Ohio inventions and firsts · Achievement · 1943-1949
Dayton Project and Mound Laboratory (Manhattan Project polonium)
The secret Dayton Project (1943-1949, led by Monsanto's Charles Allen Thomas) produced polonium for neutron initiators in the atomic bombs; permanent work moved to Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, where polonium processing began in February 1949.
At a glance
- Year
- 1943-1949
- Company
- Monsanto (Charles Allen Thomas) / Manhattan Project / U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
- Place
- Dayton / Miamisburg, Montgomery County ZIP 45342 · Montgomery County
The story
During World War II the Manhattan Project needed a way to start the chain reaction in an atomic bomb. One answer was a small device that gives off a burst of neutrons at the right moment, made with polonium. The work of making it was done in secret in Dayton, in a program called the Dayton Project.
The program began in 1943 under Monsanto, led by Charles Allen Thomas. After the war the work needed a permanent home. The Mound Laboratory in Miamisburg, run by Monsanto for the Atomic Energy Commission, took it over, and began operating in 1948. Polonium processing there began in February 1949, when the Dayton work moved over. It made detonators, timers and firing sets as well as neutron triggers.
Over time Mound did more. It began processing tritium in 1954, enriched isotopes, and made plutonium-238 heat sources that power space missions. Workers were represented by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union.
The site left a lasting problem. Mound was declared a Superfund site and put on the National Priorities List in 1989. The decision to close came in 2002, and cleanup finished in 2010.
Timeline
- 1943: The Dayton Project starts, making polonium for bomb initiators. (Dayton, OH) source
- 1948: Mound Laboratory begins operating in Miamisburg under Monsanto. (Miamisburg, OH) source
- 1949-02: Polonium processing begins at Mound; the Dayton Project ends. (Miamisburg, OH) source
- 1954: Tritium processing begins at Mound. (Miamisburg, OH) source
- 1989: Mound is added to the Superfund National Priorities List. (Miamisburg, OH) source
- 2002: The decision to close the site is made. (Miamisburg, OH) source
- 2010: Cleanup is completed. (Miamisburg, OH) source
What it changed
- Mound produced plutonium-238 heat sources used in space missions.
- Cleanup ran 1995 to 2010 after a Superfund listing in 1989.
Why it matters
Key Manhattan Project component work done in Ohio.
Further reading
Sources
Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.