SITE-X

"In World War II, when the Japanese were in control of Southern Luzon, they conducted a roundup of persons suspected of unfriendly attitudes. One of these was an elderly American who had resided in the Philippines for many, many years. A Japanese officer questioned him about his nationality. The American replied that he was from Tennessee. A perplexed look crossed the officer's face. Then he decreed: 'You may depart. You are of a non-belligerent nation. Japan has no war with Tennessee.'"

- From the Introduction, The Oak Ridge Story.

The Japanese officer is mistaken, of course. He may have believed that Japan was not at war with Tennessee, but Tennessee was very much at war with Japan, as he would learn on August 6, 1945, when "Little Boy" detonated above Hiroshima. All the highly enriched uranium (HEU) used in that bomb was the final product of the combined efforts of thousands of workers at a secret location in East Tennessee, designated as Site X. The name was later changed to Clinton Engineer Works.

A billet of highly enriched uranium that was recovered from scrap processed at the Y-12 National Security Complex Plant.

The map below shows the outer boundary of Site X ("Clinton Engineer Works"), and the locations of:

The seven security access points ("Gates"),
The three facilities (Y-12, K-25, and S-50) devoted to the production of highly enriched uranium (HEU),
The Power Plant, and
The Graphite Reactor (X-10).

The portion labeled "Oak Ridge" was the principal housing area and the site of the Manhattan Project Headquarters complex referred to by the residents as "The Castle on the Hill."

Jones, Vincent C., "Manhattan- The Army and the Atomic Bomb", Page 131 - U.S. Army Center of Military History (CMH)