Closing the Circle on the Splitting of the Atom - 1 Overview pages 1_9.pdf

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Overview

dissolved in 1991. The nuclear arms race of theCold War came to a halt for the first time since theinvention of the atomic bomb. Quietly, a new erahad begun.

The Manhattan Project

The quest for nuclear explosives, driven by thefear that Hitlers Germany might invent them first,was an epic, top-secret engineering and industrialventure in the United States during World War II.

The term Manhattan Project has become abyword for an enormous breakneck effort involv-ing vast resources and the best scientific minds inthe world. The workers on the Manhattan Projecttook on a nearly impossible challenge to address agrave threat to the national security.

I. Overview

On a cold morning in December 1989, workersat the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado loadedthe last plutonium trigger for a nuclear warheadinto a tractor trailer bound southeast to the PantexPlant near Amarillo, Texas. No one knew thenthat the nuclear weapon built with this plutoniumtrigger would be the last one made in the UnitedStates for the foreseeable future. Until then, theproduction of nuclear weapons had run continu-ously, beginning during World War II with the

startup of the first reactor to produce plutoniumfor the top-secret Manhattan Project. But growingconcerns about safety and environmental prob-lems had caused various parts of the weapons-producing complex to be shut down in the 1980s.These shutdowns, at first expected to be tempo-rary, became permanent when the Soviet Union

Hanfords B Reactor was the first plutonium-production reactor in the world. Plutonium created within this reactor fueled the firstatomic explosion in the Alamogordo desert on July 16, 1945, and it formed the core of the bomb that exploded over Nagasaki on

August 9, 1945. Built in less than a year, the B Reactor operated from 1944 to 1968. It has been designated a National HistoricMechanical Engineering Landmark.Hanford Site, Washington. November 16, 1984.


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From its beginning with Enrico Fermisgraphite-pile reactor under the bleachers of StaggField at the University of Chicago to the fieryexplosion of the first atomic bomb nearAlamogordo, New Mexico, the Manhattan Projecttook a little less than 3 years to create a workingatomic bomb. During that time, the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers managed the construction ofmonumental plants to enrich uranium, threeproduction reactors to make plutonium, and tworeprocessing plants to extract plutonium from thereactor fuel. In 1939, Nobel Prize-winningphysicist Niels Bohr had argued that building anatomic bomb can never be done unless you turnthe United States into one huge factory. Yearslater, he told his colleague Edward Teller, I toldyou it couldnt be done without turning the wholecountry into a factory. You have done just that.

The Cold War and the NuclearWeapons Complex

Shortly after World War II, relations between theUnited States and the Soviet Union began to sour,and the Cold War ensued. Its most enduringlegacy was the nuclear arms race. It began duringthe Manhattan Project, when the Soviet Unionbegan to develop its own atomic bomb.

In the United States, the nuclear arms raceresulted in the development of a vast research,production, and testing network that came to beknown as the nuclear weapons complex. Someidea of the scale of this enterprise can be under-stood from the cost: from the Manhattan Project

to the present, the United States spent approxi-mately 300 billion dollars on nuclear weaponsresearch, production, and testing (in 1995 dol-lars). During half a century of operations, thecomplex manufactured tens of thousands ofnuclear warheads and detonated more than onethousand.

At its peak, this complex consisted of 16major facilities, including vast reservations ofland in the States of Nevada, Idaho, Washington,and South Carolina. In its diversity, it rangedfrom tracts of isolated desert in Nevada, whereweapons were tested, to warehouses in downtown

New York that once stored uranium. Its nationallaboratories in New Mexico and Californiadesigned weapons for production in Colorado,Florida, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washing-ton. Even now, long after some of the sites usedin the nuclear enterprise were turned over to otheruses, the Department of Energythe Federalagency that controls the nuclear weapons com-plexowns 2.3 million acres of land and 120million square feet of buildings.

The U. S

Sandia Na tionalLaboratories

W eapons Engineering

W eapon s and D

NevadaTest Site

Law renceLivermoreNationalLaboratory

Idaho Na tional

Hanford Site

Rocky Flats PlaW arhead Triggers

W eapons Research

and Design

Uranium is processed intolow-enriched, highly enriched,

and d epleted uranium

Uranium is mined, mi l led,and refined from ore

Nuclear Weapons Production

UraniumEnrichment

UraniumRefining

Fuel andTarget

Fabrication

PlutoniProduc

Reacto

UraniumFoundry

Uranium gasis convertedinto metal

UraniumMining

and M illing

AmchitkaIsland

Bikini a ndEniw etok

Atolls

W aste IsolationPilot Plant

9 5

2

2

4

22

10

Uranium metalis formed intofuel and target

elements forreactors

CA

NV

CO

Los ANatioLabo

NM

WA

ID

Chemical Separation

Fuel Fabrication, Irradiation,

and Chemical Separation;Component Fabrication

Uranium telemen

are i rradiacreate plut

Engineering Laboratory


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Overview

The United States nuclear weapons complex comprised dozens of industrial facilities and laboratories across the country. The weapons productioninfrastructure originated with the Mahattan Project during World War II and evolved and operated until the late 1980s. It typically employed more than100,000 contractor personnel at any one time. From the Manhattan Project to the present, the United States has spent approximately $300 billion onnuclear weapons research, production, and testing (in 1995 dollars).

