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
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
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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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