The New World: a History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) - Volume 1, 1939 to 1946 - the Race for the Atomic Bomb, Uranium 235, Plutonium, Controlling the Bomb After World War II

The New World: a History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) - Volume 1, 1939 to 1946 - the Race for the Atomic Bomb, Uranium 235, Plutonium, Controlling the Bomb After World War II PDF Author: Atomic Energy Commission
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781973517689
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 499

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Book Description
This is the highly regarded official history of the birth of the atomic age and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The foreword states: No other development in our lifetime has been fraught with such consequences for good or evil as has atomic fission. None has raised such challenging questions for the historian, the economist, the armed forces, the scientists and the engineers. The wartime scientific developments produced significant new techniques in public administration which came to be more widely used after the war, such as the enlistment of university and private contractors to perform new types of government activities. The fresh light this volume throws on the early history of these new techniques may prove helpful in clarifying current problems of conflict of interest in the "military-industrial complex." Unlike the history of the proximity fuze the development of atomic weapons was an international achievement to which great contributions were made by European as well as American scientists and engineers. All were spurred by the agonizing fear that the Nazis were well ahead of the free world in the development of atomic weapons.CHAPTER 1 - THE INHERITANCE * CHAPTER 2 - IN THE BEGINNING * Discovery of fission; first efforts to gain federal support for nuclear research; growing interest in military potential; all-out investigation of atomic weapons * CHAPTER 3 - EXPLORING THE ROUTES TO THE WEAPON * OSRD efforts to select best production process; expand project 1942 * CHAPTER 4 - COMMITMENT * Decisions leading to the report committing the United States to producing bomb * CHAPTER 5 - RACE FOR THE BOMB: URANIUM 235 * Construction of Oak Ridge; evolution of isotope-separation plants from research through design, development, construction * CHAPTER 6 - RACE FOR THE BOMB: PLUTONIUM * Evolution of the Oak Ridge and Hanford piles and separation plants; selection of Hanford site and construction of plant. * CHAPTER 7 - LABORATORY SET ON A HILL * Selection of the Los Alamos site; organization of weapons laboratory; research and development; implosion and gun; crisis in 1944 * CHAPTER 8 - UNEASY PARTNERSHIP * Problems of the Anglo-American alliance; end of interchange; Churchill's efforts to achieve a completely joint enterprise; Quebec Agreement, resumption of interchange. * CHAPTER 9 - RACE FOR THE BOMB: HOMESTRETCH * Congress and appropriations; procurement of ore and uranium supplies; completing the. production plants and initial operation, 1944-45; final development of weapon. * CHAPTER 10 - THE QUEST FOR POSTWAR PLANNING * Bush-Conant interest in postwar control; Metallurgical Laboratory concern for the future; Roosevelt, Churchill, Hyde Park Aide-Memoire; Britain and the French scientists; Stimson's last advice to Roosevelt * CHAPTER 11 - TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD * Atomic bombs in the strategy against Japan; sessions of the Interim Committee; scientific opinion and the Scientific Panel; Alamogordo; Potsdam; victory over Japan. * CHAPTER 12 - CONTROLLING THE ATOM: SEARCH FOR A POLICY * Atomic energy in the public forum; Stimson's search for a policy for international control; Army pressure for legislation * CHAPTER 13 - CONTROLLING THE ATOM: FROM POLICY TO ACTION * Rise of the scientists' opposition; McMahon's Special Committee; Army-McMahon dispute; indecision on international control; Truman-Attlee-King conference * CHAPTER 14 - LEGISLATIVE BATTLE * Vandenberg amendment and civilian control; passage of Atomic Energy Act * CHAPTER 15 - INTERNATIONAL CONTROL: LAST BEST HOPE * UN Atomic Energy Commission; drafting the Acheson-Lilienthal plan; Baruch's appointment as U. S. representative * CHAPTER 16 - INTERNATIONAL CONTROL: NO FLESH FOR THE SPIRIT * Bikini test; reactions to the U. S. proposal; explanations of American plan; stalemate with Russians; Wallace controversy * CHAPTER 17 - TIME OF TRANSITION * Appointment of U. S. AEC; Army management of Manhattan project in 1946

The New World: a History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) - Volume 1, 1939 to 1946 - the Race for the Atomic Bomb, Uranium 235, Plutonium, Controlling the Bomb After World War II

The New World: a History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) - Volume 1, 1939 to 1946 - the Race for the Atomic Bomb, Uranium 235, Plutonium, Controlling the Bomb After World War II PDF Author: Atomic Energy Commission
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781973517689
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 499

