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| Keywords: Alpha 1 racetrack, Uranium 235 electromagnetic separation plant, Manhattan Project, Y-12 Oak Ridge.jpg electromagnet called Alpha 1 racetrack used to separate the isotope uranium-235 from uranium-238 in natural uranium at the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge Tennessee around 1945 part of the secret US World War 2 Manhattan Project to make an atomic bomb It is divided into sections called alpha calutrons which operate on the principle of the mass spectrometer In a large vacuum tank the magnetic field bends the path of lighter U<sup>235</sub> ions in a beam of uranium ions more than the heavier U<sup>238</sub> ions so the two isotopes separate into separate beams and are collected by separate cups The calutron tanks are spaced around the ring located between the coils that generate the magnetic field Since copper was desperately scarce during World War 2 the magnet's coils were made of thousands of tons of silver borrowed from the U S Treasury Eventually 14 700 tons were used for coil windings returned to the Treasury after the war The rectangular duct around the top of the machine contains the silver bussbar that supplies the current This technique is no longer used for uranium enrichment <br /><br /> Caption View inside an Alpha 1 building looking over one track toward the second The view shows inside and outside tank fronts with enclosed bus running along the top of the tracks Spare tank units may be seen on the floor between the tracks ~1945 Retrieved September 27 2014 from https //ia902303 us archive org/26/items/ManhattanDistrictHistory/MDH-B5V03-Electromagnetic-Design pdf Leslie R Groves Ed ~1948 Manhattan District History Manhattan Project U S Army Corps of Engineers Book V Electromagnetic Project Vol 3 Design Appendix C Photograph No 6 Alpha 1 Racetrack declassified version on https //archive org/ Internet Archive Leslie R Groves other versions PD-USGov Uploaded with UploadWizard Y-12 National Security Complex Calutron Ed Westcott | ||||
