67-624: The Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee , near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory . It was built as part of the Manhattan Project for the purpose of enriching uranium for the first atomic bombs. In the years after World War II, it has been operated as a manufacturing facility for nuclear weapons components. Y-12
134-653: A gold-colored symbolic sun , atom , oil derrick , windmill , and dynamo . It is crested by the white head of an eagle , atop a white rope. Both appear on a blue field surrounded by concentric circles in which the name of the agency, in gold, appears on a green background." "The eagle represents the care in planning and the purposefulness of efforts required to respond to the Nation's increasing demands for energy . The sun , atom , oil derrick , windmill , and dynamo serve as representative technologies whose enhanced development can help meet these demands. The rope represents
201-414: A labor shortage, there were not enough scientists to operate all of them, and many young men were fighting in the war overseas, so the government recruited farm girls to operate the calutrons instead. Local women were recruited because they were readily available, accustomed to hard work and were expected not to ask excessive questions and to be loyal and docile. The Tennessee Eastman Company , which ran
268-564: A political appointee of the President of the United States . The Energy Secretary is assisted in managing the department by a United States Deputy Secretary of Energy , also appointed by the president, who assumes the duties of the secretary in the secretary's absence. The department also has three under secretaries, each appointed by the president, who oversee the major areas of the department's work. The president also appoints seven officials with
335-624: 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
402-587: A second Little Boy would have been available by December 1945). On August 6, 1945, when the US dropped the first bomb , "Little Boy," on Hiroshima, Japan, the Calutron Girls were finally told what they had been working on. Some women were working and others were in their dorm rooms when someone came and told them that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Japan, and everyone there had played a part in making it. Several Calutron Girls had mixed feelings about their part in
469-619: A specific nuclear device. Wen Ho Lee was accused of stealing nuclear secrets from Los Alamos National Laboratory for the People's Republic of China . Federal officials, including then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson , publicly named Lee as a suspect before he was charged with a crime. The U.S. Congress held hearings to investigate the Department of Energy's handling of his case. Republican senators thought that an independent agency should be in charge of nuclear weapons and security issues, rather than
536-474: 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
603-542: Is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production , the research and development of nuclear power , the military's nuclear weapons program , nuclear reactor production for the United States Navy , energy-related research, and energy conservation . The DOE was created in 1977 in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis . It sponsors more physical science research than any other U.S. federal agency,
670-504: Is focused on a particular energy challenge. Two of the eight hubs are included in the EERE budget and will focus on integrating smart materials, designs, and systems into buildings to better conserve energy and on designing and discovering new concepts and materials needed to convert solar energy into electricity. Another two hubs, included in the DOE Office of Science budget, were created to tackle
737-612: Is managed and operated under contract by Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS), which is composed of member companies Bechtel , Leidos , Orbital ATK , and SOC , with Booz Allen Hamilton as a teaming subcontractor. CNS also operates the Pantex in Texas, the primary United States nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. Y-12 is the World War II code name for the electromagnetic isotope separation plant producing enriched uranium at
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#1732848993879804-399: Is then ionized and put in a vacuum chamber with a magnetic field . When the charged particles move through the magnetic field, they move in a curve, the radius of which is proportional to the mass of the particles. The two isotopes differ in mass by about 1% and can thus be separated. The operation was relatively simple, but it required people to constantly monitor the calutrons. Due to
871-630: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act benefited cleanup efforts by funding demolition and decontamination of aging facilities. These efforts work to further the long-term reduction in the size of the Y-12 facility. CNS Y-12 currently employs approximately 4,700 people. About 1,500 additional 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
938-625: 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. Colonel Kenneth D. Nichols met with the Under Secretary of
1005-483: The Manhattan Project at the Y-12 National Security Complex located at Oak Ridge, Tennessee , from 1943 to 1945. Although they were not allowed to know at the time, they were monitoring dials and watching meters for calutrons , mass spectrometers adapted for separation of uranium isotopes for the development of nuclear weapons for use during World War II . The enriched uranium was used to make
1072-493: The World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), an international non-governmental organization designed to provide a forum to share best practices in strengthening the security and safety of nuclear and radioactive materials and facilities. The department announced a reorganization with new names of under secretaries in 2022. The department is under the control and supervision of a United States Secretary of Energy ,
