Vintage work crew photos

[mklotz]

An interesting side note to the calutron story is the use of silver...

These magnetic spectrometer isotope separators required immense magnets to generate the fields needed to divert the isotopic ions. I could relate the story but the extract from Wikipedia below is more concise and contains all the pertinent details...

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The Chief Engineer of the Manhattan District, Colonel James C. Marshall, and his deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth D. Nichols, discovered that the electromagnetic isotope separation process would require 5,000 short tons (4,500 tonnes) of copper, which was in desperately short supply. However, they realized that silver could be substituted, in an 11:10 ratio. On 3 August 1942, Nichols met with the Under Secretary of the Treasury, Daniel W. Bell, and asked for the transfer of silver bullion from the West Point Bullion Depository. Nichols later recalled the conversation:

He explained the procedure for transferring the silver and asked, "How much do you need?" I replied, "Six thousand tons." 'How many troy ounces is that?" he asked. In fact I did not know how to convert tons to troy ounces, and neither did he. A little impatient, I responded, "I don't know how many troy ounces we need but I know I need six thousand tons – that is a definite quantity. What difference does it make how we express the quantity?" He replied rather indignantly, "Young man, you may think of silver in tons, but the Treasury will always think of silver in troy ounces."[63]

Eventually, 14,700 short tons (13,300 tonnes; 430,000,000 troy ounces) of silver were used,[64] then worth over $1 billion.

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The Wikipedia article goes on to explain the reclamation of the silver after the war and its return to the Treasury. Read the whole story here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calutron#Design