Y-12 National Security Complex

File:Y12 Calutron Operators.jpg operating calutron control panels at Y-12, in a US government photo by Ed Westcott.]]

Y-12 is the World War II code name for the electromagnetic isotope separation plant producing enriched uranium at the Clinton Engineer Works in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as part of the Manhattan Project. Construction began in February 1943 under the management of Stone & Webster. Because of a wartime shortage of copper, the massive electromagnetic coils were made with 14,700 tons of coinage silver from U.S. government vaults at West Point.{{cite book| author = Nichols, Kenneth D. | title = The Road to Trinity| page = 42 | year =1987| isbn = 0-688-06910-X}}{{cite web| access-date = 2017-01-06| url = http://www.tnengineering.net/AICHE/eastman-oakridge-young.htm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110318164756/http://www.tnengineering.net/AICHE/eastman-oakridge-young.htm| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2011-03-18| title = Eastman at Oak Ridge - Dr. Howard Young}} Colonel Kenneth D. Nichols met with the Under Secretary of the Treasury, Daniel W. Bell, and requested between five and ten thousand tons of silver. Bell's stunned reply was, "Colonel, in the Treasury we do not speak of tons of silver; our unit is the troy ounce." Thus the Manhattan Engineer District requested and was loaned {{convert|395|e6ozt|ST MT|lk=on}} from the West Point Depository for the duration of the Manhattan Project. Special guards and accountants were assigned to the silver, and their responsible caretaking meant that at the end of the war, less than 0.036% (14,220 oz t) of the roughly $300 million {{USDCY|300000000|1942|r=-6}} of loaned silver was lost to the process, with the remainder returned to the Treasury.{{cite web | access-date = 2009-12-09 | url = https://www.y12.doe.gov/sites/default/files/history/pdf/articles/07-10-11.pdf | title = 14,700 tons of silver at Y-12 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141027161629/https://www.y12.doe.gov/sites/default/files/history/pdf/articles/07-10-11.pdf | archive-date = 2014-10-27 | url-status = dead}}

The Y-12 facility began operating in November 1943, separating uranium-235 from natural uranium, which is 99.3% uranium-238, by using calutrons to perform electromagnetic isotope separation. Y-12 separated the uranium-235 for Little Boy, the nuclear weapon that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. K-25, another facility in Oak Ridge, produced enriched uranium using gaseous diffusion. However, K-25 did not begin operating until March 1945 and fed slightly enriched uranium to Y-12's Beta Calutrons as the push to obtain enough uranium-235 for Little Boy came in the early summer of 1945. The S-50 Thermal Diffusion Plant at the K-25 site also provided feed material for Y-12's Beta Calutrons.

Tennessee Eastman was hired by the Army Corps of Engineers to manage Y-12 during the Manhattan Project. The company transferred scientists from Kingsport, Tennessee, to Y-12 and operated the plant from 1943 to May 1947.{{Cite encyclopedia |author=Martha Avaleen Egan |url=https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/tennessee-eastman-companyeastman-chemical-company/ |title=Tennessee Eastman Company/Eastman Chemical Company |encyclopedia=Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture |year=2009 |access-date=February 14, 2013}} The Y-12 electromagnetic plant units were initially operated by scientists from UC Berkeley to remove bugs and achieve a reasonable operating rate. They were then turned over to trained Tennessee Eastman operators who had only a high school education. Nichols compared unit production data and pointed out to physicist Ernest Lawrence that the young "hillbilly" girl operators were outproducing his doctorate-holding scientists. They agreed to a production race and Lawrence lost, a morale boost for the Tennessee Eastman workers and supervisors. The girls were "trained like soldiers not to reason why", while "the scientists could not refrain from time-consuming investigation of the cause of even minor fluctuations of the dials".Nichols, Kenneth D. Ibid, page 131 The young women that worked in this capacity came to be known as "Calutron Girls."{{cite web |title=A Book Review of The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan |date=March 25, 2020 |publisher=National World War II Museum |url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/book-review-girls-atomic-city-denise-kiernan |access-date=2021-09-09 |website=nationalww2museum.org}}

The Union Carbide corporation succeeded Tennessee Eastman as the operating contractor in 1947, remaining until 1984 when Union Carbide relinquished the contract for operating DOE's Oak Ridge facilities, and the Martin Marietta corporation (later Lockheed Martin) won the contract to take over the operation. BWXT Y-12 (name later changed to B&W Y-12) succeeded Lockheed Martin as the Y-12 operator in November 2000."[http://www.y12.doe.gov/news/pdf/2002/011002.pdf Y-12 Receives 'Good' Award Fee Rating from DOE] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208161017/http://www.y12.doe.gov/news/pdf/2002/011002.pdf |date=2007-02-08}}," BWX Times, Vol. 2, No. 6 (January 10, 2002). Retrieved: February 14, 2013.