1139-519: The earth itself, and gold represents the creation of energy in the release of natural forces. By invoking this symbolism , the color scheme represents the Nation's commitment to meet its energy needs in a manner consistent with the preservation of the natural environment ." The Department of Energy operates a system of national laboratories and technical facilities for research and development, as follows: Other major DOE facilities include: Airstrip: The DOE/ NNSA has federal responsibility for
1206-474: The " Little Boy " atomic bomb for the Hiroshima nuclear bombing on August 6, 1945. During World War II , the United States established the Manhattan Project to develop nuclear weapons . This required uranium-235 (U ), the fissionable isotope of uranium. However, the vast majority of uranium mined from the ground is uranium-238 , while only 0.7% is U . Scientists developed several processes for separating
1273-627: The DOE. All but one of the 59 charges against Lee were eventually dropped because the investigation proved the plans the Chinese obtained could not have come from Lee. Lee filed suit and won a $ 1.6 million settlement against the federal government and news agencies. The episode eventually led to the creation of the National Nuclear Security Administration , a semi-autonomous agency within the department. In 2001, American Solar Challenge
1340-400: The Department of Energy with the goal of promoting energy conservation and energy independence, and developing alternative sources of energy to reduce the use of fossil fuels . With international energy's future uncertain for America, Carter acted quickly to have the department come into action the first year of his presidency. This was an extremely important issue of the time as the oil crisis
1407-694: The Department of Energy. The new agency, which began operations on October 1, 1977, consolidated the Federal Energy Administration , the Energy Research and Development Administration , the Federal Power Commission , and programs of various other agencies. Former Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger , who served under Presidents Nixon and Ford during the Vietnam War , was appointed as the first secretary. President Carter proposed
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#17328489938791474-557: The Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, a structure for storing weapons-grade uranium. 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. The DOE-OIG found that all of
1541-576: 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. The Y-12 electromagnetic plant units were initially operated by scientists from UC Berkeley to remove bugs and achieve
1608-605: 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% out of more than $ 300 million worth of silver was lost to the process, with the remainder returned to the Treasury. 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
1675-463: The Naval Reactors program, and provide expertise to other federal agencies. 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
1742-458: The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy would be lowered to $ 696 million under the plan, down from $ 1.3 billion in fiscal year 2017. Overall, the department's energy and related programs would be cut by $ 1.9 billion. Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) are contracts under which a contractor designs, constructs, and obtains the necessary financing for an energy savings project, and
1809-544: 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 395 million troy ounces of silver (13,540 short tons , 12,300 tonnes ) from the West Point Depository for the duration of
1876-613: The United States at the time the guarantee is issued". In loan guarantees, a conditional commitment requires to meet an equity commitment, as well as other conditions, before the loan guarantee is completed. In September 2008, the DOE, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) partnered to develop and launch
1943-416: The Y-12 site, recruited around 10,000 local women between 1943 and 1945 to operate the calutrons. They proposed to train operators with only a high school education, and they used a large local advertising campaign to recruit workers. One ad read, "When you're a grandmother you'll brag about working at Tennessee Eastman". Several workers heard about the jobs from friends. Reasons for applying included needing
2010-465: The bomb. Ruth Huddleston said she was really happy at the time, because her boyfriend was stationed in Germany, and this would bring him back. It bothered her that she had a part in killing so many people, but she accepted that "if the bomb hadn’t been dropped, then probably more people would have been killed. ... But even today, if I think too much about it, it bothers me." Butner had a similar experience: at
2077-403: The bottom of the periodic table. Willie Baker, on the other hand, said, "Even when somebody let it slip that we were building a bomb, I didn’t know what they meant. I was just a country girl. I had no understanding of what an atomic bomb was." Over two years, the calutrons at Y-12 had produced about 140 lb (64 kg) of U . This was enough to make the first atomic bomb (enough uranium for
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2144-468: The cause of even minor fluctuations of the dials". The young women that worked in this capacity came to be known as " Calutron Girls ." 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
2211-548: The challenges of devising advanced methods of energy storage and creating fuels directly from sunlight without the use of plants or microbes. Yet another hub was made to develop "smart" materials to allow the electrical grid to adapt and respond to changing conditions. In 2012, the DOE awarded $ 120 million to the Ames Laboratory to start a new EIH, the Critical Materials Institute, which will focus on improving
2278-449: The cohesiveness in the development of the technologies and their link to our future capabilities. The lightning bolt represents the power of the natural forces from which energy is derived and the Nation's challenge in harnessing the forces." "The color scheme is derived from nature, symbolizing both the source of energy and the support of man's existence. The blue field represents air and water , green represents mineral resources and
