DuPont Company Manhattan Project records
Creation: 1942-1966 Creation: 1986Abstract
The Manhattan Engineer District (MED), also known as the Manhattan Project, was a top-secret World War II government program to develop and deploy the world's first atomic weapons before Nazi Germany. The Manhattan Project took shape at three primary locations across the country: Hanford, Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. The chemical company E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (also known as the DuPont Company) played a role by designing, building, and operating two sites (Hanford and Oak Ridge) for the mass production of plutonium and uranium. This small collection documents the DuPont Company's involvement in the World War II-era Manhattan Project, including interoffice memoranda and correspondence with the War Department concerning the DuPont Company's contributions to developing the plutonium pile at the University of Chicago; the development of the Hanford, Washington, plutonium production facility; and related works. ALL RECORDS ARE DECLASSIFIED.
Dates
- Creation: 1942-1966
- Creation: 1986
Creator
- E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (Organization)
- Manhattan Project (U.S.) (Organization)
Extent
1 Linear Feet
Historical Note
The Manhattan Engineer District (MED), also known as the Manhattan Project, was a top-secret World War II government program to develop and deploy the world's first atomic weapons before Nazi Germany. The Manhattan Project took shape at three primary locations across the country: Hanford, Washington; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. The chemical company E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (also known as the DuPont Company) played a role by designing, building, and operating two sites (Hanford and Oak Ridge) for the mass production of plutonium and uranium.
In fall 1942, the U.S. government asked DuPont to participate in the Manhattan Project. The director of the Manhattan Project, Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr. (1896-1970) emphasized the importance of the plutonium production project to the war effort. Groves stated that DuPont was the best for the job and that the task was beyond the capability of any other company. DuPont was reluctant to participate in the project but agreed solely for patriotic reasons.
The DuPont Company insisted on a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract. Following World War I, the "merchants of death" label was attributed to the company; fearing renewed accusations of war profiteering, DuPont leadership refused to take any profit. The fixed fee was limited to one dollar. Any profits would be returned to the government. DuPont Company president Walter S. Carpenter Jr. (1888-1976) disavowed not only profits but also any intention of staying in the atomic weapons business after the war. The contract provided that any patent rights arising from the project would be owned solely by the government. In return, the company was indemnified against any losses or liabilities it might incur.
DuPont placed the management of the plutoium project within their Explosives Department, under the direction of general manager Edward B. Yancey (1888-1948), who was in charge of the construction and operation of the many explosives plants assigned to the company during the war. The department created a new division to lead the project, TNX, and named chemist Roger Williams (1890–1978) as its assistant general manager and director. As director of the research division in the Explosives Department, Crawford H. Greenwalt (1902-1993) was responsible for liaising with the Met Lab.
In late December 1942, DuPont signed an agreement to design and construct a pilot-plant-sized reactor (X-10) and separation works at the government's selected site of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. However, even before construction began in February 1943, concerns were raised about the site's proximity to Knoxville, a major population center. Grove appointed engineer Colonel Franklin T. Matthias (1908-1993) to find a site for the U-235 and plutonium refining facilities. Matthias selected Hanford, Washington, and was subsequently charged with constructing both the Hanford Engineer Works and the surrounding town of Richland.
The Oak Ridge site was named Clinton Engineer Works (government contract W7412-Eng-23); it produced the first examples of reactor-produced plutonium. By spring 1944, Clinton was shipping significant quantities of enriched uranium to the Los Alamos (New Mexico) laboratory, where the atomic bomb was being designed and built.
While X-10 was still under construction, DuPont was already moving forward with its plan to build the first full-scale nuclear production reactor in Hanford, Washington, named the Hanford Engineer Works (government contract W7412-Eng-1). Construction of the Hanford B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production reactor, began in October 1943. Plutonium manufactured at Hanford was used in the atomic bomb detonated in the Trinity test in July 1945, and in the Fat Man bomb used in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in August 1945.
The Manhattan Project concluded in December 1946; control of the Hanford and Clinton sites passed to the Atomic Energy Commission. The Hanford site continued to produce plutonium throughout the Cold War era and eventually stopped production in 1988. Environmental cleanup began to reduce contamination after forty years of plutonium production and was estimated to take more than thirty years.
The Clinton site was renamed Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1948. Major components of the site began shutting down in 1964. By 1985, the remaining gaseous diffusion (K-25) plants were decommissioned and decontaminated after decades of use. The Oak Ridge site, currently managed by UT-Battelle (a company created solely for this purpose), continues to operate as a national security facility for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
In 1950, the Korean War propelled the company back into the nuclear field when the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), civilian successor to the Manhattan Project, and President Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) asked Greenewalt, now DuPont Company president, to assume responsibility for the design, construction, and operation of a plant to produce the new generation of atomic materials for the hydrogen bomb.
