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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, It is appropriate to remember the many sacrifices
3and contributions to the cause of freedom made by the
4outstanding men and women who have served in the United States
5Armed Forces; and
 
6    WHEREAS, From 1946 to 1962, the United States conducted
7approximately 200 atmospheric nuclear tests, more than all
8other nuclear states combined at that time; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Approximately 400,000 servicemen in the U.S.
10Army, Navy, and Marines were present during these atmospheric
11tests, whether as witnesses to the tests themselves or as
12post-test cleanup crews; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The Manhattan Project was the code name for the
14American-led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon
15during World War II; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Two types of atomic bombs were developed
17concurrently during the war, a relatively simple gun-type
18fission weapon and a more complex implosion-type nuclear
19weapon; the Thin Man gun-type design proved impractical to use
20with plutonium, and therefore, a simpler gun-type called
21Little Boy was developed that used uranium-235, an isotope

 

 

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1that makes up only 0.7 percent of natural uranium; since it was
2chemically identical to the most common isotope, uranium-238,
3and had almost the same mass, separating the two proved
4difficult; three methods were employed for uranium enrichment,
5electromagnetic, gaseous, and thermal; most of this work was
6performed at the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge,
7Tennessee; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In parallel with the work on uranium was an
9effort to produce plutonium, which was discovered by
10researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, in
111940; after the feasibility of the world's first artificial
12nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, was demonstrated in 1942
13at the Metallurgical Laboratory in the University of Chicago,
14the project designed the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge
15and the production reactors at the Hanford Site in Washington
16state, in which uranium was irradiated and transmuted into
17plutonium and the plutonium was then chemically separated from
18the uranium, using the bismuth phosphate process; the Fat Man
19plutonium implosion-type weapon was developed in a concerted
20design and development effort by the Los Alamos Laboratory;
21and
 
22    WHEREAS, Illinois played an important part in the
23Manhattan Project; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Argonne National Laboratory is a science and
2engineering research national laboratory operated by the
3University of Chicago for the United States Department of
4Energy; the facility is located in Lemont, outside of Chicago,
5and is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the
6Midwest; and
 
7    WHEREAS, On July 1, 1946, the laboratory was formally
8chartered as Argonne National Laboratory to conduct
9cooperative research in nucleonics; at the request of the U.S.
10Atomic Energy Commission, it began developing nuclear reactors
11for the nation's peaceful nuclear energy program; in the late
121940s and early 1950s, the laboratory moved to a larger
13location in Lemont and established a remote location in Idaho
14called "Argonne-West" to conduct further nuclear research; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Code-named the "Metallurgical Lab", the team
16constructed Chicago Pile-1, which achieved criticality on
17December 2, 1942 underneath the stands at the University of
18Chicago's Stagg Field; because the experiments were deemed too
19dangerous to conduct in a major city, the operations were
20moved to a spot in nearby Palos Hills and renamed "Argonne"
21after the surrounding forest; and
 
22    WHEREAS, Red Gate Woods is a forest preserve within the
23Palos Division of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County

 

 

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1and is located near where the Cal-Sag Channel meets the
2Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; the original site of Argonne
3National Laboratory and the Site A/Plot M Disposal Site is in
4the woods, which contains the buried remains of Chicago
5Pile-1, the world's first artificial nuclear reactor; and
 
6    WHEREAS, It is important to remember and honor the
7achievements and sacrifices of the men and women of this
8nation who during their time of service experienced exposure
9to nuclear radiation while on active duty and served so
10valiantly in the cause of freedom; therefore, be it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
12ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare July 16,
132023 as Atomic Veterans Day in the State of Illinois; and be it
14further
 
15    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
16presented to the Atomic Heritage Foundation as a symbol of our
17esteem and respect.