Nuclear Weapons/Manhattan Project

Nuclear Weapons - nathan

Saving lives by taking them....

The thought behind the bomb was to create such a terrible weapon that the Japanese would surrender instead of dragging out the war to a mainland invasion. The weapon had to have such a devastating effect that could be no other choice but to surrender or die. A mainland invasion would have killed many more Americans and Japanese as well as possibly dragging the war out for many more years.

You think your week was rough? Try being Tsutomu Yamaguchi

"Little Boy", code name for the smaller Uranium based bomb dropped on Hiroshima. This was the first nuclear bomb used in war. The design was stacked uranium rings that shot into a cylinder of uranium using a cordite powder charge.

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Fat man: code name for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Fat man had a Plutonium core, surrounded by a thick layer of Uranium, surrounded by high explosives. Inside the Plutonium core was a small amount of Polonium-Beryllium initiator. The explosives detonated imploding the Uranium into the Plutonium into the Polonium-Beryllium initiator.

Fun Fact: Nagasaki was not the original target for Fat man. The original target was Kokura. Due to heavy fog over Kokura the pilot deviated to the secondary target of Nagasaki.

Immediate Deaths: Little boy was believed to have caused the immediate deaths of 70,000 people. While Fat man caused the immediate deaths of 40,000. Tens of thousands more died from burns, radiation sickness and radiation poisoning.

Hiroshima before and after...

Nagasaki before and after.....

J. Robert Oppenheimer

The first test of the atom bomb.

Photo of Lise Meitner.

Manhattan Project - klaire

What is the Manhattan Project?

The Manhattan project was a top secret government project during World War II. The United States raced Germany to make the world's first atomic bomb. The United States won the race and dropped the atomic on Japan in August of 1945. The manhattan projected began the age of nuclear weapons and an arms race all over the world down the road.

Why did the Manhattan Project Happen?

In December of 1938 a physicist by the name of Leo Szilard found that a nuclear chain reaction could create atomic weapons. Leo Szilard wrote a letter in 1939 to Albert Einstein to sign and send to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the letter Szilard warned that Germany has the potential to create an atomic bomb based on his findings.

What was the timeline of events that led to the United States dropping the Atomic Bomb?

Once President Roosevelt received the letter he formed the Advisory Committee on Uranium. The first committee meeting was in 1939 and the United States enetered the war formally in 1941. The United States Advisory Committee on Uranium decided to work on building the atom bomb once in the war knowing the creation could sway the outcome of the war. To build the atom bomb the United States they employed the Army Corp of Engineers and established the Manhattan Engineer District. The Manhattan project remained a secret even though there were thousands of employees working on the project all over the United States. The three sites of major operations were Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Hanford, Washington, Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Manhattan Project also includes secret locations all over the world in small communities in places like theatres, schools, hospitals, parks, stores, and large industrial organizations. The smaller communities were aware their work was helping with the war effort but not made aware they were assisting in building the world's deadliest weapon. The first test of the newly built atom bomb was in Los Alamos, New Mexico with the code name "trinity". In 1945 Germany surrendered and the war was over in Europe. Japan refused to surrender and on August 6, 1945 the United States dropped the uranium bomb named "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 8, 1945 the Soviet Union declared war on Russia breaking the neutrality treaty they signed in 1941. On August 9, 1945 the United States dropped the second atomic bomb on Japan this time a plutonium bomb named "Fat Man." Japan formally surrendered Septemeber 2, 1945 and World War II was officially over.

Who were the major scientist that worked on the Manhattan Project?

Louis Alexander, a physicist who in 1946 recevied a lethal dose of radiation during an experiment in Los Alamos. He died nine days after the incident occured.

Ernest Orlando Lawrence, the inventor of cyclotron which heavily influenced the creation of the atom bomb and he won a nobel prize for his work.

Enrico Fermi, with the help of Arthur Compton, he developed the world's first nuclear reactor. He was recruited by J. Robert Oppenheimer to work in the top secret lab in Los Alamos.

