 — KCP begins non-nuclear component manufacturing Pantex Plant, Amarillo, TX • March 1951 — Weapon assembly operation begins Fernald, OH • May 1951 — Construction begins for uranium feed stock processing Rocky Flats, CO • 1952 — RFP begins plutonium pit manufacturing Pinellas, FL

• 1956 — Plant established to manufacture neutron generators Other Major Facilities: Savannah River Plant In Aiken, SC • February 1951 — SRP established • 1952 — Site 400 begins heavy water manufacturing operations • December 1953 — R-reactor begins operation • February 1954 — P-reactor begins Operation • July 1954 — L-reactor begins operation • October 1954 — K-reactor begins operation • March 1955 — C-reactor begins operation • 1955 — Tritium operations begin Idaho National Laboratory, ID • February 1953 — Idaho Chemical Processing Plant begins operation Paducah, KY • 1954 — Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP) begins operation Portsmouth, OH • 1956 — Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP) begins operation Notable Nuclear Explosive Events