Manhattan Project feed materials program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:12, 24 April 2025

Revision as of 11:20, 24 April 2025

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====The US Army takes over====

Events began to move swiftly once the Army became involved. On 15 September, Ruhoff secured Sengier's approval for the release of {{convert|100|ST|t}} of ore, which was shipped to Eldorado's refinery at [[Port Hope, Ontario]], for testing of the oxide content.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=79}} Nichols met with Sengier in the latter's office at [[Cunard Building (New York City)|25 Broadway]] on 18 September,{{sfn|Norris|2002|p=326}} and the two men reached an eight-sentence agreement that Nichols recorded on a yellow [[legal pad]], giving Sengier a [[carbon copy]]. Under this agreement, the United States agreed to buy the ore in storage on Staten Island and was granted prior rights to purchase the {{convert|3,000|ST|t}} in the Belgian Congo, which would be shipped, stored and refined at the US government's expense. African Metals would retain ownership of the radium in the ore. At a meeting on 23 September, they agreed on a price: USD{{convert|1.60|$/lb}} (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|{{convert|1.60|/lb|order=flip|disp=number}}|1942}}/kg in {{Inflation/year|US}}), of which $1.00 would go to African Metals and 60 cents to Eldorado for refining.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|pp=43–46}} Sengier opened a special bank account to receive the payments, which the [[Federal Reserve]] was instructed to ignore and auditors instructed to accept without question.{{sfn|Groves|1962|p=37}} Contracts were signed on 19 October.{{sfn|Helmreich|1986|p=9}}

[[File:Bowling Green NYC Feb 2020 07.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Cunard Building (New York City)|Cunard Building]] at 25 Broadway, where Sengier had his office]]

The ore in Staten Island was transferred to the [[Seneca Army Depot|Seneca Ordnance Depot]] in [[Romulus, New York]], for safe keeping. Meanwhile, arrangements were made to ship the ore from the Belgian Congo. The Shinkolobwe mine had been closed since 1937, and had fallen into disrepair and flooded. The [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] restored the mine, expanded the aerodromes in [[Léopoldville]] and [[Elisabethville]], improved railroads and built a port in [[Matadi]], Congo's single outlet to the sea. The army also secured the remaining ore in Shinkolobwe, which was shipped to the United States: 950 tons of approximately 70% ore and 160 tons of 20% ore.{{sfn|Williams|2016|pp=1–6}} As the port of Lobito in [[Portugal during World War II|neutral Angola]] was considered a security risk, all uranium transported by sea from the last week of January 1943 was routed through Matadi in sealed barrels marked "Special Cobalt." The uranium was first sent north by train from Shinkolobwe to the [[railhead]] at Port-Francqui (now [[Ilebo]]) on the Kasai River. From there, the sealed barrels were loaded onto barges to be transported to Léopoldville (now known as [[Kinshasa]]), where they were taken by train to Matadi.{{sfn|Williams|2016|pp=1–6}}

Sengier thought it would be safer for the ore to be shipped in fast {{convert|16|kn|kph|adj=on|sp=us}} freighters that could outrun the German [[U-boat]]s rather than in [[convoy]]. This was accepted, and the first shipment, of {{convert|250|LT|t|order=flip}}, departed on 10 October, followed by a second on 20 October and a third on 10 November. The shipments were managed by the [[American West African Line]], known as the [[Barber Line]], which ran a service between New York and Matadi.{{sfn|Williams|2016|pp=1–6}} Uranium for the Manhattan Project was also transported by air on the [[Pan American Airways]] [[Boeing 314 Clipper|clipper]] service. The Brazil–West Africa air link was extended to reach Leopoldville, primarily to gain access to uranium from what was then the Belgian Congo.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stanley |first=William R. |date=1994 |title=Trans-South Atlantic Air Link in World War II |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41146247 |journal=GeoJournal |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=459–463 |issn=0343-2521}}</ref> Thereafter, ore was shipped at a rate of {{convert|400|LT|t|order=flip}} per month from December 1942 to May 1943. Two shipments were lost:, one to a U-boat in late 1942, and one due to a maritime accident in early 1943. The ore arrived faster than it could be processed, so it was stored at Seneca.{{sfn|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=291}}{{sfn|Nichols|1987|p=47}}{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=80}} About {{convert|200|ST|t|order=flip}} was lost. Later shipments were temporarily stored at the Clinton Engineer Works. In November 1943, the [[Middlesex Sampling Plant]], a in [[Middlesex, New Jersey]], was leased for storage, sampling and assaying. The ore was received in bags and sent for refining as required.{{sfn|Manhattan District|1947a|pp=2.5–2.6}}

In August 1943, [[Winston Churchill]] and [[Franklin Roosevelt]] negotiated the [[Quebec Agreement]], which merged the British and American atomic bomb projects,{{sfn|Gowing|1964|pp=168–173}}{{sfn|Bernstein|1976|pp=216–217}} and established the [[Combined Policy Committee]] to coordinate their efforts.{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=296}} In turn, the Combined Policy Committee created the [[Combined Development Trust]] on 13 June 1944 to procure uranium and [[thorium#Occurrence|thorium ores]] on international markets.{{sfn|Helmreich|1986|p=16}} Groves was appointed its chairman, with Sir [[Charles Jocelyn Hambro|Charles Hambro]], the head of the British Raw Materials Mission in Washington, [[Frank Godbould Lee|Frank Lee]] from the [[HM Treasury|Treasury]] delegation as the British trustees, and George Bateman, a deputy minister and a member of the [[Combined Production and Resources Board]], representing Canada.{{sfn|Gowing|1964|p=301}}{{sfn|Jones|1985|p=299}} A special account not subject to the usual auditing and controls was used to hold Trust monies. Between 1944 and his resignation from the Trust at the end of 1947, Groves deposited a total of $37.5&nbsp;million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|37.5|1944|r=2}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US}}).{{sfn|Jones|1985|pp=90, 299–306}}