The Girls of Atomic City (52 page)

Relocation of MED headquarters to Tennessee from author interviews and Groves, Nichols, and Smyth (all previously cited).

Information regarding recruitment, including labor piracy and segregation, from Russell B. Olwell’s
At Work in the Atomic City: A Labor and Social History of Oak Ridge, Tennessee
(Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2004);
City Behind a Fence
and
Atomic Spaces
(previously cited);
Victory at Home: Manpower and Race in the American South During World War II
, by Charles D. Chamberlain (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2003); Challenges in recruitment and need for workers from
Road to Trinity, Atomic Spaces, At Work in the Atomic City, City Behind a Fence
, and
Now it Can Be Told
(all previously cited), and
The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb
, F. G. Gosling (Washington, DC: US Department of Energy, 2005).

Dedication of the Chapel on the Hill from
City Behind a Fence
(previously cited).

SED description from interviews with William Tewes, Colleen Black, and “Scientists in Uniform: The Special Engineer Detachment” (Los Alamos National Security, LLC, U.S. 2010–2011); “Special Engineer Detachment” (Y-12 National Security Complex, US Department of Energy); “The Unsung Heroes of the Manhattan Project,” by Beverly Majors,
The Oak Ridger
, December 27, 2010. Executive Order 8802: “Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry” was issued by President Roosevelt. Executive Order 8802 dated June 25, 1941, General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.

Description of black hutment area from author interviews with Kattie Strickland, Valeria Steele Roberson, also
Atomic Spaces, City Behind a Fence
(previously cited). Regarding J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.: Letter from Edward Teller to Harold Urey, dated September 18, 1944. Formerly Declassified Correspondence, 1942–1947; Records of the Committee on Fair Employment Practice, Record Group 228; National Archives at Atlanta; National Archives and Records Administration.

Additional information about Christmas toy rations from
It’s a Wonderful Christmas: The Best of the Holidays 1940–1954
, by Susan Waggoner (New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2004); and the Lionel Corporation.

Tubealloy: Lise and Fission, 1938

There are two comprehensive biographies of Lise Meitner:
Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics
, by Ruth Lewis Sime (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996);
Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age
, by Patricia Rife (Boston: Birkhauser, 1999). Also “Looking Back,” by Lise Meitner,
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
, November 1964; “A Nobel tale of wartime injustice,” by Elisabeth Crawford, Ruth Lewin Sime, and Mark Walker,
Nature
, vol. 382, August 1, 1996. Meitner’s excursion with her nephew is described in Rhodes (previously cited), and
The Uranium People
, by Leona Marshall Libby (New York: Crane, Russak. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1979).

Information regarding Hahn’s dismissal of Noddack’s theory from
Proposer of Nuclear Fission
and
Devotion to Their Science
(both previously cited). Hahn and Strassmann’s paper: “Concerning the Existence of Alkaline Earth Metals Resulting from Neutron Irradiation of Uranium,” O. Hahn and F. Strassmann,
Naturwissenschaften
, Jan. 1939, vol. 27, p. 11. Meitner and Frisch’s paper: “Disintegration of Uranium by Neutrons: A New Type of Nuclear Reaction,” Lise Meitner and Otto R. Frisch,
Nature
, Feb. 11, 1939, 143, 239–240. Information regarding Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Albert Einstein and letter to Roosevelt from Groves, Nichols, and many others. This letter, from Einstein to President Roosevelt, is widely considered to be the crucial piece of correspondence that started the United States research into atomic weapons. Evolution of Manhattan Project names and designations and funding from Smyth and Jones (both previously cited).

4. Bull Pens and Creeps: The Project’s Welcome for New Employees

I met Virginia Coleman through Bobbie Martin, an active member of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association (ORHPA). I took to her immediately and was moved by both her brilliance and kindness. She opened her home to me, gave her time to me. I am constantly amazed when I hear of the latest class she’s taking, often science-based and intimidating to people who are a third her age.

Information regarding the “bull pen” comes from author interviews and “Manhattan Project Autobiography,” by John Googin,
For Your Information
, vol. 6, Issue 1 (Oak Ridge: Y-12 Pride in Development, April 1994). Resident Handbook courtesy of personal papers of Jane Puckett.