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the highly regarded official history of the birth of the atomic age and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The foreword states: No other development in our lifetime has been fraught with such consequences for good or evil as has atomic fission. None has raised such challenging questions for the historian, the economist, the armed forces, the scientists and the engineers. The wartime scientific developments produced significant new techniques in public administration which came to be more widely used after the war, such as the enlistment of university and private contractors to perform new types of government activities. The fresh light this volume throws on the early history of these new techniques may prove helpful in clarifying current problems of conflict of interest in the "military-industrial complex." Unlike the history of the proximity fuze the development of atomic weapons was an international achievement to which great contributions were made by European as well as American scientists and engineers. All were spurred by the agonizing fear that the Nazis were well ahead of the free world in the development of atomic weapons.CHAPTER 1 - THE INHERITANCE * CHAPTER 2 - IN THE BEGINNING * Discovery of fission; first efforts to gain federal support for nuclear research; growing interest in military potential; all-out investigation of atomic weapons * CHAPTER 3 - EXPLORING THE ROUTES TO THE WEAPON * OSRD efforts to select best production process; expand project 1942 * CHAPTER 4 - COMMITMENT * Decisions leading to the report committing the United States to producing bomb * CHAPTER 5 - RACE FOR THE BOMB: URANIUM 235 * Construction of Oak Ridge; evolution of isotope-separation plants from research through design, development, construction * CHAPTER 6 - RACE FOR THE BOMB: PLUTONIUM * Evolution of the Oak Ridge and Hanford piles and separation plants; selection of Hanford site and construction of plant. * CHAPTER 7 - LABORATORY SET ON A HILL * Selection of the Los Alamos site; organization of weapons laboratory; research and development; implosion and gun; crisis in 1944 * CHAPTER 8 - UNEASY PARTNERSHIP * Problems of the Anglo-American alliance; end of interchange; Churchill's efforts to achieve a completely joint enterprise; Quebec Agreement, resumption of interchange. * CHAPTER 9 - RACE FOR THE BOMB: HOMESTRETCH * Congress and appropriations; procurement of ore and uranium supplies; completing the. production plants and initial operation, 1944-45; final development of weapon. * CHAPTER 10 - THE QUEST FOR POSTWAR PLANNING * Bush-Conant interest in postwar control; Metallurgical Laboratory concern for the future; Roosevelt, Churchill, Hyde Park Aide-Memoire; Britain and the French scientists; Stimson's last advice to Roosevelt * CHAPTER 11 - TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD * Atomic bombs in the strategy against Japan; sessions of the Interim Committee; scientific opinion and the Scientific Panel; Alamogordo; Potsdam; victory over Japan. * CHAPTER 12 - CONTROLLING THE ATOM: SEARCH FOR A POLICY * Atomic energy in the public forum; Stimson's search for a policy for international control; Army pressure for legislation * CHAPTER 13 - CONTROLLING THE ATOM: FROM POLICY TO ACTION * Rise of the scientists' opposition; McMahon's Special Committee; Army-McMahon dispute; indecision on international control; Truman-Attlee-King conference * CHAPTER 14 - LEGISLATIVE BATTLE * Vandenberg amendment and civilian control; passage of Atomic Energy Act * CHAPTER 15 - INTERNATIONAL CONTROL: LAST BEST HOPE * UN Atomic Energy Commission; drafting the Acheson-Lilienthal plan; Baruch's appointment as U. S. representative * CHAPTER 16 - INTERNATIONAL CONTROL: NO FLESH FOR THE SPIRIT * Bikini test; reactions to the U. S. proposal; explanations of American plan; stalemate with Russians; Wallace controversy * CHAPTER 17 - TIME OF TRANSITION * Appointment of U. S. AEC; Army management of Manhattan project in 1946

A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission: The New World, 1939

A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission: The New World, 1939 PDF Author: Richard G. Hewlett
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear energy
Languages : en
Pages : 840

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Book Description


Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation

Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation PDF Author: Allan S. Krass
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100020054X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Originally published in 1983, this book presents both the technical and political information necessary to evaluate the emerging threat to world security posed by recent advances in uranium enrichment technology. Uranium enrichment has played a relatively quiet but important role in the history of efforts by a number of nations to acquire nuclear weapons and by a number of others to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. For many years the uranium enrichment industry was dominated by a single method, gaseous diffusion, which was technically complex, extremely capital-intensive, and highly inefficient in its use of energy. As long as this remained true, only the richest and most technically advanced nations could afford to pursue the enrichment route to weapon acquisition. But during the 1970s this situation changed dramatically. Several new and far more accessible enrichment techniques were developed, stimulated largely by the anticipation of a rapidly growing demand for enrichment services by the world-wide nuclear power industry. This proliferation of new techniques, coupled with the subsequent contraction of the commercial market for enriched uranium, has created a situation in which uranium enrichment technology might well become the most important contributor to further nuclear weapon proliferation. Some of the issues addressed in this book are: A technical analysis of the most important enrichment techniques in a form that is relevant to analysis of proliferation risks; A detailed projection of the world demand for uranium enrichment services; A summary and critique of present institutional non-proliferation arrangements in the world enrichment industry, and An identification of the states most likely to pursue the enrichment route to acquisition of nuclear weapons.