2345-558: 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". 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. In 2012, there were protests about
2412-456: 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. 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
2479-457: The defenses for the plant were insufficient and that the security response had "troubling displays of ineptitude." 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." 35°59′18″N 84°15′17″W / 35.98833°N 84.25472°W / 35.98833; -84.25472 United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy ( DOE )
2546-470: The design, testing and production of all nuclear weapons. NNSA in turn uses contractors to carry out its responsibilities at the following government owned sites: On May 7, 2009 President Barack Obama unveiled a $ 26.4 billion budget request for DOE for fiscal year (FY) 2010, including $ 2.3 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). That budget aimed to substantially expand
2613-461: The dials. This little contest provided a big boost in morale for the Tennessee Eastman workers and supervisors. Some Calutron Girls had more of a sense of what they were working on than others. Butner, who had some training in chemistry, said she and others with a similar background had some sense of what they were doing. They knew they were producing "the Product", and they guessed it was somewhere near
2680-399: The eight victims were diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lives. As of 2023, Clark is the only surviving member of the eight. 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
2747-433: The federal agency makes payments over time to the contractor from the savings in the agency's utility bills. The contractor guarantees the energy improvements will generate savings, and after the contract ends, all continuing cost savings accrue to the federal agency. Energy Innovation Hubs are multi-disciplinary , meant to advance highly promising areas of energy science and technology from their early stages of research to
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2814-438: The former Soviet Union; recent activities have included recovery of highly enriched uranium from Chile. 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 . Today, the Y-12 plant is listed on the DOE's Cleanup Criteria/Decision Document Database (or C2D2 database). An influx of funding from
2881-418: The isotopes of uranium, including electromagnetic separation and gaseous diffusion. The Y-12 factory was built in Oak Ridge, Tennessee , to house 1,152 calutrons , a machine used for isotope separation. The word "calutron" is a portmanteau of California University Cyclotron . Calutrons, a variation on mass spectrometers , work by combining uranium with chlorine to make uranium tetrachloride , which
2948-417: The labor shortage during WWII, the staffing went to farm girls instead. As each new unit was completed by Stone & Webster , Lawrence and a team of Berkeley scientists operated it to eliminate any bugs, then transferred it to Tennessee Eastman; this gave the scientists first-hand knowledge regarding any needed improvements. Kenneth Nichols compared production data for units and pointed out to Lawrence that
3015-610: The letters stood for, but they learned rules such as "if you got your M voltage up and your G voltage up, then Product would hit the birdcage in the E box at the top of the unit and if that happened, you'd get the Q and R you wanted". They had to make sure the machine remained at the correct temperature; if it got too hot, they used liquid nitrogen to cool it down. If the needles reached a point where they could not control them, they had to call someone else to come help. Former Calutron Girl Wynona Arrington Butner said, "We all wore little fountain-pen-sized dosimeters . Part of signing out of
3082-533: The majority of which is conducted through its system of National Laboratories . The DOE also directs research in genomics , with the Human Genome Project originating from a DOE initiative. The department is headed by the secretary of energy , who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the Cabinet . The current secretary of energy is Jennifer Granholm , who has served in
3149-596: The money, having few other employment opportunities, youthful wanderlust, and wanting to help the war effort. Training lasted three weeks. Secrecy and confidentiality were a strict requirement of their employment. According to Gladys Owens, who was one of the Calutron Girls, a manager at the facility once told them: "We can train you how to do what is needed, but cannot tell you what you are doing. I can only tell you that if our enemies beat us to it, God have mercy on us!" Testimonies said women who talked about what they were doing disappeared. One young woman who disappeared
3216-509: The new Nuclear Regulatory Commission , which was charged with regulating the nuclear power industry, and the Energy Research and Development Administration , which was assigned to manage the nuclear weapon, naval reactor, and energy development programs. The 1973 oil crisis called attention to the need to consolidate energy policy. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Department of Energy Organization Act , which established
3283-519: The new uranium processing facility. In July 2012, 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
3350-485: The plant was to check the amount of radiation that you had absorbed every day." Civilian workers paid $ 2.50 per month (single) or $ 5.00 per month (family) for medical insurance. Another calutron installation at a University of California at Berkeley laboratory was led by physicist Ernest O. Lawrence and operated by trained professional physicists. As the Y-12 calutron facility at Oak Ridge became operational, Lawrence desired that it be also run by physicists. Because of
3417-493: The point that the risk level will be low enough for industry to commercialize the technologies. The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) was the first DOE Energy Innovation Hub established in July 2010, for the purpose of providing advanced modeling and simulation (M&S) solutions for commercial nuclear reactors. The 2009 DOE budget includes $ 280 million to fund eight Energy Innovation Hubs, each of which
