(12) This vast amount of energy was required to power the Y-12 where workers used
calutrons to refine uranium and at the K-25 plant where the uranium was enriched.
My initial laboratories were in the same valley that housed more than a thousand giant
Calutrons (preparative mass spectrometers) used to enrich kilograms of U-235.
The Alpha II tracks were rectangular in shape as the Calutrons located at the curved portions of the original oval race-track designs had proven difficult to regulate.
This is what was done in constructing the Oak Ridge calutrons. Configuring a single three-meter diameter coil had not been undertaken in 1943, but complications imposed by fundamental physics dictated the construction of hundreds of such coils to provide for a sensible rate of productivity.
In 1991, in one of the first and only instances where the inspectors found prohibited equipment, they came upon some massive
calutrons, devices used for enriching uranium, at an Iraqi military base.
Kay writes: At the time of the invasion of Kuwait, (Iraq) had begun the startup for industrial-scale enrichment using
calutrons and had acquired the material, designs and much of the equipment for 20,000 modern centrifuges.
As have two
calutrons bought from China for 27- and 30-megawatt research reactors.
The idea of questioning Groves about the relative merits of
calutrons compared to gaseous diffusion compared to centrifuges I am sure never occurred to McKellar.
In 1991, in one of the first, and only, instances of finding prohibited equipment, inspectors came upon some massive
calutrons used for enriching uranium at an Iraqi military base.