Nuclear Weapons Complex

Oa k Ridge Reservation

SavannahRiverSite

Paducah Plant

Uranium Refinery, Metal

PinellasPlant

gh-Explosives Fabrication,

inal Warhead Assembly

and Disassembly

Kansas City PlantElectronic, Mecha nical, and

Plastic Components

Actuators, Ignitors,Detonators

Uranium Enrichment

Chemical separationis used to extractplutonium from

irradiated targets

Uranium and plutoniumare further processed for

warhead triggers

W arhead Triggers,neutron generators,

and other electrical and m echanicalcomponents are assembled into

complete warheads

Reprocessing toSeparate

Plutonium

Assemblyand

Dismantlement

NuclearComponents

NonnuclearComponents

Former industrial sites contamina ted w ithradioa ctivity, some but not all of w hich

contributed to nuclear w eapons production.

=

PantexPlant

UraniumEnrichment

Portsmouth Plant

Mound Plant

Number indicates how many sitesw ere or ar e located in the State.

W eldon Spring

BurlingtonAssembly

Plant

For a com plete list of sites for w hich the Depar tment of EnergyEnvironmental Management program is responsible, see page 70.

WeaponsDesign

Departmentof Defense

Fernald Plant

2

4

4

7

2

2

7

9

2

3

Testing

4 =

Uranium Refineryand M etal Foundry

TX

IA

M

O

TN

SC

FL

Components of Highly Enriched Uranium,Depleted U ranium a nd Li thium Deuteride

and Ura nium Enrichment

OH

KY

Foundry and M achining Plants

5Fuel & Target Fabrication,

Irradiation, Chemical Separation;Tritium Production

NeutronGenerators


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The face of the N Reactor core is made of graphite and measures 39 by 33 by 33 feet. Channels cut horizontally into the graphiteheld nuclear fuel and uranium target slugs. When the slugs were bombarded with neutrons, some of the uranium was transformedinto plutonium. During the Cold War the United States operated a total of 14 plutonium-production reactors, creating approximately100 metric tons of plutonium for its tens of thousands of nuclear warheads.Hanford Site, Washington. December 16, 1993.

duties were transferred to the newly created

Department of Energy.Environmental Legacy of the Cold War

Like most industrial and manufacturing opera-tions, the nuclear weapons complex has generatedwaste, pollution, and contamination. However,many problems posed by its operations are unlikethose associated with any other industry. Theyinclude unique radiation hazards, unprecedentedvolumes of contaminated water and soil, and avast number of contaminated structures rangingfrom reactors to chemical plants for extractingnuclear materials to evaporation ponds.

Early in the nuclear age, scientists involvedwith the weapons complex raised seriousquestions about its waste-management practices.Shortly after the establishment of the AtomicEnergy Commission, its 12-man Safety andIndustrial Health Advisory Board reported that thedisposal of contaminated waste in presentquantities and by present methods...if continuedfor decades, presents the gravest of problems.

Civilian Control

Soon after the destructiveness of nuclear weaponswas demonstrated by the bombing of Hiroshimaand Nagasaki, the U. S. Congress acted to put theimmense power and possibilities of atomic energyunder civilian control. The Atomic Energy Act ofl946 established the Atomic Energy Commission,to administer and regulate the production and usesof atomic power.

The work of the Commission expandedquickly from building a stockpile of nuclearweapons to investigating peaceful uses of atomicenergy (such as research on, and the regulation of,the production of electrical power). It also con-

ducted studies on the health and safety hazards ofradioactive materials.

In 1975, the Atomic Energy Commission wasreplaced by two new Federal agencies: theNuclear Regulatory Commission, which wascharged with regulating the civilian uses of atomicenergy (mainly commercial nuclear power plants),and the Energy Research and DevelopmentAdministration, whose duties included the controlof the nuclear weapons complex. In 1977, these


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Overview

The imperatives of the nuclear arms race, how-ever, demanded that weapons production andtesting be given priority over waste managementand the control of environmental contamination.

Environmental Management

Although the nation continues to maintain an

arsenal of nuclear weapons, as well as someproduction capability, the United States hasentered a new era, and the Department of Energyhas embarked on new missions. The most ambi-tious and far-ranging of these missions is dealingwith the environmental legacy of the Cold War.In 1989 the Office of Environmental Managementwas established for that purpose.

