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During World War II, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer was the scientific director of the Los Alamos, New Mexico, site of the Manhattan Project. The purpose of the Los Alamos site was to design and assemble the atomic bomb, while that of Oak Ridge was to to…

Because of the secretive nature of the massive wartime effort to produce the world’s first atomic bomb, Oak Ridge was fenced, and traffic in and out of the city’s seven gates was highly monitored by armed guards. From April 1, 1943, until March 19,…

Originally only intended for 12,000 residents, the Oak Ridge site of the Manhattan Project grew to 75,000 individuals by 1945. Such phenomenal growth placed high demands on the city’s support systems and infrastructures. Consequently, much hard work…

Designed and built in ten months, X-10 was a graphite reactor that used neutrons emitted in the fission of uranium-235 to convert uranium-238 into a new element: plutonium-239, the highly radioactive substance that was the key to the development of…