At 11 p.m. on June 16, 1958, a criticality accident occurred in the C-1 Wing of Building 9212 at the facility, then operating under the management of Union Carbide. In the incident, a solution of highly enriched uranium was mistakenly diverted into a steel drum, causing a fission reaction of 15–20 minutes duration. Eight workers were hospitalized for moderate to severe radiation sickness or exposure, but all eventually returned to work.

In June 1960, the eight workers (Bill Wilburn, O. C. Collins, Travis Rogers, R. D. Jones, Howard Wagner, T. W. Stinnett, Paul McCurry, and Bill Clark) filed suit against the Atomic Energy Commission. The suit was settled out-of-court. Wilburn, who had received the highest radiation dose, was awarded $18,000 (approximately $195,000 in 2024). Clark received $9,000 (worth approximately $97,200 in 2024).{{Cite web|first=Frank|last=Munger|url=http://knoxblogs.com/atomiccity/2014/06/14/nuclear-survivor-bill-clark-recalls-1958-criticality-accident-life-since/|title=Nuclear survivor: Bill Clark recalls 1958 criticality accident and his up-and-down life since then|date=2014-06-14|website=Atomic City Underground|access-date=April 1, 2015|archive-date=February 8, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230208072316/http://knoxblogs.com/atomiccity/2014/06/14/nuclear-survivor-bill-clark-recalls-1958-criticality-accident-life-since/|url-status=dead}} also published in Knoxville News Sentinel and Stars and Stripes. Under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, the eight later received additional compensation from the government; Clark collected multiple payments totaling about $250,000. Most, if not all, of the eight victims were diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lives.{{cite web | title=Remembering the 1958 Nuclear Criticality Accident | website=Y-12 National Security Complex | date=2023-06-15 | url=https://www.y12.doe.gov/news/blog/remembering-1958-nuclear-criticality-accident | access-date=2024-03-25}} {{As of|2023}}, Clark is the only surviving member of the eight.{{Cite web|url=https://www.y12.doe.gov/news/blog/remembering-1958-nuclear-criticality-accident|title=Remembering the 1958 Nuclear Criticality Accident | Y-12 National Security Complex|website=www.y12.doe.gov|date=2023-07-15}}

A chemical explosion injured several workers at the Y-12 facility on December 8, 1999, when NaK was cleaned up after an accidental spill, inappropriately treated with mineral oil, and inadvertently ignited when the surface coating of potassium superoxide was scratched by a metal tool.{{cite web |url=https://ncsp.tamu.edu/reports/DOE/oversight/9912y12.pdf |title=Type A Accident Investigation of the December 8, 1999, Multiple Injury Accident Resulting from the Sodium-Potassium Explosion in Building 9201-5 at the Y-12 Plant |publisher=U.S. Department of Energy |date=February 2000}}

At 9 a.m. on February 22, 2023, a fire broke out in a uranium processing area of Building 9212.{{Cite web |title=Fire contained at Tennessee uranium processing facility, nuclear safety officials say |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/22/fire-tennessee-uranium-nuclear-facility/11325882002/ |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=USA Today |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Blitzer |first=Ronn |date=2023-02-22 |title=Emergency services respond to uranium fire at National Nuclear Security Administration complex in Tennessee |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/emergency-services-respond-uranium-fire-national-nuclear-security-administration-complex-tennessee |access-date=2023-02-22 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}} In a statement from the National Nuclear Security Administration, the fire was said to be contained later the same day.

Y-12's primary missions since the end of the Cold War have been to support defense needs through stockpile stewardship, assist on issues of nuclear non-proliferation, support the Naval Reactors program, and provide expertise to other federal agencies.{{Cite web|url=http://www.y12.doe.gov|title=Y-12 National Security Complex|website=www.y12.doe.gov}} Y-12 is also responsible for the maintenance and production of all uranium parts and "secondary" mechanisms for every nuclear weapon in the United States arsenal.

