Dayton Project

The Dayton Project was a research effort during World War II to make a special material called polonium. This work was part of the larger Manhattan Project, which aimed to build the first atomic bombs. People worked on this project in and around Dayton, Ohio.

The project started in 1943 when a scientist named Charles Allen Thomas from Monsanto was asked to help with making plutonium. Scientists needed a way to start the reactions in atomic bombs, and they found that polonium mixed with beryllium could do this. So Thomas began making polonium in laboratories in Dayton. Unlike other parts of the Manhattan Project, this work happened in a busy city rather than a remote area. It continued until 1949, when the work moved to the Mound Laboratories in nearby Miamisburg, Ohio.

The team at the Dayton Project learned how to get polonium from natural materials and from special targets hit by neutrons in a nuclear reactor. The polonium they made was used in the neutron starters for both types of atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki — called Little Boy and Fat Man. The role of polonium in these bombs was kept secret until the 1960s. Interestingly, a man named George Koval worked on the project but secretly shared information with the Soviet Union.

Background

During World War II, a chemist named Charles Allen Thomas joined a group working on new explosives. Later, he met with important leaders of a big science project called the Manhattan Project, which aimed to build an atomic bomb. They wanted Thomas to help with the project, but he chose to stay close to his family and his job.

Thomas helped make a special material called polonium, which was needed to start the reactions inside the atomic bombs. This work became known as the Dayton Project.

Organization

Thomas gathered important people from Monsanto's Thomas and Hochwalt Laboratories in Dayton, Ohio, such as Caroll Hochwalt, James Lum, and Nicholas Samaras. Thomas became the leader of the Dayton Project, with Hochwalt as the assistant leader and Lum as the laboratory leader. They needed about twelve chemists, so Lum started bringing in professors, students, and chemists from nearby universities and labs. The first group began in August 1943, and most of them had never worked with radiochemistry before. The team grew from 46 members at the end of 1943 to 334 by the end of 1946, including 34 members from the Army's Special Engineer Detachment.

Locations

Office space was first found in the Monsanto offices at 1515 Nicholas Rd, called Unit I. Unit II was at Monsanto’s Rocket Propellant works near Ohio State Route 741, but it was not used by the Dayton Project and mainly handled explosives, not radioactive materials.

A laboratory was set up at 1601 W. First Street, originally the Bonebrake Seminary. This three-story building was leased by Monsanto in October 1943 and turned into Unit III. Repairs were made, and new buildings like guard houses and a storage shed were added. More temporary buildings were added in 1945.

As space ran out, Monsanto also took over the Runnymede Playhouse in Oakwood, turning it into Unit IV. This property was remodeled to include new heating, air conditioning, and security measures. In May 1945, Monsanto also rented space at a warehouse on East Third Street from General Electric for storing equipment and conducting studies.

Research

Polonium was a rare, silvery metal that glowed with a strange purple light in the dark. It was found in small amounts in certain ores, and scientists needed it for important experiments during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bombs.

Researchers tried three different ways to extract polonium from the ores. One method used a special acid to dissolve the ore and collect the polonium on metal sheets. Another method tried to heat the ore to turn polonium into vapor, but this caused problems with dust and contamination. The third method also used acids and worked well, but it was only used for small tests because a better way to get polonium was found later.

Production

Polonium could be made by sending neutrons through a material called bismuth. In 1943, small amounts of polonium were made in special machines called cyclotrons. But a bigger plan called the Manhattan Project, which aimed to build the first atomic bombs, showed that nuclear reactors could make lots of polonium this way.

Workers used bismuth bricks that were treated in a nuclear reactor. These bricks were sent to a facility in Dayton, Ohio, where they were processed to extract the polonium. Later, more powerful reactors at the Hanford Site in Washington became the main source. The polonium extracted was used in important parts of the atomic bombs. By the end of 1946, large amounts of polonium were being produced and sent to Los Alamos for testing and use in the bombs.

Health and safety

Workers on the Dayton Project had special rules to stay safe. They could not eat or smoke in areas where they processed materials, and they had to wash their hands very well before leaving these places. The scientists wore protective gloves and had to wash their hands with special liquids and soap before lunch or the end of their shift. They also took urine tests each week to make sure they were healthy. Even though working with the materials was tricky, tests made it easy to track any issues.

Espionage

During World War II, a man named George Koval worked on important secret projects in the United States. He shared secret information about making a special material with another country. Later, leaders of that country honored him for his actions. This information stayed secret for many years before people learned about it.

George Koval was drafted into the United States Army in 1943, and was inducted into the Manhattan Project's Special Engineer Detachment. He was initially assigned to the Clinton Engineer Works, where his job as a health physics officer gave him access to much of the site. He began passing secrets relating to the production of polonium at Oak Ridge to the Soviet Union through his GRU (Soviet military intelligence) handler code-named "Clyde". In 1945 Koval was transferred to Dayton. Again, his job as a health physics officer gave him wide access to the secret installation. In 2007 Russian President Vladimir Putin posthumously awarded Koval a gold star, making him a hero of the Russian Federation for his work as the GRU spy "Delmar". Russian officials stated that the initiator for their Joe-1 bomb had been "prepared to the recipe provided by Delmar".

Initiators

After a scientist named Leonard I. Schiff suggested that a special part could make a bomb work better, leaders approved its use in the design of the bomb called Little Boy. These parts, known as initiators, were tested to make sure they could handle rough handling during travel. Some of these initiators were used in a bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

Another type of initiator, called "urchin," was used in a different bomb dropped on Nagasaki. This initiator needed to release many tiny particles very quickly to help the bomb explode more powerfully. Inside it was a small sphere made of beryllium, covered in a special metal and coated with a material called polonium. When the bomb exploded, this setup caused the materials to mix and release the needed particles to start the reaction.

Mound Laboratories

By 1945, the Dayton Project was very important, so the Manhattan Project decided to make it a permanent facility. Instead of moving to Oak Ridge, they chose a site near Dayton because few staff wanted to move to Tennessee, and there were concerns about dangers at another location. A suitable site was found in Miamisburg, about 19 kilometers from Dayton, next to a state park with a large ancient Indian burial mound. This gave the Mound Laboratories its name.

Construction began in May 1946. The laboratories were built underground to protect against attacks, with safety features against certain types of weapons. The first building was finished in May 1948, and production of a special material started in February 1949. In total, 14 major buildings were constructed, covering 34,000 square meters, at a cost of $25.5 million. The site was kept very secure due to fears of attacks.

Site cleanup

After World War II, some buildings used for the Dayton Project were torn down or sold to new owners. In 1996, officials decided that the cleanup of these sites was good enough and did not need more work. However, some people in the local community felt that the cleanup should have been even better. In 2004 and 2005, a review was done to check again, and it was found that there were no dangerous materials left that needed more cleaning.

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Main articles: Department of Energy, Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program
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