A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission: The new world, 1939

A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission: The new world, 1939 PDF Author: Richard G. Hewlett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780520071872
Category : Nuclear energy
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission: Atomic shield, 1947

A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission: Atomic shield, 1947 PDF Author: Richard G. Hewlett
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear energy
Languages : en
Pages : 782

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Book Description


WASH/ERDA Report Index

WASH/ERDA Report Index PDF Author: ERDA Library
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear energy
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description


The Energy Economy of Northwestern New Mexico with Special Reference to Uranium Development

The Energy Economy of Northwestern New Mexico with Special Reference to Uranium Development PDF Author: David John Larson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Energy development
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description


Catalog of the United States Geological Survey Library

Catalog of the United States Geological Survey Library PDF Author: U.S. Geological Survey Library
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Geology
Languages : en
Pages : 780

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Nuclear Heuristics Selected Writings of Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter

Nuclear Heuristics Selected Writings of Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter PDF Author: Robert Zarate
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781780395173
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 660

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Book Description
This publication is an edited volume of Albert and Roberta Wohlstetters' key writings relating to nuclear proliferation and national security affairs, with commentaries by the Wohlstetters' colleagues and students. It also serves as a testament to the continuing relevance of the work of Albert and Roberta Wohlstetter in the fields of nuclear and security policy analysis. Albert and Roberta wrote hundreds of articles and studies on U.S. policy on the Balkans, as well as the Persian Gulf; strategic command and control; intelligence and warning; NATO nuclear planning; U.S.-Russian arms control; strategic and theater missile defenses; the economics and military dangers of civilian nuclear energy; nuclear safeguards and nuclear nonproliferation; and military nuclear strategy and methods of policy analysis and design. Increased concern about the spread of nuclear weapons in the Far and Middle East, the controversy surrounding civilian nuclear cooperation with India, the global revival of nuclear power and debate over its economics and security implications, the controversies surrounding how the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty's obligations and rights are being cynically read by Iran and other states - all of these issues have prompted Washington pundits and national security analysts to cite the Wohlstetters' work. The same can also be said of the security concerns recently raised by Islamic fundamentalism, the continued instability of the Balkans, the questions surrounding NATO's future and America's alliances in the Far East, the relevance of nuclear deterrence after the Cold War, and the emergence of ballistic missile defense as a key ingredient in strategic forces and alliance relations. This volume can hardly cover all the insights that the Wohlstetters' work might shed on these topics. Instead, it is designed to make some of the most significant of Albert and Roberta's writings many of which were previously unpublished much more accessible.

Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project, 1939-1945

Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project, 1939-1945 PDF Author: Paul Lawrence Rose
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520927168
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 371

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Book Description
No one better represents the plight and the conduct of German intellectuals under Hitler than Werner Heisenberg, whose task it was to build an atomic bomb for Nazi Germany. The controversy surrounding Heisenberg still rages, because of the nature of his work and the regime for which it was undertaken. What precisely did Heisenberg know about the physics of the atomic bomb? How deep was his loyalty to the German government during the Third Reich? Assuming that he had been able to build a bomb, would he have been willing? These questions, the moral and the scientific, are answered by Paul Lawrence Rose with greater accuracy and breadth of documentation than any other historian has yet achieved. Digging deep into the archival record among formerly secret technical reports, Rose establishes that Heisenberg never overcame certain misconceptions about nuclear fission, and as a result the German leaders never pushed for atomic weapons. In fact, Heisenberg never had to face the moral problem of whether he should design a bomb for the Nazi regime. Only when he and his colleagues were interned in England and heard about Hiroshima did Heisenberg realize that his calculations were wrong. He began at once to construct an image of himself as a "pure" scientist who could have built a bomb but chose to work on reactor design instead. This was fiction, as Rose demonstrates: in reality, Heisenberg blindly supported and justified the cause of German victory. The question of why he did, and why he misrepresented himself afterwards, is answered through Rose's subtle analysis of German mentality and the scientists' problems of delusion and self-delusion. This fascinating study is a profound effort to understand one of the twentieth century's great enigmas.