Just as the Energy Departments mission ofmaintaining the nations nuclear weapons arsenalconsists of a number of different tasks, the newmission of Environmental Management involves avariety of interrelated activities. These activities

are often generalized simply as cleanup. Inreality, the mission includes four major activitiesthat involve a great deal more than just cleanup.

Barrels of transuranic waste sit on a concrete pad in temporary storage. This waste is contaminated with traces of plutonium,which is dangerous if inhaled and will remain a hazard for hundreds of thousands of years. More than 300,000 barrels of such wastefrom nuclear weapons production are buried or stored around the country. Cleanup efforts throughout the weapons complex will addto the volume of this waste. Transuranic Waste Storage Pads, E Area Burial Grounds, Savannah River Site, South Carolina.January 7, 1994.

Ma i n ta i n i ng s u rp l us f ac i l i t i e s , c on ta i n i ngradioactive waste, and cleaning up contaminationrequ i res a d i f fe ren t s t ra tegy f rom weaponsproduct ion. Assistant Secretar y Thomas P. Grumbly

has established six goals for the Department ofEnergys environmental management pr ogram:

Eliminate and manage urgent risks in oursystem.

Emphasize health and safety for wor kers andthe public.

Establish a system that is managerially andfinancially in control.

Demonstr ate tangible results. Focus technology development on identifying

and overcoming obstacles to progress.

Establish a stronger par tnership betw een theDepart ment of Energy and its stakeholders.

Six Goals ofEnvironmental Management


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The first major activity is managing urgent andhigh-risk nuclear materials and facilites. Forexample, the reprocessing plants are no longer

needed for the extraction of weapons-gradeplutonium, and the nuclear materials inside are notintended to be used for nuclear weapons. The taskof stabilizing these facilities and the extraordinar-ily sensitive material inside them to prevent leaks,explosions, theft, terrorist attack, or avoidableradiation exposures is part of the mission ofEnvironmental Management. Maintaining thesefacilities has become more difficult because manyof them are more than 40 years old. Many havereached or exceeded the lifetime they weredesigned for and have begun to deteriorate; theymust be stabilized merely to protect the safety of

cleanup workers. This stable condition must beachieved and the facilities and material must bekept in a safe condition before any decontamina-tion and decommissioning can be undertaken.

Environmental Management also supportsinternational nuclear nonproliferation policies.Specifically, spent-fuel elements removed fromreactors were recently returned from othercountries to the United States because theycontained weapons-grade uranium of U.S. origin.

Empty drums used for storing waste await treatment and disposal at Oak Ridge. These drums corroded prematurely when a1987 waste-stabilization project failed to follow guidelines for combining waste sludge with cement. K-1417 Drum StorageYards, Pond Waste Management Project, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. January 10, 1994.

The United States thereby reduced the internationaltrade of weapons-usable highly enriched uranium.

The second major activity is managing a largeamount and variety of wastes. The primary sourceof these wastes is the nuclear weapons activities ofthe Cold War. In addition, the Department alsomanages some waste from nuclear reactor researchand basic science projects, as well as some wastegenerated by the commercial nuclear power industryunder certain circumstances, such as the debris fromthe accident at the Three Mile Island reactor. Mostof the waste generated by the Energy Department isradioactive, and therefore cannot be eliminated itcan only be contained while its radioactivity dimin-ishes. A large volume of waste has already beendisposed of at Department of Energy facilities.However, the wastes that remain in storage pendingpermanent disposal contain most of the radioactiv-ity. These wastes, which will typically remainhazardous for thousands of years, are intended fordeep geologic disposal. Part of the task of theOffice of Environmental Management is to conductthe scientific investigations required to determinethe suitability of a deep salt mine already excavatedin New Mexico for plutonium-contaminated waste.


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Overview

Pit Nine is a radioactive-waste burial ground. From 1967 to 1969, approximately 150,000 cubic feet of plutonium-contaminatedand low-level radioactive waste was buried here. Recordkeeping that does not meet todays standards, and failed waste containmenthave made Pit Nine a daunting remediation challenge for engineers, who must now sample these wastes, exhume them, and treatthem thermally.Radioactive Waste Management Complex, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. March 16, 1994.

In addition, waste management includesdesigning, building, and operating a variety oftreatment facilities to prepare waste for disposal.Providing safe storage for the enormous quantitiesof waste is itself a monumental challenge. At theHanford Site, for example, the Department main-tains a constant vigil over huge underground tanks

of highly radioactive waste, and it has recentlyinstalled a pump in one tank that was at risk ofexploding.