Y-12 has a history of providing secure storage of nuclear material for both the United States and other governments. Early efforts focused on securing material from the former Soviet Union;{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/20/AR2009092002881.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | first=David E. | last=Hoffman | title=Half a Ton of Uranium -- and a Long Flight | date=2009-09-21}} recent activities have included recovery of highly enriched uranium from Chile.{{cite web|first=Frank |last=Munger |url=http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2010/04/three_from_y-12_helped_secure.html |title=Three from Y-12 Helped Secure Chile's HEU |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100719074122/http://blogs.knoxnews.com/munger/2010/04/three_from_y-12_helped_secure.html |archive-date=July 19, 2010 |website=Knoxville News Sentinel| date=April 8, 2010 |access-date=February 14, 2013}} Environmental cleanup has been an ongoing issue for the Department of Energy in Oak Ridge. The Y-12 plant was listed as an EPA Superfund site in the 1990s for groundwater and soil contamination. The Y-12 plant was listed on the DOE's Cleanup Criteria/Decision Document Database (or C2D2 database).{{cite web| url=http://c2d2.eml.doe.gov/index.cfm?target=im.cfm |title=Cleanup Criteria / Decision Document Database |website=Department of Energy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060923012247/http://c2d2.eml.doe.gov/index.cfm?target=im.cfm |archive-date=September 23, 2006}} An influx of funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act benefited cleanup efforts by funding demolition and decontamination of aging facilities.{{Cite web |title=Y-12 Stimulus Fund Grows, New Projects May Follow |url=http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/aug/18/y-12-stimulus-fund-grows-new-projects-may-follow/ |access-date=February 14, 2013 |date=August 18, 2010 |website=Knoxville News Sentinel |first=Frank |last=Munger |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010193059/http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/aug/18/y-12-stimulus-fund-grows-new-projects-may-follow/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-10-10|language=en-US}} These efforts work to further the long-term reduction in the size of the Y-12 facility.{{Cite web |first=John |last=Huotari |title=Officials say Uranium Processing Facility supporters outnumber opponents |url=https://www.oakridger.com/story/news/local/2009/11/30/officials-say-uranium-processing-facility/63365790007/ |access-date=2025-05-01 |date=2009-11-30 |website=The Oak Ridger |language=en-US}}

Y-12 employs approximately 8,600 people, including subcontractors.{{Cite web |title=Community {{!}} Y-12 National Security Complex |url=https://www.y12.doe.gov/about/community |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=www.y12.doe.gov}} About 1,500 personnel work onsite as employees of organizations that include UT-Battelle, Science Applications International Corporation, UCOR, and WSI Oak Ridge (an American-controlled unit of G4S Secure Solutions), which holds the security contract for the site. Workers at the site were represented by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Bischak |first=Greg |editor-last1=Dumas |editor-first1=Lloyd J. |editor-last2=Thee |editor-first2=Marek |encyclopedia=Making Peace Possible: The Promise of Economic Conversion |title=Facing the Second Generation of the Nuclear Weapons Complex: Renewal of the Nuclear Production Base or Economic Conversion? |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=brijBQAAQBAJ |access-date=2022-03-20 |year=1989 |publisher=Pergamon Press |series=Peace Research Monograph |volume=19 |isbn=0-08-037252X |page=115}}

File:Orepa-2011-y12-rally-tn3.jpg

Since 1988, Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance has organized non-violent direct action protests at the Y-12 Complex, in an effort to close down the weapons plant. Sister Mary Dennis Lentsch, a Catholic nun, has been arrested many times for protesting at the Oak Ridge facility.{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna20183587 |title=Nun sentenced for protesting nuke plant - US news - Crime & courts - NBCNews.com |website=NBC News |date=August 8, 2007 |access-date=2012-08-28}} She has said, "I believe the continuing weapons production at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is in direct violation of the treaty obligations of the United States and consequently, is a violation of Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution".{{cite web |url=http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/jul/05/protesters-plan-morning-resistance-y-12/ |title=Y-12 protests nets dozens of arrests |author=Frank Munger |date=2010-07-05 |work=Knoxville News Sentinel }}

