Book Read Free

The Apocalypse Factory

Page 32

by Steve Olson


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  INDEX

  Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.

  Note: Page numbers in italic refer to photos, maps, and accompanying captions.

  Abelson, Philip, 19, 28–29

  actinides, 227

  actinium, 227

  AEC, See Atomic Energy Commission

  Afghanistan, 239

  African Americans, 74–75, 89, 218–19

  Aiken, S.C., 216

  air pollution, 104–5, 123, 252

  air raid shelters, 169

  Alamogordo, N. Mex., 2

  Alaska, 246

  Alaska Highway, 67

  Albuquerque, N. Mex., 147

  Allison, Samuel, 150, 196–97

  alpha particles, 14, 54, 226

  Alsos (counterintelligence group), 118–21

  Altadena, Calif., 79

  aluminum, 95, 137, 235

  aluminum tubes, 91, 235

  Alvarez, Luis, 18–19

  Amarillo, Tex., 216

  American Chemical Society, 227

  American Museum of Natural History, 12

  americium, 228

  Anderson, Herbert, 23, 26, 48, 85–86, 264

  antiballistic missiles, 203

  antimony, 16

  antinuclear movement, 244

  anti-Semitism, 21

  arms control efforts, 131–32, 200–204, 207–9

  arms race, 131–32, 197, 200–201

  Arnold, Henry, 143

  artificial radioactivity, 15

  Ashworth, Fred, 157, 161, 162

  Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, 187

  “atomic bomb disease,” 179–81, 183, 184

  Atomic Bomb Museum (Nagasaki), 188

  atomic bomb(s)

  American public’s support for use of, against Japan, 191–93

  and avoidance of land invasion of Japan, 194–95, 198–99, 213, 273

  consideration of “demonstration”
of, 128

  as existential threat, 275–78

  first, 137–38, 146–52, 148

  Groves’ and Stimson’s meeting with Truman regarding, 124–25

  gun-type design, 114, 116–17, 124

  Hiroshima vs. Nagasaki, 2–4, 116

  implosion-type design, 114–17, 124–25, 126, 137–38

  light emitted by exploding, 150–51

  Oppenheimer’s description of, for Interim Committee, 126

  plutonium as potential component of, 32–35, 38–40

  as potential German threat, 22, 34, 37, 45–48, 86, 107, 118–21

  as potential Soviet threat, 131

  proliferation of, 127, 223–24

  Soviet detonation of, 210–11

  Szilard and development of, 22–23

  targeting considerations, 120–21, 128, 129, 139–44, 208

  testing of, 208; See also Trinity test

  “usefulness of,” 195

  atomic energy, non-military uses of, 209, 221, 222, 224–26, 228, 232–33

  Atomic Energy Act, 207; See also McMahon bill

  Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), 209, 213–16, 219, 225, 226, 231, 233, 250