J. Robert Oppenheimer is often reffered to as the father of the atomic bomb and one of the more popular household names when discussing the manhattan project. He directed all the work being done in Los Alamos and was instrumental in the first sucessful test of the atom bomb in Los Alamos.

Arthur Holly Compton, was instrumental in the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction.

Lise Meitner was a physicist alongside other physcists that discovered nuclear fission. Lise Meitner was in strong opposition of her work beig used to create the atom bomb and stated many times she wanted nothing to do with the Manhattan Project.

Japan after the atom bomb dropped.

Sites of atom bomb worksites in the United States.

Sources of Uranium (Alyssa)

Uranium-235: Has 143 neutrons in each nucleus in comparison to the natural uranium (Uranium-238) which has 146. U-235 had to be separated from U-238 for use in the making of nuclear weapons. The Shinkolobwe Mine in the Belgian Congo, the Eldorado Mine in Canada, and the Colorado Plateau in the United States were the three most important locations of uranium mining in the world.

St. louis Uranium Processing Plant (Mallinckrodt Chemical Works)

From 1942-1957 Mallinckrodt processed the ore at the St Louis Downtown Site (SLDS). Radioactive processed byproducts were stored at an adjacent site to the St. Louis Airport Site until 1967.
The Mallinckrodt Chemical Works was the first facility in the United States to industrially process uranium.
The plant then processed uranium for nuclear weapons development and production programs, ultimately producing a significant amount of the uranium used in the war effort.
Radioactive materials from the plant were not properly stored and contaminated the environment, including Coldwater Creek and the Westlake Landfill.

Fernald, Ohio

Fernald was a facility which refined uranium for the U.S. nuclear weapons production complex from 1951 to 1989. During that time, the plant produced 170,000 metric tons of metal products and 35,000 metric tons of compounds, such as uranium trioxide and uranium tetrafluoride.
Plant 1 operations began in December 1953. The plant was used to weigh, sample, classify and sort (by uranium content) incoming raw material from off-site sources and process residues from on-site operations.
Plants 2 & 3 operations began in December 1953. The plants were used to convert impure uranium feed material and recycled residue to high purity uranium trioxide following a three-step procedure (digestion, extraction, denitration) involving chemical and thermal processes.
Plant 4 operations began in October 1953. The plant was used to convert uranium trioxide to uranium dioxide, called brown oxide, by reducing it with hydrogen. The brown oxide was reacted with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride to produce uranium tetrafluoride, called green salt.

Weldon Spring, Missouri

From 1941 to 1945, the Atlas Powder Company manufactured trinitrotoluene (TNT) and dinitrotoluene (DNT) at the site. Four TNT and two DNT production lines were situated on what was to be the Chemical Plant.
The plant converted processed uranium ore concentrates to uranium tetrafluoride, uranium trioxide, intermediate compounds, and uranium metal.
Wastes generated during these operations were stored in four raffinate pits located on the plant property. Uranium processing operations resulted in radiological contamination of the area.
Both explosives and uranium processing resulted in significant contamination by uranium, thorium, radium, lead, mercury, arsenic, and other chemicals. Lakes and streams in nearby conservation areas were contaminated by waste from the plant.

Oakridge, tennessee

Y-12 Plant (Electromagnetic Isotope Separation): used electromagnetic separation to separate uranium isotopes. Exploits the very slight mass differences created by the presence of those three extra neutrons in each U-238 nucleus.
K-25 Plant (Gaseous Diffusion): utilized gaseous diffusion to separate uranium isotopes. Passage through each barrier in a multi-stage separation plant increases (very slightly) the concentration of U-235 in some of the gas.
S-50 Plant (Liquid Thermal Diffusion): Utilized gaseous diffusion to separate uranium isotopes. As the velocity goes down, the neutron loses its ability to cause fission in U-238, while acquiring even greater ability to cause fission in U-235.

Hanford, Washington

Uranium was irradiated in nuclear reactors at Hanford to convert it into plutonium, which was then chemically separated.
Large quantities of raw uranium were processed into fuel rods at the 300 Area to create plutonium for the Manhattan Project and the U.S. nuclear weapons program.
Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first atomic bomb, which was tested in the Trinity nuclear test, and in the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki.
Water from the Columbia River could be used as a reactor coolant.
Some of the waste leaked into the soil and the Columbia River, creating widespread contamination that continues to be a major environmental concern.

