Trinity Nuclear Test

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

near San Antonio, New Mexico

On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb test was performed at a site about 35 southeast of Soccorro, New Mexico.  The test was code named 'Trinity' by Dr Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos Laboratory involved in the Manhattan Project.  It used a 20 kiloton Plutonium implosion device, of a similar design to what would ultimately be dropped over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, less than a month later.  The Manhattan Project was a war-time effort to develop an atomic bomb, which occurred over a time period from 1942 to 1946.  The effort extended to a number of facilities, including Hanford, Washington and Oak Ridge, Tennessee in addition to the Los Alamos, New Mexico  site where major design work occurred.  Ultimately testing would be done in a number of areas, including Nevada and the Pacific Islands, including Bikini Atoll, after World War II.

The Trinity test differed in nature from that used on the first atomic blast at Hiroshima.  The Hiroshima blast used a gun type, or projectile type detonation of uranium while the Nagasaki and Trinity Blast involved implosion of a plutonium core.

The Trinity atomic bomb test followed a period of development of nuclear expertise in a number of areas, from study of the atom itself, to study of high energy collisions and the study of nuclear chain reactions. A key development was a letter by physicists Eugene Szilard  and Albert Einstein,   expressing their concern that Germany could develop an atomic bomb.  The result of their efforts, which included collaborations with other physicists such as Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller , was that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt accelerated scientific research with a new committee on June 28, 1941 and approved the atomic program on October 9, 1941.  The response to their letter came on October 19, 1941.

This timeline is interesting, taken in the context of the historical evolution, from World War I, in 1914-1918 to World War II and its aftermath in the nuclear arms race.  The historical context included the 1918 Flu Pandemic (Spanish Flu), aided by a World War I fought in the trenches, the Great Depression,  and the ever continuing battle between commercialization, globalization and nationalist interests.  The development of nuclear weapons ratcheted up the stakes, due to the wider implications of their use and the attendant risks.

Nuclear risks include the potential manufacture, storage, transportation, testing and potential use of nuclear weapons in conflict (including WWII).  These risks are in addition to risks arising from nuclear usages in other areas, such as power generation and medical usages.  We have seen impacts from the Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plant incidents.  I've discussed some of these issues in other blog articles, including: Nuclear Balance of Risks, Chernobyl 25th Anniversary and Energy Choices and Risk.

Development, testing and use of nuclear weapons has left a long lasting radiological footprint on the landscape in areas such as Hanford and the Pacific Northwest, the Trinity Site and White Sands and the Southwest, the Pacific Islands, including Japan during WWII, and downwind (and water) areas.

The above photograph is taken at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, near San Antonio, New Mexico in February, 2009, about 20 -30 miles from the Trinity Test Site, some 63-64 years after the test.  Another image, taken at Valley of the Fires State Park, New Mexico, was taken near Carrizozo, New Mexico, one of the areas harder hit by the Trinity plume.