  Atomic Heritage Foundation, 258

  atomic nucleus, 11

  Atomic Quest: A Personal Narrative (Compton), 197

  Atomic Scientists of Chicago, 201

  atoms, 10–11, 18–20

  B-17 bombers, 76

  B-25 bombers, 43

  B-29 aircraft, 135, 153–54, 157–59, 162, 257

  baby boom generation, 219

  Ballard, Del, 213, 216–17, 219–20, 255–57

  balloon bombs, 135–36

  Bangor, Wash., 242

  Barcelona, Spain, 129

  Bard, Ralph, 125

  Barnes, Phil, 157

  Battelle Memorial Institute, 236

  Beahan, Kermit, 159–60, 162–63, 173

  “Bell of Peace,” 242–43

  Bells of Nagasaki, The (Nagai), 172, 186

  berkelium, 228

  berylliosis, 264

  beryllium, 25, 54, 264

  beta decay, 226

  “B houses,” 108

  Big Stink, 158, 159

  Bikini Atoll, 208

  Bly, Oregon, 136

  Bock, Fred, 158–61

  Bockscar, 154–60, 163, 202

  Boeing Corporation, 154

  Boeing Field (Seattle), 76

  Bohr, Niels, 24, 227

  Boise, Idaho, 123

  bomb shelters, 169

  “boomers,” 72

  boron, 25–26, 54

  Boyer, Paul, 212–13

  B Plant, 90, 102

  B Reactor, 89–94, 90, 96–101, 99, 215, 223, 239, 255–58, 271–72

  B Reactor Museum Association (BRMA), 256–58, 272

  Brezhnev, Leonid, 239

  Brookhaven National Laboratory, 264

  Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 205

  Bush, Vannevar, 36–41, 38, 46, 47, 124, 125, 127, 147, 149, 201

  Byrnes, James, 125, 127–28, 194

  C-47 transport planes, 123

  cadmium, 57

  California Institute of Technology, 13

  californium, 229

  cancer, 16, 107, 230–31, 250, 252, 253, 259–65, 272

  Cantwell, Maria, 258

  carbon, 26

  carbon dating, 17

  carcinogens, everyday exposure to, 262–63

  Carnegie Institution, 36

  Carter, Jimmy, 239, 240

  Cascade Mountains, 72, 73, 111

  censorship, 68–69, 184–85, 205

  Centers for Disease Control, 260

  centrifuges, 32, 33, 103

  cerium, 104

  cesium-137, 101

  Chadwick, James, 10, 148

  Chapman, Claribel, 72–73

  chemicals, separation, 106, 122–23

  Cherenkov radiation, 101

  Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 226, 244–45, 261

  Chicago, Ill., 43, 57; See also Metallurgical Laboratory (Met Lab); University of Chicago

  Chicago Pile 1 (reactor), 57–59, 59, 86, 264

  Chicago Pile 2 (reactor), 86

  Chicago Sun, 43

  Chicago Tribune, 185

  China, 43, 129, 212, 225

  China Syndrome, The (film), 243–44

  Churchill, Winston, 142, 149, 208

  civilians, military attacks on, 129–30, 140, 144

  Clark, William, 69, 269

  Clayton, William, 125

  climate effects, of nuclear exchange, 176, 275

  Clinton, Bill, 247, 269

  Clinton Engineer Works, 95

  closed-circuit television, 103

  cobalt-60, 16

  Cold War, 5, 210–13, 216, 217, 234, 238, 275

  Columbia Basin Community College, 265

  Columbia Generating Station, 244

  Columbia River, 1, 4, 6, 66, 74, 90, 111, 278

  employee residences along, 109, 239

  Indian tribes along, 69–70

  Kennedy on, 223

  placement of reactors along, 89, 239

  pollution of, 105, 248, 250, 262

  preservation efforts, 269

  as source of cooling water, 1, 93, 96, 214, 215

  Columbia University, 21, 23, 26, 35, 41, 56, 86

  Committee on Social and Political Implications, 130; See also Franck committee

  Committee on the Present Danger, 238

  communism, 212, 219

  Community Concert Association, 217

  compartmentalization, 88, 202

  Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, 234

  Compton, Arthur, 37, 38, 41–43, 46–48, 56–58, 60, 88, 125, 126, 130–33, 135, 146–48, 197, 264

  Compton, Karl, 125

  Compton effect, 37

  computers, 115, 207

  Conant, James, 41–42, 46, 124, 125, 147, 149, 201

  Congress, 46, 109, 200, 205, 207, 208, 222–23, 237, 241, 256–58

  Connell, Wash., 78

  Consequences of Radiation Exposure (group), 271, 272

  control rods, 57, 92, 97–98, 100, 243

  cooling, reactor, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 211, 214, 215, 221, 222, 243

