S-1計画とは？ わかりやすく解説

出典: フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 (2018/02/12 00:07 UTC 版)

「S-1ウラン委員会」の記事における「S-1計画」の解説

1941年12月18日、ヴァネヴァー・ブッシュはウラン濃縮のための気体拡散（英語版）を研究するハロルド・ユーリーや電磁気濃縮技術を研究するアーネスト・ローレンスと共にアーサー・コンプトンが管理する加速するウラン235研究計画を組織する会合を開いた。 翌日大日本帝国の真珠湾攻撃でアメリカ合衆国は戦争に突入した。4日後、アメリカ合衆国に宣戦布告した。12月18日の会合でS-1計画はウラン爆弾開発に専念することになった。 As a result of the MAUD Report, the British had started a uranium bomb program referred to by the codename Tube Alloys. Perceived slowness on the part of the United States had become a contentious issue between American and British scientists. Upon entry into the war, the U.S. placed increasing importance on working cooperatively with the British program. Roosevelt wrote a note to Winston Churchill outlining increased U.S.–UK cooperation, but was rebuffed by Churchill. Apparently the British felt the U.S. could add little to the effort at that point. This rebuff turned out to be a major blunder as the U.S. effort quickly caught up with the British effort, and the British realised that their pioneering effort would have no value if it were not quickly capitalized. Leadership of the American atomic (uranium) bomb project was transferred to U.S. Army General Leslie Groves from September 1942; Groves (in his own words) had never trusted the British, or anyone else. 1942年6月17日、ルーズベルトは元々のS-1部を解消するブッシュの提案に賛成しブリッグスやコンプトン、ユーリー、ローレンス、マーフィー・V・マーフリー（英語版）の各委員と共にジェイムス・コナントが議長を務める「S-1執行委員会」を創設した。計画はOSRSとアメリカ合衆国陸軍の間で強まる協力関係に入った。 On August 13, 1942, the Manhattan Project was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and on September 23, 1942, command of the district was given to Groves. The S-1 Executive Committee created two more secret sites: "Site X" in Tennessee (Oak Ridge, Tennessee), where uranium-235 isotope separation was carried out at the Y-12, K-25, and S-50 sites, and "Site Y," a secret laboratory at Los Alamos in northern New Mexico (later Los Alamos National Laboratory), where the bomb design was developed. As the Army role in the project grew larger, the role of the OSRD became more advisory. Eventually, in May 1943, the Army took full control over the OSRD's research and development contracts, and as such the S-1 Executive Committee became essentially inactive though never formally dissolved. Kenneth Nichols wrote that the committee routinely ratified the MPC's decisions and that The S-1 Committee was eliminated by mid-1943, as it had been superseded by the Military Policy Committee. Bush, Conant, and other OSRD insiders continued their influence in the Manhattan Project through their participation in the Military Policy Committee.

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