By 1944, the Manhattan Project had developed facilities to produce uranium and plutonium suitable for use in an atomic bomb. What remained was for the experts at Los Alamos to figure out how to design an build a bomb that could fit on a bomber, deliver the bomb to the target, and explode when it was supposed to.
When it came to light that the plutonium reactor was producing the isotope Pu-240 in addition to Pu-239, it seemed a plutonium bomb was no longer feasible. Or was it?
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Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Sonata in B♭ Major
Composed ca. 1725 by Domenico Scarlatti. Public domain.
Performed by Thomas Goff. Public domain recording. Source.
Closing War Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.