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Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about 25 miles (40 km) west of downtown Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 31,402 at the 2020 census. [ 9 ] It is part of the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Oak Ridge's nicknames include the Atomic City, [ 10 ]the Secret City, [ 11 ] and the ...
Originally known as Site X or Clinton Engineer Works, the nuclear site was eventually renamed Oak Ridge. With its promise of jobs, the new city drew in tens of thousands of families, becoming the fifth-largest city in Tennessee. Throughout the war, Oak Ridge was protected by guarded gates, and workers at the plants were sworn to secrecy.
- The Manhattan Project
- Why Was Oak Ridge Chosen?
- The Oak Ridge Community
- Secrecy
- After The Bomb Dropped
- After The War
In August 1939, Albert Einstein wrote to President Rooseveltwarning him that the Nazis and German scientists were buying up uranium ore and might be trying to build a new and powerful bomb using nuclear technology. In response, on 28 December 1942, President Roosevelt authorised the formation of the ‘The Manhattan Project‘ – the codename for the cl...
Oakridge in Tennessee was one of three ‘secret cities’ chosen by Groves on 19 September 1942 to be part of the Manhattan Project, along with Los Alamos in New Mexico and Hanford/Richland in Washington state. Thus less than a year after America entered the war, the US government started to acquire vast areas of rural farmland in order to build them....
Designed to house the massive facilities needed to refine radioactive material to produce fuel for atomic bombs and construct the weapons, Oak Ridge also needed to house the workers and their families. Instead of being crammed into dormitories, the leaders of The Manhattan Project felt strongly that the workers needed to feel at home and part of a ...
Whilst thousands of people worked there, Oak Ridge officially did not exist during the war and couldn’t be found on any map. The site was referred to as ‘Site X’ or ‘Clinton Engineering Works’. Throughout the war, it was protected by guarded gates, and workers at the plants were sworn to secrecy. Despite signs around Oak Ridge warning residents not...
Less than a month after the initial test, the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, on 6 August 1945. News reports revealed to the people at Oak Ridge what they had been working on all along. President Truman announced the purpose of the three secret cities – Oak Ridge’s secret was out. Employees realised they had been building the mo...
All three ‘secret cities’ continued work on nuclear weapons during the Cold War as well as broader scientific research. Today, Oak Ridge still processes enriched uranium at the Y-12 National Security Complex, but is also involved in research on renewable energy. Many of the original buildings remain, containing signs of atomic symbols and mushroom ...
- Amy Irvine
Apr 16, 2024 · Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was established as a secret city for the Manhattan Project, where efforts focused on enriching uranium-235 for atomic bombs through the use of calutrons at the Y-12 plant. The city's X-10 Graphite Reactor also played a pivotal role in producing plutonium-239, another fissionable material used in atomic bombs, demonstrating the process before production moved to the ...
Mar 13, 2017 · Oak Ridge. The town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, did not exist until 1942, when it was created by the U.S. Army to house staff developing materials for a highly secret weapon, the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project. About 4,000 people were removed from this remote part of the state to make space for the laboratory facilities and a new ...
Sep 24, 2024 · The rolling hills and narrow valleys of East Tennessee proved to be the ideal location for the top-secret atomic weapons program developed here beginning in 1942. Oak Ridge, Tennessee was home to several massive Manhattan Project facilities employing thousands of workers during and after World War II and was the headquarters for the project ...
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Mar 26, 2013 · The city of Oak Ridge was established by the U.S. government in 1942 to serve as a home base to the Manhattan Project. Chosen for its remote locale, the entire city had to be built almost from ...
