# Who developed the plutonium for the Manhatten project **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 21, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486 "2016-09-21T04:39:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/1 "2016-09-21T04:39:42Z")
If I understand it correctly (and I very well might not) the army didn’t know much about it and the teams working on the Manhatten project were vying to get a hairs worth of it to experiment with, who was developing it? IOW, who made it? ---
**Author:** ![ziper1221](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a183cd/32.png) [@ziper1221](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ziper1221)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/2 "2016-09-21T04:41:25Z")
Oak Ridge. > **[X-10 Graphite Reactor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-10_Graphite_Reactor)** > > The X-10 Graphite Reactor is a decommissioned nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Formerly known as the Clinton Pile and X-10 Pile, it was the world's second artificial nuclear reactor (after Enrico Fermi's Chicago Pile-1), and the first designed and built for continuous operation. It was built during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. > While Chicago Pile-1 demonstrated the feasibility of nuclear reactors, the Manhattan Project's goal of produ... ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/3 "2016-09-21T08:34:57Z")
Hanford. > **[Hanford Site](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site)** > > Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}46°38′51″N 119°35′55″W / 46.64750°N 119.59861°W / 46.64750; -119.59861 > > > The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex operated by the United States federal government on the Columbia River in Benton County i... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/4 "2016-09-21T11:11:18Z")
All of the facilities producing it were part of the Manhattan Project. Yes, it was hard to get even a hair’s worth, and harder still to get enough for a weapon. But that’s what they did. Of course, the difficulty didn’t scale linearly: A lot of the effort was just in getting the large-scale facilities up and running. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/5 "2016-09-21T13:29:31Z")
**Ob:** Possibly the [best single volume ever written](https://www.amazon.com/Making-Atomic-Bomb-25th-Anniversary/dp/1451677618/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474464594&sr=1-1&keywords=making+of+the+atomic+bomb) on a complex segment of modern history. If Rhodes missed any element of the bomb’s history, it wasn’t worth including. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/6 "2016-09-21T13:42:57Z")
Thanks all for the links. ---
**Author:** ![joema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@joema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joema)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/7 "2016-09-21T13:52:00Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Hanford. > > [Hanford Site - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site) This is the correct answer. Oak Ridge only produced research quantities of plutonium. The plutonium for the first atomic bombs was produced at Hanford: [Manhattan Project: Oak Ridge and Hanford Come Through, 1944-1945](https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1942-1945/come_through.htm) Initially the plan was to build the plutonium production facilities at Oak Ridge, which was already producing uranium. However it later became clear the gigantic the scale of the industrial system to produce this. It would require over 75,000 acres and a vast additional amount of electrical power, and Oak Ridge was already straining TVA generating capacity. Gen. Leslie Groves was also worried that a site disaster would take down both uranium and plutonium production and possibly threaten the city of Knoxville, so it was decided to locate the plutonium facilities at Hanford, WA. This is all documented in the book Now It Can Be Told: The Story Of The Manhattan Project, by Leslie R. Groves. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/8 "2016-09-21T14:04:00Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > **Ob:** Possibly the [best single volume ever written](https://www.amazon.com/Making-Atomic-Bomb-25th-Anniversary/dp/1451677618/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474464594&sr=1-1&keywords=making+of+the+atomic+bomb) on a complex segment of modern history. If Rhodes missed any element of the bomb’s history, it wasn’t worth including. 