Ames, Iowa

Ames, Iowa, was central to the Manhattan Project's Ames Project, which developed the process to produce the pure uranium metal essential for the world's first self-sustaining nuclear reactor and the atomic bomb .
The project's group developed the "Ames Process" for reducing uranium halides to pure uranium metal, which was a significant breakthrough.
Led by Frank Spedding at Iowa State University, this effort produced over two million pounds of uranium between 1942 and 1946.

Tonawanda, New York

The Linde company converted a former ceramics plant in Tonawanda into a facility for the Manhattan Project to process uranium ore imported from the Belgian Congo.
Processed uranium-235, and produced nickel for the development of the gaseous diffusion barrier for the K-25 Plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Refined uranium imported from the Belgian Congo and the Colorado Plateau into black oxide.
Liquid waste was drained into onsite wells and Tonawanda’s public sewage system, where it flowed into the Niagara River.

Los Alamos, New Mexico

Los Alamos was established in 1943 as Project Y, a top-secret site for designing nuclear weapons under the Manhattan Project during World War II
Development of the gun-type uranium weapon, which was to become “Little Boy”
Oppenheimer became the laboratory's first director
The work of the laboratory culminated in several atomic devices, one of which was used in the first nuclear test near Alamogordo, New Mexico, codenamed "Trinity," on July 16, 1945. The other two were weapons, "Little Boy" and "Fat Man," which were used in the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Belgian Congo

The Congo ore contained as much as 7,000 times the concentration of uranium in comparison to what was mined in the United States. Between 1942 and the late 1950s, the U.S. nuclear weapons program plant processed approximately 20,000 tons of uranium oxide from the Shinkolobwe mine.

Graph visualizing the estimated amount of cubic yards of radioactive waste from four of the U.S. Uranium Refining Sites

Health Effects of Uranium - Audrey

Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive element. Exposure to uranium may cause you no harm. This depends on a multitude of factors including the how you were contacted by it, the dose, and how long you were exposed to it. It can also depend on traits you have such as age, lifestyle, and health state prior to the exposure.
The health effects of uranium are due to chemical effects and NOT to radiation. This is because of its toxicity as a heavy metal.

Primary exposure routes/health effects of Uranium

Kidney damage = main health effect from ingesting/inhaling high levels of uranium compounds. “Uranium that enters the body through drinking water is filtered by the kidneys, where some of it is retained and can cause harm over time,” - Anirban Basu, PhD, a geochemist and research scientist at Columbia Mailman School.

Correlation to Cold Water Creek - Lauren

In St. Louis from the 1940s-1960s, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works processed uranium in order to create the Atomic Bomb. This company hauled its radioactive waste north of the city and left it unattended and exposed to the elements in north St. Louis adjacent to Coldwater Creek. The bulk of the waste was cleaned up in 1990 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.

However, after decades of negligence, residual contamination lingers throughout the St. Louis area as well as downstream of Cold Water Creek.

The St. Louis Baby Teeth (SLBT) organization allows for organizations to conduct studies and surveys. From June 22, 2021 September 18, 2024, the Jama Network recruited 5361 of the nearly 55,000 original tooth donors that were born from 1945-1966, and further restricted the number down to 4209 eligible participants.

This study yielded a positive correlation with radiosensitive cancer incidences for residents living within a 20km proximity to Coldwater Creek as children. Activities such as playing in the creek, gardening, and breathing in dust increased this risk to a higher degree than those who lived more than 20km from Coldwater Creek. The cancer incidence rate was most elevated in the 1km proximity, with the second closest occurrence being in the 1-5km proximity, which was still elevated from the expected occurrence rate.

Radioactive waste storage site

JAMA findings in relevance to cancer and local proximity to Coldwater Creek.

