The national park designation brings the force of federal law into insuring that Project sites will be preserved and accessible to the public. In all, over 40 properties are officially designated as part of the park, with provision for adding others later; those already designated include the B Reactor at Hanford, Y-12 Calutron buildings at Oak Ridge, buildings at Los Alamos where the first bombs were assembled, and Oppenheimer’s house at Los Alamos. Going forward, the Departments of Energy and Interior will develop protocols for ensuring safe public access, preservation, and interpretive materials. Future generations will have the privilege of visiting places and artifacts from one of the most remarkable undertakings in human history.
References
[1] Reed B C 2014 Atomic Bomb: The Story of the Manhattan Project (San Rafael, CA: Morgan & Claypool)
[2] Norris R S and Kristensen H M 2012 Nuclear pursuits Bull. At. Sci. 68 94–8
[3] Walker J R 2011 British Nuclear Weapons Stockpiles, 1953-78 RUSI J. 156 66–72
[4] Norris R S and Kristensen H M 2009 US Nuclear warheads, 1945–2009 Bull. At. Sci. 65 72–81
[5] Kristensen H M and Norris R S 2013 Global nuclear weapons inventories, 1945–2013 Bull. At. Sci. 69 75–81
[6] Norris R S and Arkin W M 1998 Known Nuclear Tests Worldwide Bull. At. Sci. 54 65–7
[7] http://open.defense.gov/Portals/23/Documents/frddwg/2015_Tables_UNCLASS.pdf
[8] Kristensen H M and Norris R S 2016 Chinese nuclear forces Bull. At. Sci. 72 205–11
[9] Kristensen H M and Norris R S 2016 US nuclear forces Bull. At. Sci. 72 63–73
[10] Kristensen H M and Norris R S 2017 Russian nuclear forces Bull. At. Sci. 73 115–26
[11] Kristensen H M and Norris R S 2014 Worldwide deployments of nuclear weapons Bull. At. Sci. 70 96–108
[12] Kristensen H M and Norris R S 2014 Israeli nuclear weapons Bull. At. Sci. 70 97–115
[13] Kristensen H M and Norris R S 2015 Indian nuclear forces Bull. At. Sci. 71 77–83
[14] Kristensen H M and Norris R S 2016 Pakistani nuclear forces Bull. At. Sci. 72 368–76
[15] Podvig P 2010 Phys. Soc. 39 12–5
[16] http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CPRT-113HPRT91496/pdf/CPRT-113HPRT91496.pdf the Park provision is on pages 1245–1257
IOP Concise Physics
The Manhattan Project
A very brief introduction to the physics of nuclear weapons
B Cameron Reed
* * *
Chapter 8
Bibliography
The Manhattan Project has been the subject of thousands of books, articles, technical papers, documentaries, and even movies and plays of various levels of factual accuracy. This tabulation of sources and links is intended to provide an entry into the vast literature on the Project by listing some widely-respected sources within a number of sub-categories. For more detailed lists, see the three Resource Letters by the author in the first category below. Electronic addresses are enclosed with
Official histories, semi-popular synoptic works, and annotated bibliographies
Coster-Mullen J 2016 Atom Bombs: The Top Secret Inside Story of Little Boy and Fat Man (Waukesha, WI: Coster-Mullen)
Fermi R and Samra E 1995 Picturing the Bomb: Photographs from the Secret World of the Manhattan Project (New York: Henry M Abrams)
Gosling F G 2010 The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb (Washington: US Department of Energy)
Hawkins D 1947 Manhattan District History. Project Y: The Los Alamos Project Volume I Inception until August 1945 (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory)
Hersey J 1989 Hiroshima (New York: Vintage)
Hewlett R G and Anderson O E Jr 1962 A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Vol. 1: The New World, 1939/1946 (Pennsylvania, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park)
Jones V C 1985 United States Army in World War II: Special Studies - Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb (Washington DC: Center of Military History, United States Army)
Los Alamos: Beginning of an Era 2002 (Los Alamos: Los Alamos Historical Society)
Manhattan District History
Reed B C 2005 Resource Letter MP-1: The Manhattan Project and related nuclear research Am. J. Phys. 73 805–11
Reed B C 2011 Resource Letter MP-2: The Manhattan Project and related nuclear research Am. J. Phys. 79 151–63
Reed B C 2016 Resource Letter MP-3: The Manhattan Project and related nuclear research Am. J. Phys. 84 734–45
Reed B C 2016 A Compendium of Striking Manhattan Project Quotes History of Physics Newsletter XIII (4) 2 8–14
Reed B C 2014 The History and Science of the Manhattan Project (Heidelberg: Springer)
Reed B C 2015 Atomic Bomb: The Story of the Manhattan Project. How nuclear physics became a global geopolitical game-changer (San Rafael, CA: Morgan & Claypool)
Reed B C 2014 The Manhattan Project Phys. Scr. 89 108003