🙂 [technical note: I see you linked to Amazon; I was rerouted to Walmart. Will look in ATMB about this…] ETA: ATMB thread here: [Changing links? - About This Message Board - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=773078) ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/9 "2016-09-22T21:49:22Z")
Slightly OT, but still interesting: an excerpt from _Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman_ in which Richard Feynman recalls his time at Los Alamos: > [@](#): > > The man was William Laurence. He was there to write an article describing the whole situation. I had been the one who was supposed to have taken him around. Then it was found that it was too technical for him, and so later H. D. Smyth came and I showed him around. One thing we did, we went into a room and there on the end of a narrow pedestal was a small silver-plated ball. You could put your hand on it. It was warm. It was radioactive. It was plutonium. And we stood at the door of this room, talking about it. This was a new element that was made by man, that had never existed on the earth before, except for a very short period possibly at the very beginning. And here it was all isolated and radioactive and had these properties. And we had made it. And so it was tremendously valuable. > > Meanwhile, you know how people do when they talk–you kind of jiggle around and so forth. He was kicking the doorstop, you see, and I said, “Yes, the doorstop certainly is appropriate for this door.” The doorstop was a ten-inch hemisphere of yellowish metal–gold, as a matter of fact. > > What had happened was that we needed to do an experiment to see how many neutrons were reflected by different materials, in order to save the neutrons so we didn’t use so much material. We had tested many different materials. We had tested platinum, we had tested zinc, we had tested brass, we had tested gold. So, in making the tests with the gold, we had these pieces of gold and somebody had the clever idea of using that great ball of gold for a doorstop for the door of the room that contained the plutonium. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/10 "2016-09-22T22:34:29Z")
> [@joema](#): > > This is the correct answer. Oak Ridge only produced research quantities of plutonium. The plutonium for the first atomic bombs was produced at Hanford: [Manhattan Project: Oak Ridge and Hanford Come Through, 1944-1945](https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/Events/1942-1945/come_through.htm) > > Initially the plan was to build the plutonium production facilities at Oak Ridge, which was already producing uranium. However it later became clear the gigantic the scale of the industrial system to produce this. It would require over 75,000 acres and a vast additional amount of electrical power, and Oak Ridge was already straining TVA generating capacity. > > Gen. Leslie Groves was also worried that a site disaster would take down both uranium and plutonium production and possibly threaten the city of Knoxville, so it was decided to locate the plutonium facilities at Hanford, WA. This is all documented in the book Now It Can Be Told: The Story Of The Manhattan Project, by Leslie R. Groves. Coincidentally, [this video](http://watch.opb.org/video/2365072772/) about Hanford was shown on Oregon Public Broadcasting a couple of nights ago. It’s very informative for anyone wanting to know more about the effort to produce an atomic bomb and the aftermath problems which continue to this day. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/11 "2016-09-23T00:20:00Z")
Paducah, Kentucky…Unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/12 "2016-09-23T00:27:37Z")
> [@ZurBob](#): > > Paducah, Kentucky…Unfortunately. [No, that was a Uranium production plant.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paducah_Gaseous_Diffusion_Plant) [But, they did manage to do quite a bit of Plutonium contamination along the way…](http://enquirer.com/editions/2000/10/01/loc_paducah_plant_spewed.html) ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/13 "2016-09-23T00:52:47Z")
I took a tour of the [B Reactorr](http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/) at Hanford back in May. I have to say, walking into the main room and seeing the reactor right there in front of me was an “Oh, WOW!” moment. If you’re ever in the area and are a history buff at all, the reactor is a must-see. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/14 "2016-09-23T01:11:09Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > [But, they did manage to do quite a bit of Plutonium contamination along the way…](http://enquirer.com/editions/2000/10/01/loc_paducah_plant_spewed.html) YES… Exactly the inference. I lived there. My Father worked there. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2016, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-developed-the-plutonium-for-the-manhatten-project/766486/15 "2016-09-23T14:46:13Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > I took a tour of the [B Reactorr](http://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/) at Hanford back in May. I have to say, walking into the main room and seeing the reactor right there in front of me was an “Oh, WOW!” moment. If you’re ever in the area and are a history buff at all, the reactor is a must-see. I agree! I also highly recommend the tours (there are a couple). I’m hoping that with the creation of the new National Park, that the tours might become a bit more frequent. Right now, you sign up long in advance and the spots fill quickly (at least the last time I tried to go with friends). Now I need to get to NM and TN to see the rest of the sites.