The Atomic City In The United States During The Cold War (Essay Sample)

Name
Course
Course Instructor
Date
Atomic City (Oakridge TN)
(I)The Atomic City
In 1942, the government of the United States purchased the land of 60,000 acres in the east of Tennessee and built a secret industry called the Atomic City or Oakridge TN. The main of aim was to make and test the key components of the world's first atomic fission bomb. The city was quickly built to serve the country military needs during the World War II (Young 2). The city created thousands of jobs, and the hosted the Manhattan project that made a bomb that was dropped in 1945 on the empire of Japan putting to an end of the war and saving thousands of lives. Consequently, the cold war forced the federal government to employ tens of thousands in the city but that spending was reduced during the fall of the Berlin wall and the Soviet Union. Consequently in1993 the congress mandated the transition of the Oakridge from a government owned property to private investors. In this scenario, the city was chartered in 1995 as technology center (Young 2).
Oakridge was one of the secret cities that were building for the Manhattan project along with Washington, New Mexico, and Hanford. Oakridge is significant in that first nation's atomic museum was established in Oakridge TN. Consequently, the opening of the museum coincided with the opening of the security gates of the Atomic City itself. The museum was named the American Museum of Atomic Energy. That museum was an important site because it provided information to the public on the peaceful uses of the atomic energy. Furthermore, in 1975, the museum was moved to a new facility. In 1978 was renamed to American Museum of Science and Energy to give a broader image of the DOE Mission of the nuclear energy and energy itself (Arthur 1)
(II)Significance of the Atomic City
Oakridge played a crucial role of the construction of the "Little boy" the atomic bomb that was dropped in Hiroshima. The main goal for the construction of the city was to produce Uranium U-235, which is an isotope that is suitable for the achievement of the nuclear fission. After the war in 1945, the city started transforming from the city behind the fence to the normality (Weiner 4). Consequently, the city was transformed into the leading scientific research of the nation. Consequently, the city faced difficulties in the course of the transition because it was regarded as war city.
(III)Manhattan Project
The S-50 plant that was constructed in Oakridge Tennessee. The project was responsible for the for the first stage of the Uranium enrichment from 0.72% to 0.85% U-35 and produced about 45,000 pounds of enriched uranium U-35 uranium by the end of 1945. The project costed the Federal government of the United States about $20 million (Reed 3). The construction of the facility took a very short period and soon after the S-50 plant started enriching uranium that used in the construction of an atomic bomb using thermal diffusion.
Currently, the museum occupies a spacious building and displays the new displays on the peaceful use of atomic and other forms of energy. Consequently, core attraction up to now into this museum is the Manhattan project. The project was chaired by chief general Leslie Groves and the brilliant achievements of the nuclear scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer on their vast array of the atomic shell castings. Moreover, the building displays nukes are proudly saying little about them and concerning their capability. In this scenario, the aim was to prevent the dark sides of the America's nuclear programs. Additionally, on the display is the Enola Gay B-29 nuclear bomber that took off from the Inian highland and dropped a nuke on Hiroshima. Additionally, there is a plaque list on the overall causalities in Nagasaki and Hiroshima (Arthur 5).
(IV)Size of Oakridge
Oak ridge has got a huge uranium enrichment plants about 2 miles long that are U- Shaped on the K-25 building that still dominate the local landscape up to date. The science and the technical process of enrichment are employed on the porous barriers of K-25. Moreover, the gaseous diffusion building separates the U-35 isotope from that of U-38 isotope that employs the electromagnet isotope separation in the big Y-12 culutrons (Arthur 5). On the building, there are also photos on of the nuclear workers on the site and those of Oakridge communities and what happened to them. There is also a display of the present day realities on the management of the nuclear waste and radiations from the site now known as environmental management that has been given the highest priority by the DOE. Consequently, the environmental safety is the main concern than its original narrative frame.
(V)Oakridge's Cold War Culture
Oakridge is one of the secret cities build during the cold war period, and it was heavily funded by the federal government because it was the project of the national government. People who lived in the city were highly educated but knew little about the Manhattan project. The city was highly guarded with security gates, and it was surrounded by barbed wires. In this scenario, it was sealed from the external world. It covered about 59, 000 acres, but it was not covered on the maps for many years. Oakridge developed a sense community and aloofness from the surrounding and to achieve this goal the government had to give high incentives to those who lived in this city including superior housing, good schools, and high salaries. Moreover, the fence promoted the sense of separateness of Oakridge from the general public (Arthur 8). Though the planners of the city wanted to dismantle it immediately after the war, the city persists up to date as it attracted more energy investors. When the wall of the city was broughdownin1949the city seem to emerge from a cocoon with much of its community features remaining intact.
(VI) Oakridge's skewed economy
Due to its isolation the Oakridge entirely depended on government funding and since this money went directly to the investors there seemed to be no diversification of the economy in Oakridge. The area res...