The Apocalypse Factory

by Steve Olson

  plutonium-239, 35, 54, 103, 112–14, 226, 231–32, 276

  plutonium-240, 114–15, 226

  plutonium-241, 226

  “plutonium economy,” 232

  pollution, 104–6, 122–23, 214, 248

  Porter, Bill, 71

  Portland, Ore., 68, 79, 111

  Portuguese traders, in Japan, 143

  Potsdam Conference, 142–44, 149

  Pritikin, Trisha, 261

  process tubes, 91–93, 98–100

  Prosser, Wash., 64

  Prosser Record-Bulletin, 68

  protons, 11, 14–15

  PUREX Plant, 215, 240, 242, 265

  Purnell, William, 141, 156

  Quadrangle Club, 43–44

  Queen Anne High School, 79, 80

  “Queen Marys,” 102–3, 104, 106

  Quiz Kids, The (radio program), 227–28

  Rabinowitch, Eugene, 130, 131, 199

  racism, in media’s treatment of Japanese, 130

  radiation, 14

  Cherenkov, 101

  code word for, 106

  everyday exposure to, 259

  health concerns with, 259–65

  safety issues with, 50–53, 59, 90, 106–7, 236

  Radiation Effects Research Foundation, 187

  Radiation Laboratory (Rad Lab, UC Berkeley), 14, 16, 17–20, 28

  radiation monitors, 106

  radiation sickness, 179–81, 183, 184

  radioactive decay, 20

  radioactive isotopes (radioisotopes), 15, 16, 21, 30–31

  radioactivity

  artificial, 15

  in wastewater, 105–6

  radium, 14

  Rattlesnake Mountain, 1, 4, 6, 64

  Ray, Dixy Lee, 250–51

  Raytheon, 36

  Reagan, Ronald, 239, 240, 245–47

  redox, 215

  REDOX Plant, 215

  Reed College, 64

  Reid, Dwight Logan, 10

  Remington Rand Corporation, 207

  reprocessing, 103, 104, 211, 232, 276

  Reykjavik summit, 246–47

  Rhodes, Richard, 4–5, 258

  Richland, Wash., 1, 2, 4, 272

  austere conditions in, 85

  and Chernobyl disaster, 245

  everyday life in, 217–20, 234–37, 247–48

  eviction of residents from, 64

  Groves in, 122

  illnesses in residents of, 261, 265

  in immediate postwar period, 204–5, 213

  Kennedy’s visit to, 221–23, 222

  Lewis and Clark near site of present-day, 69

  peace movement in, 241–42

  as permanent town to accommodate workers, 68

  as planned community, 107–10

  reaction in, to atomic bombing of Japan, 191

  and reduced need for plutonium by 1960s, 233–34

  Seaborg’s vision of Nuplex in, 233, 238

  25th-anniversary celebration in, 232–34

  Richland Light Opera Company, 217

  Richland Players, 217

  Richland Villager, The, 191–93, 205

  Roosevelt, Eleanor, 123

  Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 36, 40, 46–47, 84, 110, 120, 123, 125, 127, 129, 144

  Russia, nuclear arsenal of, 176, 275, 277

  ruthenium, 104

  Rutherford, Ernest, 22

  saboteurs, fears of, 149

  Saddle Mountains, 1, 4, 66

  safety issues, with radiation, 50–53, 59, 106–7, 230–31, 236, 259–65

  “Safety Sam,” 106

  St. Elmo’s fire, 155

  Salt Lake City, Utah, 123

  San Francisco Chronicle, 18

  Santa Fe, N. Mex., 123

  Savannah River, 216, 234

  Science magazine, 49, 199

  Scientific Advisory Panel (of Interim Committee), 126, 128, 130, 133–35, 145, 147, 195, 197

  scientific ideas, discovery of, 22

  Seaborg, Glenn, 7, 13, 199, 215, 260, 276

  arrival at Hanford, 102

  background, 9–10

  and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, 234

  concerns about spontaneous fission, 114

  discovery of new transuranic elements by, 226–30

  and discovery of plutonium, 30–36, 33, 41

  and Federation of American Scientists, 201

  on Hanford, Washington, 61

  at Met Lab in Chicago, 43–46, 49–52

  and news of splitting of the atom, 19–20

  nuclear energy research, 130–31

  Nuplex vision of, 233, 238

  in postwar period, 226–34

  and production of plutonium, 41–46, 49–52, 56

  as proponent of plutonium, 231–33, 263–64

  and radiation safety issues, 52

  reaction of, to atomic bombing of Japan, 195–96

  and Trinity test, 148

  at UC Berkeley, 11–17, 28–34, 33

  at UCLA, 11

  Seaborg, Helen, 231

  seaborgium, 263

  Seattle, Wash., 68, 76, 242

  Seattle Times, 68

  secrecy, 2, 41, 44, 59, 68, 110, 127–28, 134, 199, 201, 205, 220, 248; See also spying and espionage

  security badges, 52

  security issues, 88, 94, 110, 149, 205, 220

  Segrè, Emilio, 9, 32, 112, 114

  Senate Committee on Military Affairs, 124

  separation plants (“Queen Marys”), 102–3, 104, 106

  shaped explosives, 115–16

  Sheahan, Gary, 59

  Shippingport, Pa., 225

  Shirabe, Choko, 178, 179, 181, 188

  Shirabe, Iso, 179

  Shirabe, Junko, 178, 179, 181

  Shirabe, Koji, 172, 177–78, 179, 181, 188

  Shirabe, Raisuke, 165–75, 168, 170, 175, 177–84, 187, 188, 264

  Shirabe, Reiko, 178, 179, 181

  Shirabe, Seiichi, 173, 178, 180, 188

  Shirabe, Sumiko, 178, 179, 181

  slugs, uranium, 94–96, 102, 215

  Smith, Alice Kimball, 133, 196

  Smith, Cyril, 137

  Smithsonian Institution, 257

  Smohalla, 70

  smoke detectors, 228

  Snake River, 69

  sodium hydroxide, 102

  solid waste, 105, 255–56

  Somervell, Brehon, 83

  Southard, Susan, 185–86

  South Korea, 212

  Soviet Union, 5, 39, 117, 127, 131, 144, 156, 194, 200, 208–12, 216, 220, 222–26, 234, 238–41, 245–47, 252

  space-based weapons, 246–47

  Spain, 129

  Spitzer, Abe, 160, 161

  Spokane, Wash., 68

  spontaneous fission, 113–14

  sports, 76, 217

  spying and espionage, 88, 110, 209, 211, 212

  Stadtilm, Germany, 119

  Stalin, Joseph, 142, 144, 149, 210, 220

  Standard Oil Development Company, 41

  State Department, 212

  Stimson, Henry, 40, 65, 84, 88, 124–29, 132–33, 135, 140–42, 146, 149

  Stoffels, Jim, 189, 240–42, 256, 276

  Stone & Webster, 47, 48, 55

  Strasbourg, France, 119

  Strategic Defense Initiative (“Star Wars”), 247

  strontium, 104

  strontium-90, 101

  Styer, Wilhelm, 84

  submarines, nuclear-armed, 224, 242

  surveillance, 89, 110, 205

  Sweeney, Charles, 153–63

  Szilard, Leo, 21–26, 35, 47, 48, 58, 88–89, 91, 130, 131, 145, 146, 199–201, 264

  tanks, toxic-waste, 106, 215, 248, 249, 249, 268–69

  Tanner, Jack, 218

  Target Committee, 139–43

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

  Taube, Henry, 17

  technetium-99, 16

  television, closed-circuit, 103

  Tennessee Valley Authority, 66, 209

  terbium, 228
/>   termination winds, 73

  Three Mile Island, 243–44

  thyroid treatments, 16

  Tibbets, Paul, 153–58

  Time magazine, 37

  Times, The (London), 22

  tin, 16

  Tinian Island, 153–56, 159, 160, 162, 192

  Tokyo, Japan, 43, 140

  T Plant, 90, 101–7, 252

  transuranic elements, 28–29, 226–30, 245

  Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 277

  Tri-Cities area, 3, 217–20, 233, 236, 238, 240–42, 250–51, 256–58, 261, 269–71; See also Kennewick, Wash.; Pasco, Wash.; Richland, Wash.

  Tri-City Herald, 217, 240, 241

  Trident submarine, 242

  Trinity test, 137–38, 146–52, 148, 211, 264

  Tri-Party Agreement, 255, 266

  tritium, 240

  Truman, Harry, 123–25, 127, 133, 142, 144–45, 149, 156, 187, 191, 192, 194–96, 198–99, 205, 207, 209–11

  Tsuno’o, Susumu, 171, 172, 177, 179–81

  Tufts College, 36

  UCLA, See University of California, Los Angeles

  UNC Nuclear Industries, 235

  underground storage tanks, 106, 248, 249, 249

  underwater canning, 95

  United Nations, 132, 200, 208, 277

  United States

  and arms race, 131–32

  cancer rates in, 262

  Germans’ lack of confidence in nuclear capability of, 120

  Interim Committee’s recommendations on role of, in nuclear age, 127–28

  as leader in development of atomic bomb, 36–41

  and MAD doctrine, 224

  media coverage of atomic bombing of Japan in, 191–93

  nuclear arsenal of, 176, 192, 204, 223, 275, 277

  nuclear freeze movement in, 240–43

  popular support for dropping of atomic bomb by, 193

  University of California, Berkeley, 11–20, 13, 28, 35, 37, 126, 219, 227–29, 231, 276; See also Gilman Hall; Radiation Laboratory (Rad Lab)

  University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 9–11, 14, 16, 264

  University of Chicago, 37, 41, 45, 52–53, 56–59, 59, 85, 225, 264; See also Jones Hall

  University of Colorado, 264

  University of Michigan, 118

  University of Rome, 20–21

  University of South Dakota, 12

  University of Strasbourg, 119

  University of Washington, 80

  University of Wisconsin-Madison, 66

  U Plant, 102

  Urakami Cathedral, 170, 172, 186–88, 242

  Urakami River, 162, 170

  Urakami Valley, 143, 163, 167–69, 170, 173, 174, 178, 183, 185, 187–88, 211

  uranium, 2, 17, 23

  in B Reactor, 91–92

  code word for, 106

  and discovery of plutonium, 30–34

  as element, 11, 14, 15

  fissioning of, 18–20, 23–28, 98

  German stores of, 119–21

  isotopes of, 14, 23

  in lags, 102

  ore of, 23–26, 36, 116–17, 131–32, 211

  origin of name, 29

  reprocessing of, 103, 104, 211, 232, 276

  separation of plutonium from, 102–3, 122–23

  in Soviet Union, 131

  uranium-235, 23–28, 32–40, 112–14, 116–17, 119, 211, 232, 243, 276

  uranium-238, 23–25, 28, 32, 34, 35, 91, 231

  uranium-239, 28, 91, 101

  Urey, Harold, 41

  US Army, 55, 119, 184

  US Army Air Forces, 76, 140

  US Army Corps of Engineers, 1, 46–47, 60, 66, 67, 81, 82, 89

  US Forest Service, 138

  US Military Academy (West Point), 80–82

  USS Hornet, 43

  V-2 ballistic missile, 120, 200

  Vancouver, Wash., 78–79

  Vandenberg, Arthur, 206

  Van Pelt, Jim, 162

  Vietnam War, 234

  vitrification, 268

  Wahl, Art, 29–31, 33, 44, 102

  Wallace, Henry, 40

  Walla Walla River, 69

  Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 68

  Walt Disney Productions, 225

  Wanapum, 69–70, 78

  War Department, 84, 125, 201

  Warner, Maurice, 241

  War Powers Act, 65

  Warsaw, Poland, 129

  Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), 238, 244

  Washington State, 63, 68, 72–73, 124, 222, 223, 237, 243, 244, 255–58, 260, 266, 268

  Washington State University, 248

  Washington University in St. Louis, 264

  wastewater, 105–6, 214, 248–50

  water-cooled reactors, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 211, 214, 215, 222, 243

  Weinberg, Alvin, 198

  Weizsäcker, Carl Friedrich von, 119

  Weller, George, 185

  Wellerstein, Alex, 120

  Weyerhaeuser Company, 136

  Wheeler, Frank, 63–65

  Wheeler, Helen, 65

  Wheeler, Jeanie, 63–65

  White Bluffs, Wash., 1, 2, 4, 63, 64, 66

  White Train, 242

  Wigner, Eugene, 48, 94

  Williams, Hill, 68

  Wilmington, Del., 55, 60

  Wilson, Grace, 81

  wine production, 269–70

  Wisconsin National Guard, 66

  women, as Hanford construction workers, 75

  Woods, Leona, 85–87, 94–97, 101, 104, 230, 264, 272

  World Citizens for Peace, 241–43, 251, 276

  World War I, 41, 55, 80, 81

  World War II, 118–21

  American support for use of atomic bomb, 193

  beginning of, 129

  bombing of civilians in, 129–30, 140, 144

  “boomers” in, 72

  Bush’s proposals for scientific research preceding, 36–37

  DuPont’s involvement in, 55

  early dark days of, 45–46

  50th anniversary of end of, 257

  Interim Committee’s discussion of plans for period following, 126–27

  Japan’s approaching defeat in, 139, 144, 194

  US entry into, 42

  X-10 nuclear reactor, 95

  xenon, 104, 272

  xenon-135, 98–100

  Yakima Morning Herald, 68

  Yakima River, 69

  Yakushima, 158, 159

  Yale University, 12, 124

  Yalta Conference, 144

  Yawata, Japan, 159

  “Y houses,” 234

  Yokohama, Japan, 43, 140, 142

  Zachary, G. Pascal, 36

  Zinn, Walter, 23, 26

  ALSO BY STEVE OLSON

  MAPPING HUMAN HISTORY:

  GENES, RACE, AND OUR COMMON ORIGINS

  COUNT DOWN:

  SIX KIDS VIE FOR GLORY AT THE WORLD’S TOUGHEST MATH COMPETITION

  ANARCHY EVOLUTION:

  FAITH, SCIENCE, AND BAD RELIGION IN A WORLD WITHOUT GOD

  (coauthored with Greg Graffin)

  ERUPTION:

  THE UNTOLD STORY OF MOUNT ST. HELENS

  Copyright © 2020 by Steve Olson

  All rights reserved

  First Edition

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110

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  Jacket design: Yang Kim

  Jacket photograph: Hulton-Deutsch / Getty Images

  Book design by Lovedog Studio

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  The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

  Names: Olson, Steve, 1956– author.

  Title: The apocalypse factory : plutonium and the making of the atomic age / Steve Olson.

  Other ti
tles: Plutonium and the making of the atomic age

  Description: First edition. | New York : W. W. Norton & Company, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020008293 | ISBN 9780393634976 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780393634983 (epub)

  Subjects: LCSH: Atomic bomb—United States—History—20th century. | Plutonium industry—Washington (State)—Hanford—History—20th century. | Hanford Engineer Works—History. | Nuclear weapons—United States—History.

  Classification: LCC QC773.A1 O47 2020 | DDC 623.4/51190973—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008293

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