Evening star., 1945-08-21
(Second OF Series.)
BY HOWARD w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press Science Editor.


NEW YORK, Aug. 21.-An ord
inary-looking pile of graphite bricks
gave the name "pile" to the huge
atomic ovens at Hanford, Wash.
which produce plutonium, the new
metal that explodes In atomic
Abombs.
Plutonium is a chemical element
that did not exist on earth before
the war, and Is not known in the
stars. The ovens are simply huge
piles OF graphite, pierced horizontal
" by narrow tunnels. These holes
are filled with slugs Of common
uranium.
Essentially this Swiss cheese pile
!. Is all there Is to an atomic oven.
There are control instruments, and
also ref1ectors for rays produced in
the oven. Great concrete walls and
other shields surround the piles.
The atomic fires have no flames
and make no smoke. They emit in
tense heat and five kinds Of atomic
rays. Both heat and rays come from
the process of transmutation by
which the fires change common
uranium. Plutonium replaces the
rare and explosive form Of uranium
235 Plutonium makes better bombs,
already officially called superbombs,
and can be separated from uranium
more easily. Finally 1t raises by
a hundredfold the worlds supply of
atomic power resources.
Men Don't Get Close.
Hanford, which mushroomed to
q city of $4,000, the States third
largest, during the construction Of
the great atomic reservation of
about 1000 square miles, practically
is gone. Now there are only COM
paratively few workmen, who do
little except watch dials.
All the processes of transmulta-
ton are done without human touch,
and men don't even get close, be-
cause the rays would be dangerous.
The processes are automatic.
Three great piles were built. Their
dimensions are secret, unless there
is tip in the official description of
the 8-ton, 8-foot cube of the first
pile, built in 1941 in a Columbia
University laboratory, not to make
plutonium, but merely for tests. Or
in the 6-ton, dome-shaped pile built
under the west stand of Stagg foot
ball field at the University of Chi
cago, where the first atomic fire
ever started by man was made on
December 2, 1912. This Chicago
pile would have needed 10000 years
to produce enough plutonium for
one bomb which weighs somewhere
between 4 and 400 pounds.
At Hanford, each pile is separated
by several miles. No one was sure
at first whether a pile might ex-
plode, although now they appear
rather safe.
Separated also from each pile by
several miles is man-made can
yon: A chain of vats sunk in the
ground and shielded by huge con-
crete walls. Water carries the hot
uranium from the piles into the
canyon vats to cool. CWater also
is a good shield against the rays)
Vats Separate Plutonium.
Each slug of uranium contains a
small percentage of plutonium. How
much is a secret; but the official
description in preliminary esti-
mate gave the figure of about 2
pounds of plutonium to a ton of
uranium. The vats separate this
plutonium from the uranium, which
is sent back to the ovens to make
more plutontum.
The great size OF piles and can
yons can be guessed from the water
1t comes from the Columbia River,
and so much Is used that If re-
turned Immediately, before cooling.
it would raise the temperature of
the great river. The GOODNESS and
purity of the Columbia waters were
one reason for location the pluton-
ium project there. Impurities in
water become radioactive from
transmitted uranium.
Around the piles and canyons are
'rhot brooms" which are not hot at
all. That name means that some of
the rays may pierce the hot room
walls despite shielding. Too many
of these rays would make desks ra-
dioactive, cause human hair and
plo 10 ayI ovraps tho