Timeline for Nuclear Weapon Development: 1932 1952 In the Beginning - - PDF document

Timeline for Nuclear Weapon Development: 1932–1952

In the Beginning…

• February 1932: James Chadwick discovers the neutron
• December 1938: Hahn and Strassman discover fissioning of uranium by neutrons.
• July 1939: Szilard and Wigner draft letter for Einstein to send to Roosevelt re: possibility of

bomb.

• October 1939: Roosevelt establishes Advisory Committee on Uranium; first meeting on Oct.

21, 1939. (Lyman Briggs, Ch., + Szilard, Teller, Wigner, Carnegie Inst. Member, + Army and Navy members). $6000 allocated to Fermi & Szilard to purchase uranium and graphite for research.

• March 1940: Frisch and Peierls memo and MAUD Report in U.K. assert uranium bomb is

possible at reasonable size and yield more than 1 KT.

• September 1942: Col. Leslie Groves selected to head Manhattan Project. Shortly thereafter,

he selects J. Robert Oppenheimer to be his scientific advisor.

• November 1942: Los Alamos, NM selected to be primary R&D site by Groves and
• Oppenheimer. Groves subsequently selects Oak Ridge, TN for enriched uranium site and

Hanford, WA for construction of production reactors and separation plants to produce plutonium.

• December 1942: V. Bush estimates cost of program at $400 million.
• November 1942: Laboratory construction starts at Los Alamos.
• December 1942: Fermi successfully operates the first “pile” at U. of Chicago’s Stagg Field.
• July 1945: Trinity test of first plutonium bomb at White Sands, NM. Uranium bomb

never tested.

• August 1945: Uranium bomb detonated at Hiroshima, followed by plutonium bomb at Nagasaki
• December 1945: Program cost said to be $2 billion
• January 1947: AEC formed
• May 1949: Sandia Corporation established at Albuquerque, NM
• August 1949: USSR tests Joe-1 device (plutonium design)
• September 1952: LLNL formed at Livermore, CA
• October 1952: Mike test in the Pacific proves feasibility of H-Bomb

Timeline for Buildout and Operation of the Nuclear Weapons Complex (1942–1956)

R&D Laboratories Los Alamos, NM

• November 1942: Construction starts at Los Alamos (to become LASL and then LANL)
• April 1943: Bomb design work gets Underway

Albuquerque, NM and Livermore, CA

• May 1949: Sandia Corporation established (now Sandia National Laboratories)
• 1956: Sandia California Laboratory established

Livermore, CA

• September 1952: University of California Radiation Laboratory established (now LLNL)

Production Facilities, Manufacturing Plants and Test Sites Oak Ridge, TN

• June 1943: Construction starts on K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP) at Oak Ridge
• August 1943: Calutron construction starts
• November 1943: X-10 reactor begins operations
• June 1944: S20 Thermal Diffusion Plant construction starts
• February 1944: Y-12 sends 200 grams of U-235 to Los Alamos
• 1953: Y-12 begins producing Li-6

Hanford, WA

• August 1943: 100B Pu Production Pile construction starts
• September 1944: 100B Pile goes critical
• December 1944: PUREX Separation Plant begins operation
• February 1945: F-reactor begins operation
• July 1949: Pit manufacturing begins operation
• October 1949: H-reactor begins operation
• October 1950: DR-reactor begins operation

• November 1952: C-reactor begins operation
• January 1955: KW-reactor begins operation
• April 1955: KE-reactor begins operation

Atmospheric Testing in the South Pacific:

• April 1948 — full-scale atmospheric testing begins at Enewetak Atoll in the South Pacific

Atmospheric and Underground Testing in Nevada. Atmospheric and Underground Testing in Nevada:

• December 1950 — Truman selects Nevada Proving Grounds for full-scale underground testing

in the US Component Manufacturing and Weapon Assembly Burlington, IA

• 1947 — Weapon assembly operations begins Mound, OH
• 1947 — Neutron initiator manufacturing begins

Picatinny Arsenal, NJ

• 1949 — Detonator manufacturing begins; later moves to Mound, OH

Kansas City Plant

• February 1949 — KCP begins non-nuclear component manufacturing

Pantex Plant, Amarillo, TX

• March 1951 — Weapon assembly operation begins

Fernald, OH

• May 1951 — Construction begins for uranium feed stock processing

Rocky Flats, CO

• 1952 — RFP begins plutonium pit manufacturing

Pinellas, FL

• 1956 — Plant established to manufacture neutron generators

Other Major Facilities: Savannah River Plant In Aiken, SC

• February 1951 — SRP established
• 1952 — Site 400 begins heavy water manufacturing operations
• December 1953 — R-reactor begins operation
• February 1954 — P-reactor begins Operation
• July 1954 — L-reactor begins operation
• October 1954 — K-reactor begins operation
• March 1955 — C-reactor begins operation
• 1955 — Tritium operations begin

Idaho National Laboratory, ID

• February 1953 — Idaho Chemical Processing Plant begins operation

Paducah, KY

• 1954 — Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP) begins operation

Portsmouth, OH

• 1956 — Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (GDP) begins operation

Notable Nuclear Explosive Events