Information regarding background checks from Groves, Nichols,
At Work
, and
City Behind a Fence
previously cited. Locksmith anecdote and admonition for asking questions during training from “A Scientist and his Secrets” (Keim, previously cited).

Training questions and vague consequences from author interviews and Gailar (previously cited).

I first met Dot in the lobby of Greenfield Retirement in Oak Ridge, the same day I met Colleen. Dot is hilarious and has a tremendous self-deprecating sense of humor about both her upbringing and her time at Oak Ridge. Evenings spent with her and Colleen have been some of my favorites.

Helen, too, was one of the earlier women I interviewed. She has a dry, no-nonsense sense of humor and a scrapbook full of photos of her in her basketball uniform and news articles from her many games.

Information about ACME insurance Company envelopes from author interviews, notably William J. Wilcox Jr.

Tubealloy: Leona and Success in Chicago, December 1942

Information regarding the party at the Fermi home, the day of the reaction, past information about the Fermi family, and Leona Woods from
The Uranium People
(previously cited), and
Atoms in the Family: My Life With Enrico Fermi,
by Laura Fermi (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954). There are numerous descriptions of the events of December 2, 1942, and most books already cited here include descriptions and were consulted.

For descriptions of the size and scope of CP-1 from “Piglet and the Pumpkin Field,” Argonne National Laboratory, US Department of Energy,
http://www.ne.anl.gov/About/legacy/piglet.shtml
; “The First Reactor” (Washington, DC: US Department of Energy, December 1982); and from
Making of the Atomic Bomb
(previously cited). Description of Leona Woods’s contribution to the pile from
Uranium People.
Fermi description of fission from
The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians
, edited by Cynthia C. Kelly (New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2007).

5. Only Temporary: Spring into Summer, 1944

I first met Colleen in the lobby of Greenfield Retirement Living. I was there with Ray Smith, who had brought me to meet former Y-12 Supervisor Connie Bolling, who passed away not long after our interview. When we met, Colleen was wearing a blinking Christmas light necklace. She is dynamic and nonstop.

Colleen and others provide recipes—one which she got that very day on line at the shower—in
Cooking Behind the Fence: Recipes and Recollections from the Oak Ridge ’43 Club,
Cookbook Chairman, Colleen Black (Oak Ridge: Oak Ridge Heritage & Preservation Association, 5th edition, 2009). If you were a decent shot, squirrels made for a quick meal in those days of meat rations. Four legs and two back pieces got a quick dredging in flour, salt, and pepper. Brown the lot in a cast-iron pan with a touch of shortening. Maybe make a little gravy from the drippings.

Description of Happy Valley from author interviews, predominantly with Colleen Black, also “Oak Ridge’s Lost City,” by William J. Wilcox Jr. Location and layout of Clinton Engineer Works as a whole, and Townsite specifically, including maps, construction progress, and contractual relations with Stone & Webster and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and the Pierce Foundation from the Department of Energy’s
The Manhattan Project
(previously cited). Construction and planning of the Clinton Engineer Works from Groves, Nichols, Rhodes, US Department of Energy, Hales, and Johnson/Jackson (all previously cited).

Certificate of Availability program (sometimes referred to as Statement of Availability) information from author interviews with Colleen Black, and
Code of Federal Regulations of the United States of America: 1944 Supplement, Titles 11–32
, by Office of the Federal Register (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office).

Regarding phone calls: Colleen told a very funny story about visiting the home of a woman privileged to have her own phone. She had taken to hiding her phone under a small cardboard box to avoid constant requests from neighbors and friends to use it. During Colleen’s visit, the phone rang.

And rang.

And rang.

The hostess tried in vain to ignore the sound until finally, one of the other guests chirped, “Your box is ringing.”

Demand for workers, War Power Commission demands, and worker turnover rates from
At Work in the Atomic City, Atomic Spaces
, and
City Behind a Fence.
Information on the Brown-Patterson Agreement and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is from Groves, Jones, and Hales (all previously cited). Description of housing—all, including trailers, barracks, dorms, and homes—from author interviews, and
Early Oak Ridge Housing: Photographs, Floor Plans and General Descriptions
(no date), Robinson, and
City Behind a Fence
(both previously cited). Information on services, including laundry, is from author interviews, Resident Handbook (previously cited), Robinson, and
City Behind a Fence.
Information on Roane-Anderson from author interviews, Groves, Nichols,
City Behind a Fence
, Hales, and Robinson (all previously cited).