Coldwater Creek contains several substantial underground water tables. During the initial time of radioactive materials storage, North County St. Louis was largely a farm area. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, there were two major population and construction booms, which caused substantial amounts of soil re-grading and groundwater disturbance. There have also been numerous floods, fires, and natural disasters, which could have expanded the contamination radius via air, soil, and water. Residents could have been exposed through local food sources such as farms, gardens, and the water district.

There are currently over 2,700 documented reports of diseases and ailments associated with ionizing radiation exposure. These reports include infertility, auto-immune diseases, thyroid problems, conjoined trins, leukemia, and multiple types of otherwise rare cancers.

Despite the above findings, Cold Water Creek has not been recognized as a FURSAP (Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program) site. 46 acres of this radioactive waste sits in an open field with the general public merely "protected" by a chain link fence.

Coldwater Creek location in St. Louis

Coldwater Creek chain-link fence

Citations

America’s atomic bombs: Destroyers of worlds. (n.d.-a). https://www.historynet.com/americas-atomic-bombs-destroyers-of-worlds/

Cancer incidence and childhood residence near the Coldwater Creek Radioactive Waste Site | Environmental Health | jama network open | jama network. (n.d.-b). https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2836420

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014, March 18). Uranium. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/PHS/PHS.aspx?phsid=438&toxid=77

Cohen, R. (2025, July 21). A Creek with atomic waste from WWII is linked to increased cancer risk. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/07/21/nx-s1-5474883/nuclear-waste-manhattan-project-missouri-reca-jama#:~:text=Louis%20creek%20polluted%20with%20radioactive%20atomic%20bomb,the%20waterway%2C%20a%20new%20study%20has%20found.

Coldwater Creek (North County). Just Moms STL. (2024, August 28). https://justmomsstl.org/waste-history/coldwater-creek/

EEOICPA covered facilities: Feed Materials Production Center (FMPC). Stephens & Stephens, LLP. (2023, July 17). https://www.stephensstephens.com/eeoicpa-claims/eeoicpa-sec/feed-materials-production-center-fmpc/

Fat Man: Implosion-type bomb. (n.d.). https://www.atomicarchive.com/science/fission/fat-man.html

File:Nagasaki 1945 - before and after.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (n.d.-c). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nagasaki_1945_-_Before_and_after.jpg

JAMA study finds increased cancer risk near St. Louis’s Coldwater Creek. ANS. (n.d.). https://www.ans.org/news/article-7249/jama-study-finds-increased-cancer-risk-near-st-louiss-coldwater-creek/

Los Alamos: Beginning of an era 1943-1945. Designing the Bomb | LOS ALAMOS: Beginning of an Era 1943-1945. (n.d.). https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/documents/los-alamos/los_alamos_part_4.html

Mallinckrodt Chemical Works. (n.d.-d). https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Portals/54/docs/fusrap/docs/1996%20St%20Louis%20Sites%20Remediation%20Task%20Force%20Report%202.pdf

Manhattan project roots. Ames Laboratory. (n.d.). https://www.ameslab.gov/about-ames-laboratory/manhattan-project-roots

Quick links. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center. (n.d.). https://www.afnwc.af.mil/About-Us/History/Trinity-Nuclear-Test/

Tonawanda, NY. Nuclear Museum. (n.d.). https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/location/tonawanda-ny/

U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.-a). Manhattan project. National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/mapr/learn/manhattan-project.htm

U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.-b). Scientists. National Parks Service. https://www.nps.gov/mapr/learn/historyculture/scientists.htm

Uranium isotope in urine identified as early warning sign of kidney damage. News. (2025, July 22). https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250722/Uranium-isotope-in-urine-identified-as-early-warning-sign-of-kidney-damage.aspx

Weldon spring uranium plant contaminated Missouri Lakes with Radioactive Waste • Missouri Independent. (n.d.-e). https://missouriindependent.com/2023/10/25/weldon-spring-uranium-plant-contaminated-missouri-lakes-with-radioactive-waste/

Wolfe, L. R. (2024, April 19). The Manhattan Project: The Congo and the quest for uranium: Cold War. Cold War | Events, Entertainment, and Espionage. https://coldwarstudies.com/2023/08/08/the-manhattan-project-the-congo-and-the-quest-for-uranium/

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