The third major activity, environmentalrestoration, is the activity that is usually visualizedwhen the program is described simply ascleanup. This part of the program encompasses awide range of activities, including stabilizingcontaminated soil; pumping, treating, and contain-ing ground water; decontaminating, decommis-sioning, and demolishing process buildings,nuclear reactors, and chemical separation plants;and exhuming sludge and buried drums of waste.

The challenges are both technical and institutional.In many cases, no safe or effective technology isyet available to address or even fully understand the contamination problem. Choosing the rightcourse of action requires the involvement of

EnvironmentalManagementincludes four major activities

that involve much morethan just cleanup.


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April2,1948

environmental regulatory agencies, State andlocal governments, and the general public. Wherepossible, contaminated buildings and equipment

are restored to prepare them for other uses. Themain objectives are to avoid additional problems,minimize hazards to workers and the public,and minimize the cost and risks passed on tofuture generations.

The fourth major activity, technology develop-ment, is perhaps the most vital to the long-termsuccess of the environmental managementmission. The Energy Department is conducting avariety of applied research to develop moreeffective and less expensive remedies to theenvironmental and safety problems of the nuclearweapons complex. Some of this research has

already yielded signficant results. A good ex-ample is a technique, known as Minimum Addi-tive Waste Stabilization, that was demonstrated atthe Fernald site in Ohio to convert low-levelradioactive waste into flattened glass pebbles,which are easy to handle and will remain stableafter disposal. The success of this research isdemonstrated not only by improvements inenvironmental protection but also by the commer-cialization of these technologies.

Solving the problemsof the Cold Wars

environmental legacywill take many

decades, enormousfinancial resources,

and continuedguarding and

monitoring of sites.

The Atomic Energy Commission isolated its projects, built plants which are a

marvel of engineering and guarded them with extraordinary efficiency. Their

sins of emissionliquid, solid, or gaseouswere diluted and isolated to what

was estimated as perfectly safe, but AEC is now entering a phase in which their

operations in this regard will soon be public property and they will be ac-

countable to public healtha very severe critic...

In the haste to produce atomic bombs during the war certain risks may have

been taken in research, production, testing, transportation and waste disposal

with the understanding that subsequently more effective control measures would

ameliorate these risks and lessen the hazardous conditions formerly created...

The ultimate disposal of contaminated wastesub-surface, surface and air-

borneneeds much more thorough study. Even the simplest of such datarecorded

periodic measurements of stream pollution below the plantsare almost wholly

lacking. Even with such records, present knowledge of radiation and chemically

toxic effects on animal and vegetable life is so limited that water supply

inlets below plant disposal outlets cannot be unqualifiedly recommended. Thedisposal of contaminated waste in present quantities and by present methods

(in tanks or burial grounds or at sea), if continued for decades, presents

the gravest of problems.

from pages 9, 64, 67

REPORT OF THE SAFETY AND

INDUSTRIAL HEALTH

ADVISORY BOARD


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Overview

A temporary tension-support structure is being constructed at Fernald. These lightweight structures are increasingly usedthroughout the former nuclear weapons complex. They keep drums of various types of waste out of the elements, extending theirstorage life at relatively low cost. Plant 1 pad, Fernald Environmental Management Project, Fernald, Ohio. December 28, 1993.

Closing the Circle

The Cold War is over, but its legacy remains.

Solving the waste-management and contaminationproblems of this legacy will take many decadesand hundreds of billions of dollars. Even thenthe task will not be fully completed. Many sitesand facilities will need continued guarding andmonitoring.

In speaking about the evolution of life on earth,scientist Barry Commoner said:

The first photosynthetic organisms transformedthe ...linear course of life into the...first greatecological cycle. By closing the circle, theyachieved what no living organism alone canaccomplishsurvival. Once the links between the

separate parts of the problem are perceived, itbecomes possible to see new means of solving thewhole.

The task of Environmental Management is tobegin to close the circle on the splitting of theatom for weapons production through sustainedefforts to understand the whole problem as well asits parts.

The Challenges Before Us

The nation faces daunting institutional and

technical challenges in dealing with the environ-mental legacy of the Cold War. We have largeamounts of radioactive materials that will behazardous for thousands of years; we lack effec-tive technologies and solutions for resolvingmany of these environmental and safety prob-lems; we do not fully understand the potentialhealth effects of prolonged exposure to materialsthat are both radioactive and chemically toxic;and we must clear major institutional hurdles inthe transition from nuclear weapons production toenvironmental cleanup.

These problems cannot be solved by science

alone. In the midst of the complexities anduncertainties, one thing is clear: the challengesbefore us will require a similarif not greaterlevel of commitment, intelligence, and ingenuitythan was required by the Manhattan Project.

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Closing the Circle on the Splitting of the Atom - 1 Overview pages 1_9.pdf