Dr. Eric Kent Clarke’s perspectives from “Report on Existing Psychiatric Facilities and Suggested Necessary Addition,” Dr. Eric Kent Clarke, chief psychiatrist, Formerly Declassified Correspondence, 1942–1947; Records of the Atomic Energy Commission, Record Group 326; National Archives at Atlanta: National Archives and Records Administration.

Negro Village information from author interviews and
City Behind a Fence, At Work in the Atomic City
, and
Atomic Spaces
, all previously cited. Treatment of black residents and complaints of mistreatment from Formerly Declassified Correspondence, 1942–1947; Records of the Committee on Fair Employment Practice, Record Group 228; National Archives at Atlanta; National Archives and Records Administration. Anecdote about “good girls” and “bad girls” from Nichols (previously cited).

Tubealloy: The Quest for Product

Sources of uranium from Nichols and Groves, previously cited. Regarding Eldorado, Mallinckrodt, Westinghouse, Ames, and Harshaw, from Smyth Report, Groves and Nichols (previously cited), from Office of Legacy Management, United States Department of Energy. Letter from United States Atomic Energy Commission from Glenn Seaborg, chairman, to Mr. Harold E. Thayer, president, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, from “Mallinckrodt Chemical works: The Uranium Story,” collection, The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc.
http://www.mphpa.org/classic/CP/Mallinckrodt/Pages/MALK_Gallery_01.htm
, last accessed June 2012. Regarding Harshaw, from “Nuclear Fallout in Cleveland,” by James Renner,
The Independent
, March 3, 2010. Additional companies involved in the processing of various uranium compounds at different stages include Metal Hydrides Co., Electromet, Linde, DuPont, ALCOA, and others, via Smyth and Groves (previously cited).

Description of various incarnations of uranium from author interviews, notably with William J. Wilcox Jr., also the Smyth Report (previously cited). Descriptions of sites, their purposes, construction timetables from Groves, Nichols, Rhodes (all previously cited); “An Overview of the History of Y-12: 1942–1992: A Chronology of Some Noteworthy Events and Memoirs” (The Secret City Store, 2001); “The Role of Oak Ridge in the Manhattan Project,” by William J. Wilcox Jr. (Oak Ridge: 2002); “K-25: A Brief History of the Manhattan Project’s ‘Biggest’ Secret,” by William J. Wilcox Jr. (Oak Ridge, 2011).

Information regarding uranium slugs and the Aluminum Company of America from “A Short History of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1943–1993),” by the Office of Science, Oak Ridge National Lab Laboratory, US Department of Energy;
http://www.ornl.gov/info/swords/swords.shtml
, last accessed June 2012.

Status of Project, expenses, and construction timetable from Nichols and Groves (previously cited), and description of K-25 from Nichols, Groves, and Wilcox. Information regarding gaseous diffusion process and difficulties with barrier material from Groves. The path of the uranium through the K-25 structure, according to Wilcox: Uranium started in the Feed Building and was pumped first into the east wing of the U-shaped structure.

Information regarding electromagnetic separation process and Ernest Lawrence from author interviews, the Smyth Report, Wilcox, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 9531, Nichols, Groves, Groueff, Rhodes, and Googin. Code names for various compounds from author interviews, Smithsonian, and Googin (previously cited). Additional information regarding uranium recovery from the calutrons via Groves, Nichols, and Wilcox. Bill Wilcox walked me through this process, and Jane Puckett’s notes helped as well. Uranium was recovered from the boxes by washing with a nitric acid solution. It then had to be extracted from the poisonous, acidic blue-green solution, then put through the chemical paces to turn it into uranium tetrachloride (UC14) for the Beta process. It was eventually oxidized into UO4 (which looks a lot like cheesecake), then 723 (UO3, a yellowish powder); then eventually chlorine found its way back into the recipe. This resulted initially in 745 (UC15), and then after sublimation—going from solid to gas without passing through a pesky liquid phase, like dry ice in a Halloween punch—the uranium was UC14 again. This, in time for round two, the Beta process.