Manhattan Project feed materials program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:36, 22 April 2025

Revision as of 08:20, 22 April 2025

Line 6:

The '''Manhattan Project feed materials program''' located and procured [[uranium ore]]s, and refined and processed them into feed materials for use in the [[Manhattan Project]]'s [[isotope enrichment]] plants at the [[Clinton Engineer Works]] in [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], and its [[nuclear reactor]]s at the [[Hanford Engineer Works]] in [[Washington state]].

The original goal of the feed materials program in 1942 was to acquire approximately {{convert|1,700|ST|t|order=flip}} of [[triuranium octoxide]] ({{chem2|U3O8}}) (black oxide). By the time of the dissolution of the Manhattan District on 1 January 1947, it had acquired about {{convert|10,000|ST|order=flip}}, 72%{{Percentage|6983|10220}} of which came from the [[Belgian Congo]], 14%{{Percentage|1349|10220}} from the [[Colorado Plateau]], and 9%{{Percentage|964|10220}} from Canada. An additional 5%{{Percentage|481+270|10220}} came from "miscellaneous sources", which included quantities recovered from Europe by the Manhattan Project's [[Alsos Mission]].

Ores from the Belgian Congo contained the most uranium per mass of rock by far. Much of the mined ore from the [[Shinkolobwe]] mine had a black oxide content as high as 65% to 75%, which was many times higher than any other global sources. In comparison, the Canadian ores could be as rich as 30% uranium oxides, while American ores, mostly byproducts of the mining of other minerals (especially [[vanadium]]), typically contained less than 1% uranium. In 1941, both the Shinkolobwe mine and the [[Eldorado Mine (Northwest Territories)|Eldorado Mine]] in Canada were closed and flooded; the Manhattan Project had them reopened and returned to service.