As with Hanford, the DuPont Company incorporated the Savannah River project within its existing organization structure, establishing an Atomic Energy Division within the Explosives Department. DuPont designed, developed, constructed, and managed the SRP site at cost, plus a one-dollar annual fee. The company operated the facility until April 1989.
Scope and Contents
This small collection documents the DuPont Company's involvement in the World War II-era Manhattan Project, including interoffice memoranda and correspondence with the War Department concerning the DuPont Company's contributions to developing the plutonium pile at the University of Chicago; the development of the Hanford, Washington, plutonium production facility; and related works. ALL RECORDS ARE DECLASSIFIED. Each folder contains two sets of documents: a complete photocopy and the originals (sometimes the original is a copy of a referenced document). The official "declassified" stamps are only on the photocopies.
The collection has been arranged into three series to distinguish between projects: Contract W7412 eng. 1., Hanford Engineer Works; Contract W7412 eng. 23, Clinton Engineer Works; and Contract AT(07-2)-1, Savannah River Plant. Within the documents, each project is primarily referenced by contract number, not always by plant name.
There is an inventory of documents numbered 1-97, and a second inventory of documents numbered 98-108. The materials are organized to reflect the order of these inventories. There are additional documents that were not listed in the inventory; these have been interfiled chronologically, as the numbered documents are roughly in chronological order for each project. Files that were not listed in the inventories are identified as such. Files present in the inventories list the document numbers.
Seven numbered documents that appear in the inventories are not extant in this collection:
- Document No. 2: Memorandum regarding technical basis for W7412 eng. 1
- Document No. 5: Memorandum regarding negotiations prior to Contract W7412 eng. 1
- Document No. 60: Auditors
- Document No. 73: Letter revising scope of letter Contract AT(07-2)-1
- Document No. 77: Letter and acknowledgement regarding minotr scop change under letter contract AT(07-2)1
- Document No. 79: Letters regarding modifying scope of AT(07-2)-1
- Document No. 93: Letter from Acting Chairman Summer T. Pike, A.E.C., to C.H. Greenewalt
These documents were transferred to the DuPont Company secretary to be kept in a vault; accompanying each document are transmittals regarding the transfer, sometimes several if the document had passed through the hands of several personnel members before being sent to the vault. The date of the transmittals is not reflected in the finding aid; only the date of the documents to which the transmittals pertain is included.
The Contract W7412 eng. 1., Hanford Engineer Works series includes policy and procedure manuals, the definitive contract between the DuPont Company and the government, and a copy of a significant letter from Dr. Vannevar Bush to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) indicating the President's approval of the contract arrangements, written in March 1943. (The copy has sections that have been redacted.
Pertinent information, such as the product to be manufactured, the plant site, production units, process, and raw materials to be used, was all omitted or coded in the definitive contract. Therefore, there is a "Top Secret Letter" dated November 6, 1943, from K.D. Nichols to E.B. Yancey, which provides the definition of the terms and treatment to be performed. Many later documents reference this letter as "Top Secret Letter of November 6, 1943."
There are thirteen supplements that modify the contract and eleven change orders. One supplement (No. 5) and one change order (No. A-8) were removed by Manhattan Project personnel from the corresponding file and are attached as supplements to the "Supplement #2 to Top Secret Letter of November 6, 1943." Also of interest are a map of the Hanford Engineer Works, correspondence regarding the safety of employees, and subcontracts with General Electric for personnel and consulting services.
The Contract W7412 eng. 23, Clinton Engineer Works series contains policy and procedure manuals, construction personnel salary rates, and the definitive contract between the DuPont Company and the government. Once again, pertinent information, such as the product to be manufactured, the plant site, production units, process, and raw materials to be used, was omitted or coded in the definitive contract. Therefore, there is a "Top Secret Letter" dated November 29, 1943, from K.D. Nichols to E.B. Yancey, which defines the terms and treatment to be performed. Several later documents reference this letter as "Top Secret Letter of November 29, 1943." There are three supplemental agreements and one change order.
This series also includes two sets of documents that pertain to both contracts (Hanford and Clinton). One set of documents is the Traveller's Insurance policy and nine endorsements to the policy. The second is the Traveling and Transfer Agreement, which also pertains to both contracts.
The Contract AT(07-2)-1, Savannah River Plant series consists of correspondence modifying the scope of the project, policy endorsements, and the subcontract between the DuPont Company and General Electric (GE). There is a Supplemental Agreement #1 to the subcontract.
Notably absent is the definitive contract for the project; it is neither listed among the numbered documents nor among the unnumbered materials. While the contract itself is not extant, the materials do include contract Amendment Nos. 2-3, Supplement Nos. 14-17, and Revision Nos. 13-16.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
Language of Materials
English
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- DuPont Company Manhattan Project records
- Author:
- Laurie Sather
- Date:
- 2025
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository