Page 37 of The Women of Oak Ridge
“Any idea why she doesn’t like to talk about the early years of Oak Ridge? Once Dad gets on a roll reminiscing, it’s hard to get him to stop.”
“Not a clue. My dad says she never talked about it. The only time his mother mentioned Aunt Mae’s work on the Manhattan Project was right after the war ended. They’d been as shocked as the rest of the world to learn that the work Aunt Mae and the others did had helped to create an atomic bomb.”
He pointed out a number of interesting sites before he turned acorner. There in front of us was an enormous building. The largest I’d ever seen.
“K-25!”
Jonas grinned. “There she is. All two million square feet, about the equivalent of thirty-five football fields. The whole thing is a mile long, from one end to the other, with four levels. It was designed in a U shape to make it somewhat easier for employees to get around.”
My mouth gaped. “It’s gigantic. No wonder Aunt Mae had to ride a bicycle to do her job.”
“I’ve been inside a couple times. It’s overwhelming. I can’t imagine what your aunt’s first impression was when she saw it. Wasn’t she from a small town in Kentucky before she moved here?”
I nodded. “My grandfather was a coal miner. Dad says they lived in a tiny shack owned by the coal company. Aunt Mae had never been anywhere before she came here.”
“That’s a common story for most of the young women who worked in Oak Ridge. Mom was from Hot Springs, Arkansas. She’d never even ridden on a bus until she came to Tennessee.”
He parked the Bronco in a paved area near the massive structure and cut the engine. We exited the vehicle and stared up at the four-story giant. Windows were sporadic, and shafts as tall as the building jutted every so often, making me think they were stairwells.
“I still don’t fully understand the purpose of K-25,” I said. “I read it was used for enriching uranium, but I confess the science is way over my head.”
Jonas chuckled. “I couldn’t begin to explain the science of it, but I’ll tell you what I do know. There were three main facilities in Oak Ridge whose purpose was to enrich, or purify, the uranium that would later be used in the nuclear bomb. K-25, a gaseous diffusion plant, Y-12, the electromagnetic plant, and X-10, thegraphite reactor. They all had the same goal, which was separating the isotopes—the atoms found in uranium known as 235 and 238—but each plant used a different method to accomplish it. Later, a liquid thermal diffusion plant, S-50, was added to the Reservation as a sort ofhelperfacility, but it was too costly to run and used too much power. The Manhattan Project scientists figured they only needed a hundred pounds or so of the stuff to make the bomb, but it took many months and millions of dollars to achieve. It’s said that during the war, Oak Ridge used more electricity than New York City.”
I studied the huge building. “I wish I’d paid more attention in high school science class when we were studying atoms. I had no idea what the teacher was talking about, although I do remember a phrase he used over and over:Atoms are the building blocks of matter.Wasn’t it German scientists who eventually figured out how to split uranium atoms?”
“It was,” Jonas said, “which is what made the world nervous, considering Hitler ruled over Germany at the time. An interesting fact is, Oak Ridge might not exist if it wasn’t for Albert Einstein.”
“That’s right,” I said, recalling something I’d read in my research. “Einstein was Jewish and was born in Germany but fled in the early 1930s because of Hitler’s rise to power and the Nazis’ antisemitism. He sent a letter to President Roosevelt that started the ball rolling toward developing an atomic bomb.”
Jonas leaned against the vehicle, clearly enjoying our back-and-forth history lesson as much as I was.
“Einstein and others feared Germany would develop an atomic bomb with their newly found knowledge. At the urging of Leo Szilard, the Hungarian physicist who first came up with nuclear reaction, they wrote a letter to the president basically saying if America doesn’t catch up to Germany, we could find ourselves facing a powerful weapon in the hands of a madman.”
A shiver raced up my spine. “Can you imagine what the world would be like if that had happened?”
“Would there still be a world, is the question.”
We stood in silence, pondering the terrible realities of nuclear war. It was, of course, still a possibility. Although Germany ceased being a threat when World War II ended, the Cold War with the Soviet Union continued today. I clearly remembered how terrified we all were during the Cuban Missile Crisis that took place when I was in grade school. We’d had drills about what to do should the emergency sirens sound. With everything I’d read recently about the power of an atomic bomb, it seemed ridiculous that we were told to get under our desks for protection.
My eyes traveled up and down the vast building. “So the machines and pipes and everything Aunt Mae saw every day were part of a process to enrich uranium using... What did you call it?”
“Gaseous diffusion, which is different from the process used at Y-12. Over there, hundreds of enormous magnets were situated on something called aracetrackto separate the isotopes. The work Mom, Georgeanne, and thousands of other young women known as cubicle operators did was part of that process. But General Groves didn’t know which method would be the fastest or produce the most product, so he convinced the president they needed to try them both.”
“I imagine that cost a pretty penny.”
He smirked. “K-25 alone cost five hundred million dollars back in the 1940s.”
I whistled. “I don’t think I want to know what that would be in today’s dollars.”
Jonas shared what he knew about each level of the huge building, including the operating floor where a control room was located. I wished I could peek inside and see where Aunt Mae had worked, but although the other plants in the area continuedto produce uranium for nuclear power, K-25 itself had been shut down in 1964.
“From what I understand,” Jonas said, a serious note in his voice, “there’s a growing concern about health risks associated with radioactive materials and the chemicals used in the enrichment process. Not just for former employees, but for those who continue to work at the plants, as well as the surrounding community. I suspect there will be future investigations, maybe even some lawsuits, if it turns out to be true.”
I thought about Aunt Mae’s failing eyesight. Did it have anything to do with her time working at the plant?
We climbed back into the Bronco. “Thank you for bringing me out here. I’ve seen pictures of K-25, but it’s completely different to see it in person.”
“I’m glad to be of service.”