Reed B C 2015 Nuclear weapons at 70: reflections on the context and legacy of the Manhattan Project Phys. Scr. 90 088001
Rhodes R 1986 The Making of the Atomic Bomb (New York: Simon and Schuster)
Rhodes R 1995 Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb (New York: Simon and Schuster)
Smyth H D 1945 Atomic Energy for Military Purposes: The Official Report on the Development of the Atomic Bomb Under the Auspices of the United States Government, 1940–1945 (Princeton: Princeton University Press)
Stoff M B, Fanton J F and Williams R H 1991 The Manhattan Project: A Documentary Introduction to the Atomic Age (New York: McGraw-Hill)
The Manhattan Engineer District 1946 The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Truslow E C 1973 Manhattan District History: Nonscientific Aspects of Los Alamos Project Y 1942 through 1946 (Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory)
Wilcox W J 2009 An Overview of the History of Y-12, 1942–1945 Second edition edn (Oak Ridge, TN: The Secret City Store)
Technical Books and Papers
Bainbridge K T 1976 Trinity. Los Alamos report LA-6300-H
Bernstein J 2007 Plutonium: A History of the World’s Most Dangerous Element (Washington DC: Joseph Henry Press)
Bernstein J 2008 Nuclear Weapons: What You Need to Know (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Broyles A A 1982 Nuclear explosions Am. J. Phys. 50 586–94
Cannon S 2002 The Hanford Site Historic District—Manhattan Project 1943–1946, Cold War Era 1947–1990 (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory) DOE/RL-97-1047
Carlisle R P and Zenzen J M 1996 Supplying the Nuclear Arsenal: American Production Reactors, 1942–1992 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press)
Department of Energy 1982 The First Reactor (Washington, DC: US Department of Energy)
Department of Energy Nevada Operations Office: United States Nuclear Tests July 1945 through September 1992 (Report DOE/NV-209 REV 15)
Fermi E 1952 Experimental Production of a Divergent Chain Reaction Am. J. Phys. 20 536–58
Gerber M S 1996 The Plutonium Production Story at Hanford Site: Process and Facilities History (Richland, WA: Westinghouse
Hanford Company) Report WHC-MR-0521
Glasstone S and Dolan P J 1977 The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (Washington, DC: United States Department of Defense and Energy Research and Development Agency)
Harvey D History of the Hanford Site 1943–1990 (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)
Historic American Engineering Record: B Reactor (105-B) Building, HAER No WA-164. DOE/RL-2001-16 2001 (Richland, WA: United States Department of Energy)
Hoddeson L, Henriksen P W, Meade R A and Westfall C 1993 Critical Assembly: A Technical History of Los Alamos during the Oppenheimer Years (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Penney W G, Samuels D E J and Scorgie G C 1970 The Nuclear explosive yields at Hiroshima and Nagasaki Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London A266 357–424
Reed B C 2017 An examination of the potential fission-bomb weaponizability of nuclides other than 235U and 239Pu Am. J. Phys. 85 38–44
Reed B C 2016 A Physicist’s Guide to The Los Alamos Primer. Phys. Scr. 91 113002 (Erratum: 2016 Phys. Scr. 91 129601)
Reed B C 2015 The Physics of the Manhattan Project 3rd edn (Heidelberg: Springer)
Reed B C 2015 Note on the minimum critical mass for a tamped fission bomb core Am. J. Phys. 83 969–71
Reed B C 2011 Fission fizzles: Estimating the yield of a predetonated nuclear weapon Am. J. Phys. 79 769–73
Reed B C 2010 Predetonation probability of a fission-bomb core Am. J. Phys. 78 804–8
Reed B C 2009 A Brief Primer on tamped fission-bomb cores Am. J. Phys. 77 730–3
Reed B C 2007 Arthur Compton’s 1941 report on explosive fission of U-235: A look at the physics Am. J. Phys. 75 1065–72
Sartori L 1983 Effects of nuclear weapons Phys. Today 36 32–41
Schwartz S I 1995 Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of US Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press)
Serber R 1992 The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How To Build An Atomic Bomb (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press)
United States Strategic Bombing Survey: The Effects of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Washington, 1946)
Biographies and Autobiographies
Bernstein J 2004 Oppenheimer: Portrait of an Enigma (Chicago, IL: Ivan R Dee)
Bird K and Sherwin M J 2005 American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer (New York: Knopf)
Brown A 1997 The Neutron and the Bomb: A Biography of Sir James Chadwick (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Cassidy D C 2005 J Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century (New York: Pi Press)
Compton A H 1956 Atomic Quest: A personal narrative (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
