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NUCLEAR TESTING AND FALLOUT PROGRAMS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LAWRENCE RADIATION LABORATORY
The Lawrence
Radiation Laboratory--
Berkeley & Livermore.
During World War II the Radiation Laboratory, founded by
Ernest O. Lawrence at the University of California in Berkeley,
was mobilized to study the possibility of using uranium for
military purposes.
The Laboratory adapted the 184-inch cyclotron
as a mass spectrometer (renamed the Calutron) to test the feasibility of separating fissionable natural uranium, U-235, from
the more plentiful uranium isotope,
U-238.
Using University and
Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) funds,
Lawrence first converted the 37-inch cyclotron to a test model
mass spectometer for enriching uranium 235.
In 1942, the Laboratory supplied the design and magnets for several Calutron-type
separators at various laboratories and advised on the construction of an electromagnetic facility at Oak Ridge.
Even earlier,
beginning in 1939 and 1940, Laboratory studies of fission products revealed a new element, heavier than uranium, named pluto-
nium,
tion.
which suggested the possibility of an atomic chain reac-
The Laboratory sent the weapons-grade U-235 produced from
beta
calutrons to Chicago and on to the Los Alamos laboratory.
The University of California provided the administration of the
Los Alamos laboratory as well as staff from the Radiation Laboratory who assisted in the design and execution of the Trinity
test.
Wartime mobilization also stimulated the study of physiological effects of fission in the Laboratory’s Biology and Medi-
cine and Donner Laboratory as researchers studied the biological
effects of fission products for the OSRD.
After the war,
program in 1947.
the AEC took charge of the nuclear energy
The Radiation Laboratory’s defense work centered
on the separation of
fissionable
elements.
The Laboratory conti-
nued to conduct
multidisciplinary scientific research, including
AEC support of nuclear chemistry in identifying transuranic elements.
The Donner Laboratory continued its prewar work in nuclear
medicine and radiology.
Between 1946 and 1949, the military pro-
grams of the Laboratory were focused primarily in the Crocker
Laboratory,
under the direction of Joseph Hamilton.
In 1946,
Laboratory radiobiologists participated in the Bikini tests and
advised
the Navy on decontamination of ships exposed to nuclear
explosions.
The Crocker Laboratory studied the biological
effects of
radioactive aerosols
and
fission products.
After the Soviet detonation of a nuclear bomb in 1949, the
Laboratory-- led by Edward Teller and Ernest O. Lawrence -campaigned for a second national nuclear weapons laboratory at