Y-12 National Security Complex
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The Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It is administered under the Department's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Y-12 originated from the Manhattan Project and its construction began in February 1943. The facility began operating in November 1943, separating uranium-235 from natural uranium by using calutrons to perform electromagnetic isotope separation. Y-12 produced some of the uranium-235 for Little Boy, the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.
Today Y-12 manufactures nuclear weapons components, participates in stockpile stewardship research, and "is the 'Fort Knox' for highly enriched uranium", according to its website.[1]
The site currently employs approximately 4500 people.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Y-12 National Security Complex
- United States Department of Energy
- National Nuclear Security Administration
- A map of Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the time of the Manhattan Project
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