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"Supplying the Nuclear Arsenal"
Reviewer: Ronald E. Powaski in: American Historical Review (April 1999)

" For the fifty years between 1912 and 1992, the United States centered its national security policy on nuclear weapons. They ended World War 11, contributed to the origins of the Cold War, and played a major role in bringing about detente between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the history of commercial power nuclear reactors is well known, the story of the government reactors that produced weapons-grade uranium, plutonium, and tritium usually has been shrouded by a veil of secrecy.

Rodney P. Carlisle and Joan M. Zenzen have helped to lift that veil by writing the first detailed, and highly readable, history of the origin, development, and demise of production reactors, industrial-scale machines-eventually fourteen in number-that upgraded or improved on the first atomic "pile"produced in 1942 under the direction of Enrico Fermi. Their well-researched work-which is based in part on the voluminous records of the Manhattan Engineer District, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Energy Research and Development Administration, and the Department of Energy-adds significantly to our understanding of the forces. events, and personalities that propelled the nuclear arms race.

Carlisle and Zenzen describe how the reactors were designed, built, and managed and how they were modified to keep up with the demands of the growing nuclear arsenal. In so doing, they also portray the often contentious relationship between civilian officials, the military, the scientific community, industry, and politicians whose districts received the economic benefits of the reactors, all of whom made up the nuclear establishment.

The first three production reactors, built at Hanford, Washington, by Du Pont, produced the fissionable material used in the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Two more reactors were added in the early years of the Cold War. After the Soviets exploded their first nuclear bomb in 1949, the United States initiated the development of a fusion weapon, the hydrogen bomb, and built three more reactors at Hanford and five at Savannah River (South Carolina). These reactors, most of which were built by General Electric, produced plutonium as well as tritium, a hydrogen isotope used to boost the explosive power of fusion weapons. In the 1950s, the last of the production reactors were built, all of which provided the United States with more plutonium than it could use. As a result, all but the four newest reactors were closed in the 1970s. However, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the nuclear arms buildup of the Reagan administration in the early 1980s prompted the Energy Department to begin planning the construction of new reactors to replenish the nation's supply of tritium, which is rapidly (5.5 percent per year) being depleted due to its short (twelve-year) half-life. But before the new reactors could be built, the Cold War came to an end. Today, no U.S. production reactors are operating. Yet while nuclear weapons may have played a major role in preventing World War III, there is a significant downside to their legacy. Carlisle and Zenzen show how aging production reactors increased the risk of radioactive contamination of the atmosphere and water table. Cleaning up the closed production reactors at Hanford and Savannah River, they observe, will cost far more than it did to build these facilities.

Still another ominous legacy of the production reactors was the technology itself, which was readily imitated by nations seeking nuclear weapons of their own, including so-called rogue states like North Korea, Iraq, and Iran. Yet, in spite of the risks involved in producing nuclear weapons, Carlisle and Zenzen feel it is vital to maintain America's nuclear arsenal, if only to deter the use of nuclear weapons by rogue states. To this end, and despite the view of those who believe that the natural disarmament brought by tritium decay should be allowed to proceed, Carlisle and Zenzen believe it is vital to replenish the diminishing supply of tritium.

If tritium production is ever resumed, however, Carlisle and Zenzen recommend the introduction of new procedures that will allow for the selection of facilities and their personnel on the basis of "technical merit, rather than on the basis of political influence" and permit "the general public and interested parties to participate through the open methods developed since the days of World War II."

This book is a valuable addition to our knowledge of the nuclear arms race. It belongs on the shelf of anyone who is seriously interested in the history of U.S. national security policy."

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