In 2011, the Rev. William J. Bichsel, an 84-year-old priest, received a prison sentence of three months for trespassing on federal property at the Y-12 complex.{{cite web |url=http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/09/13/1822294/the-rev-bill-bichsel-of-tacoma.html#storylink=cpy |title= Rev. Bill Bichsel of Tacoma sentenced to 3 months for Y-12 protest in Tennessee |date=2011-09-13 |work=The News Tribune |agency=Associated Press}}{{dead link|date=June 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/sep/13/priest-recommits-self-to-injustice-then-sent-to/|title=Priest recommits self to injustice ... then sent to prison|first=Jamie |last=Satterfield|work=Knoxville News Sentinel | url-status=dead |date=2011-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015063918/http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/sep/13/priest-recommits-self-to-injustice-then-sent-to/ |archive-date=2012-10-15|access-date=2025-05-01}} In 2012, there were protests about the new uranium processing facility.{{cite web |url=http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/apr/21/protesters-rally-against-new-y-12-uranium/ |title=Protesters rally against new Y-12 uranium facility |author= Lance Coleman |date=2012-04-21 |work=Knoxville News Sentinel }}

In July 2012, Sister Megan Rice, an 82-year-old Catholic sister of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, and two military veterans, Gregory Boertje-Obed, and Michael Walli, entered the Y-12 complex. They were all Plowshares activists, and they chose Y-12 because of its crucial role in the production of nuclear weapons. They spray-painted anti-war slogans on the exterior of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, a structure for storing weapons-grade uranium.{{cite book |last=Sargent |first=Carole |author-link= |date=2021-02-02 |title=Transform Now Plowshares: Megan Rice, Gregory Boertje-Obed, and Michael Walli |url= https://litpress.org/Products/3722/Transform-Now-Plowshares|location= |publisher= Liturgical Press|isbn=9780814637227}} The anti-nuclear activists, who got past fences and disabled security sensors before dawn on July 28, spent several hours in the complex, spray-painted peace messages, and prayed and sang before they were stopped by guards. The security breach prompted private experts to criticize the Department of Energy's safeguarding of nuclear materials.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/us/pacifists-who-broke-into-nuclear-weapon-facility-due-in-court.html?_r=1&ref=atomicweapons |title=Security Questions Are Raised by Break-In at a Nuclear Site |author=Matthew L. Wald |date=2012-08-07 |work=The New York Times }} The DOE-OIG found that all of the defenses for the plant were insufficient and that the security response had "troubling displays of ineptitude."{{cite web |url=http://www.stripes.com/news/us/18-months-after-security-breach-former-y-12-nuclear-weapons-plant-boss-tells-his-story-1.268183 |title=18 months after security breach, former Y-12 nuclear weapons plant boss tells his story |last1=Munger |first1=Frank |date=2014-02-17 |website=www.stripes.com |publisher=Knoxville News Sentinel, Tenn. |access-date=2014-02-17}} On May 9, 2013, the three were convicted of sabotage. In her testimony, Sister Rice said, "I regret I didn't do this 70 years ago."{{Cite web |last=Koplowitz |first=Howard |date=2013-05-09 |title=Nun Shows No Remorse For US Nuclear Site Break-In |url=https://www.ibtimes.com/nun-83-convicted-breaking-tennessee-nuclear-site-my-regret-was-i-waited-70-years-sister-megan-rice |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=International Business Times |language=en-US}}

• Anti-nuclear protests in the United States
• COLEX process (isotopic separation)
• Fogbank
• Vulnerability of nuclear plants to attack

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website}}
• [http://www.doe.gov/ United States Department of Energy]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050519043317/http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/ National Nuclear Security Administration]
• [http://www.atomicarchive.com/Maps/Oakridge.shtml A map of Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the time of the Manhattan Project]
• Digitized historical technical reports from Oak Ridge Y-12 from the TRAIL project, hosted at [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Search/Home?lookfor=%22Oak+Ridge+Y-12+Plant.%22&type=author&inst= HathiTrust]

{{Manhattan Project}}

{{U.S. anti-nuclear}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Nuclear weapons infrastructure of the United States

Category:United States Department of Energy facilities

Category:Buildings and structures in Anderson County, Tennessee

Category:Industrial buildings and structures in Tennessee

Category:Isotope separation facilities

Category:Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Category:Manhattan Project sites

Category:Isotope separation facilities of the Manhattan Project

Category:Military history of Tennessee

Category:Military research of the United States

Category:1943 establishments in Tennessee

Category:Anti-nuclear protests in the United States

Category:Nuclear accidents and incidents in the United States

Category:Superfund sites in Tennessee