  copper, 30, 137

  Corps of Discovery, 69

  Cosmos Club, 41

  counterintelligence, 118–21

  C Reactor, 213, 214, 216

  critical mass, 112–14

  Cuban missile crisis, 222, 223, 275

  Curie, Marie, 228

  Curie, Pierre, 228

  curium, 228

  cyclotron, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 30, 32, 227, 228

  Daniels, Willie, 89

  D-Day, 118

  DDT, 251

  Deen, Carolyn, 234–37, 247, 253, 265

  Deen, Tom, 235, 253–54, 265

  demonstration bombing, consideration given to, 128, 132

  Denver, Colo., 192

  Department of Energy (DOE), 4, 250, 252, 255–58, 260, 266–68

  deterrence, 224

  deuterons, 16

  Dillon, Kathleen, 223, 234–37, 247–48, 253–54

  Dillon, Robert, 235–36

  disarmament, 208

  DOE, See Department of Energy

  Donne, John, 138

  Doolittle Raid, 43

  Douglas, Michael, 243

  D Reactor, 89, 90, 100, 213–14, 234

  DR Reactor, 214

  duds, 54, 113, 114, 117, 121

  DuPont (E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company), 1, 5, 55–56, 58, 60, 71, 72, 75, 87–89, 92–96, 98, 103, 106–9, 122, 213–16

  du Pont, Irénée, Jr., 56

  dust storms, 73, 85

  Dutch traders, in Japan, 143

  dysprosium, 228–29

  Eastern Washington University, 247

  East Pasco, Wash., 219

  Eckhart Hall (University of Chicago), 56

  Einstein, Albert, 20, 21

  einsteinium, 230

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., 118, 220

&nbs
p; electrons, 11, 14, 24, 31, 226–27

  elements; See also specific elements

  heavy, 14–16

  number of protons in, 11

  transuranic, 28–29, 226–30, 245

  Ellis, Bob, 242

  Enola Gay, 153, 158, 202, 257

  environmental movement, 244

  Environmental Protection Agency, 266

  espionage, See spying and espionage

  Europe, as nuclear target, 120–21

  europium, 228

  evictions, 63–70

  Farrell, Thomas, 149, 150, 152, 159

  Fast Flux Test Facility, 240

  Fat Man, 116, 155, 155–56, 211

  “fear psychosis,” 203

  Federation of American Scientists, 201

  Federation of Atomic Scientists, 201, 202

  Fermi, Enrico, 18, 130, 150, 225, 236, 272

  and atomic bombings of Japan, 197–98

  and B Reactor, 86, 91–97, 93–94

  chain reaction demonstration of, 54, 57–59, 59

  at Columbia, 23, 25–27, 35

  death of, 230–31, 263

  early work of, 20–21

  on extraterrestrial visitors, 274–75

  and Interim Committee, 126

  at Los Alamos, 147, 151–52

  at Met Lab, 48

  near drowning of, 278

  and Scientific Advisory Panel, 133, 134

  and Trinity test, 151–52

  Fermi, Laura, 21, 230

  Fermi Paradox, 274–75

  fermium, 230

  Fernald Feed Materials Production Center, 216

  Findlay, John, 109

  fire-bombings, 128, 129, 136, 140, 144, 159

  fission, 22–28

  and critical mass, 112–14

  dangerous by-products of, 101

  discovery of, 18–20

  heat produced by, 44

  spontaneous, 113–14

  509th Composite Group, 154

  fizzles, 113, 114

  Flenniken, Steve, 253

  Fonda, Jane, 243

  Fort Lawton, 79

  Fort Peck Dam, 81

  Fort Worden, 81

  Fox, John, 272

  France, 225

  Franck, James, 13, 85, 130–33

  Franck committee, 130–33, 145, 195, 199, 201

  Franck report, 130–33

  F Reactor, 89, 90, 100, 234

  French, Colleen, 256

  Fuchs, Klaus, 211, 212

  Furman, Robert, 121

  Gable Mountain, 68, 90, 102

  gadolinium, 228

  gamma rays, 14, 24, 31, 90, 174

  Garber, Jan, 76

  General Advisory Committee (AEC), 231

  General Electric Company, 214–15, 217, 219

 

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