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#17328489938793484-508: The position since February 2021. The department's headquarters are in southwestern Washington, D.C. , in the James V. Forrestal Building , with additional offices in Germantown, Maryland . In 1942, during World War II , the United States started the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . After the war, in 1946, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
3551-497: The rank of Assistant Secretary of Energy who have line management responsibility for major organizational elements of the department. The Energy Secretary assigns their functions and duties. Excerpt from the Code of Federal Regulations , in Title 10: Energy : The official seal of the Department of Energy "includes a green shield bisected by a gold-colored lightning bolt, on which is emblazoned
3618-544: The security contract for the site. Workers at the site were represented by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union . 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. She has said, "I believe
3685-513: The stimulus spending was in the form of grants and contracts. For fiscal year 2013, each of the operating units of the Department of Energy operated with the following budgets: In March 2018, Energy Secretary Rick Perry testified to a Senate panel about the Trump administration's DOE budget request for fiscal year 2019. The budget request prioritized nuclear security while making large cuts to energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. The proposal
3752-578: The supply of rare earth elements . ARPA-E was officially created by the America COMPETES Act , authored by Congressman Bart Gordon , within the United States Department of Energy (DOE) in 2007, though without a budget. The initial budget of about $ 400 million was a part of the economic stimulus bill of February 2009. Calutron Girls The Calutron Girls were a group of young women—mostly high school graduates—who had joined
3819-453: The time, she was happy that the war was over and people she knew in the service could come home, but over time, she began to question whether it was the right thing to do. As of 2020, only a few elderly Calutron Girls remained. Some, such as Huddleston, regularly shared their stories with the public, often alongside Oak Ridge historian Ray Smith. The women are the subject of the nonfiction book The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan and
3886-446: 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
3953-498: The use of renewable energy sources while improving energy transmission infrastructure. It also proposed significant investments in hybrids and plug-in hybrids , smart grid technologies, and scientific research and innovation. As part of the $ 789 billion economic stimulus package in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress provided Energy with an additional $ 38.3 billion for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, adding about 75 percent to Energy's annual budgets. Most of
4020-436: The young ” hillbilly ” girl operators were outproducing his scientists. Lawrence claimed that his men were experimenting with ways to improve operations. But when he agreed to a weeklong “production race,” he lost. Nichols wrote that “the girls won because they were trained like soldiers “to do or not to do – not to reason why”. But the scientists could not refrain from time-consuming investigations of even minor fluctuations of
4087-494: Was a $ 500 million increase in funds over fiscal year 2017. It "promotes innovations like a new Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) and gains for the Office of Fossil Energy. Investments would be made to strengthen the National Nuclear Security Administration and modernize the nuclear force, as well as in weapons activities and advanced computing." However, the budget for
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#17328489938794154-605: Was causing shortages and inflation . With the Three Mile Island accident , Carter was able to intervene with the help of the department. Through the DOE, Carter was able to make changes within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission , including improving management and procedures, since nuclear energy and weapons are responsibilities of the department. In December 1999, the FBI was investigating how China obtained plans for
4221-497: Was created to control the future of the project. The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 also created the framework for the first National Laboratories . Among other nuclear projects, the AEC produced fabricated uranium fuel cores at locations such as Fernald Feed Materials Production Center in Cincinnati, Ohio . The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 split the responsibilities of the AEC into
4288-472: Was said to have "died from drinking some poison moonshine". If they were too nosy about what they were working on, they were replaced. Cars going in and out were searched, and letters were opened and read. The workers sat on high stools for 8-hour shifts, seven days per week, monitoring gauges and adjusting knobs to keep the needles where they were supposed to be and recording readings. The knobs were labeled with cryptic letters. The women did not know what
4355-481: Was scratched by a metal tool. At 9 a.m. on February 22, 2023, a fire broke out in a uranium processing area of Building 9212. 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
4422-516: 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). 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
4489-516: Was sponsored by the DOE and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory . After the 2005 race, the DOE discontinued its sponsorship. Title XVII of Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorizes the DOE to issue loan guarantees to eligible projects that "avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases " and "employ new or significantly improved technologies as compared to technologies in service in
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