Frisch O R 1979 What Little I Remember (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Ford K W 2015 Building the H-Bomb: A Personal History (Singapore: World Scientific)
Goodchild P 1980 J Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds (London: British Broadcasting Corporation)
Groves L R 1983 Now It Can be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project (New York: Da Capo Press)
Lanouette W and Silard B 2013 Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, The Man Behind the Bomb (New York: Skyhorse Publishing)
Norris R S 2002 Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R Groves, the Manhattan Project’s Indispensable Man (Royalton, VT: Steerforth Press)
Pais A and Crease R P 2006 J Robert Oppenheimer: A Life (Oxford: Oxford University)
Peierls R 1985 Bird of Passage: Recollections of a Physicist (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press)
Segrè E 1970 Enrico Fermi, Physicist (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press)
Sime R L 1996 Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press)
Sweeney C W, Antonucci J A and Antonucci M K 1997 War’s End: An Eyewitness Account of America’s Last Atomic Mission (New York: Avon)
Websites
AHF The Atomic Heritage Foundation website contains numerous documents, photographs, biographical profiles, and oral-history interviews with participants of the Project
ALSOS The Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues provides a vetted, annotated bibliography of over 3000 books, articles, CDs, films and websites on a broad range of nuclear issues
Atomic Archive The Atomic Archive is part of the Science Digital Library funded by the National Science Foundation, and offers an extensive collection of photos, restored films, and copies of documents; a CD is available
BAS The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists offers extensive discussions of nuclear weapons and energy issues as well as frequent updates on the status of nuclear weapons deployments
DoE The Department of Energy maintains an extensive website on the Manhattan project
FAS The Federation of American Scientists offers a website containing copies of hundreds of Los Alamos technical documents and reports
LANL The history website of Los Alamos National laboratory
Manhattan Physics This website is maintained by this author, and makes freely available a number of spreadsheets and programs for performing physics calculations like those in my book The Physics of the Manhattan Project. Also available are a Manhattan project timeline and copies of the Resource Letter papers listed above
Nuclear Secrecy Historian of science Alex Wellerstein maintains a blog about nuclear secrecy; particularly interesting is an interactive nukemap application that allows users to see the effect of detonating a nuclear weapon of a given yield at a given location
Nuclear Weapon Archive This extensive website includes material on wartime, postwar, and current nuclear weapons issues, and links to other interesting sites
Trinity The official Los Alamos report on the Trinity test
IOP Concise Physics
The Manhattan Project
A very brief introduction to the physics of nuclear weapons
B Cameron Reed
* * *
Glossary of Symbols
Some symbols are used to represent more than one quantity. In some cases, section numbers where a symbol is introduced or prominently used are indicated in [square brackets].
Symbol Meaning and comments
A Atomic weight (g mol−1); mass number
AD Absorbed dose in analysis of radioactivity exposure [6.4]
Afissile Atomic weight (g mol−1) of fissile material in analysis of (α, n) reactions [2.6]
Aimpurity Atomic weight (g mol−1) of impurity material in analysis of (α, n) reactions [2.6]
B Magnetic field strength an analysis of isotope separation [4.1]
BED Biological Equivalent Dose in analysis of radioactivity exposure [6.4]
C
i Curie; rate of radioactive decays. 1 Ci = 3.7 × 1010 s−1
E Energy
Ebarr Fission barrier energy [2.5]
Ef Energy per fission (MeV)
EMeV Decay energy in MeV in analysis of radioactivity exposure [6.4]
F Enrichment of feed fuel in a reactor [4.3]
G Number of fission generations [2.2]
Mbare ‘Untamped’ critical mass corresponding to critical radius Rbare (below)
Mcore Mass of bomb core
N Number of nuclei [2.2]; number of neutrons in nucleus [2.5]; density of neutrons in detonating core [3.4]
NA Avogadro’s number
Rate of neutron emission from background sources [5.1]
P Pressure; power in analysis of plutonium production in a reactor [4.3]
Pno-pre Probability that core will not pre-detonate
P0 Initial gas pressure in adiabatic expansion of gun-bomb triggering [5.2]
Q General symbol for energy released in a reaction, usually in MeV; radiation damage factor [6.4]
The Manhattan Project Page 13
