Full Text of SR0799 103rd General Assembly
SR0799 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | | | SR0799 | | LRB103 39706 ECR 70138 r |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION | 2 | | WHEREAS, It is appropriate to remember the many sacrifices | 3 | | and contributions to the cause of freedom made by the | 4 | | outstanding men and women who have served in the United States | 5 | | Armed Forces; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, From 1946 to 1962, the United States conducted | 7 | | approximately 200 atmospheric nuclear tests, more than all | 8 | | other nuclear states combined at that time; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Approximately 400,000 servicemen in the U.S. | 10 | | Army, Navy, and Marines were present during these atmospheric | 11 | | tests, whether as witnesses to the tests themselves or as | 12 | | post-test cleanup crews; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, The Manhattan Project was the code name for the | 14 | | American-led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon | 15 | | during World War II; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Two types of atomic bombs were developed | 17 | | concurrently during the war, a relatively simple gun-type | 18 | | fission weapon and a more complex implosion-type nuclear | 19 | | weapon; the Thin Man gun-type design proved impractical to use | 20 | | with plutonium, and therefore, a simpler gun-type called | 21 | | Little Boy was developed that used uranium-235, an isotope |
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| 1 | | that makes up only 0.7 percent of natural uranium; since it was | 2 | | chemically identical to the most common isotope, uranium-238, | 3 | | and had almost the same mass, separating the two proved | 4 | | difficult; three methods were employed for uranium enrichment, | 5 | | electromagnetic, gaseous, and thermal; most of this work was | 6 | | performed at the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge, | 7 | | Tennessee; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, In parallel with the work on uranium was an | 9 | | effort to produce plutonium, which was discovered by | 10 | | researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, in | 11 | | 1940; after the feasibility of the world's first artificial | 12 | | nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, was demonstrated in 1942 | 13 | | at the Metallurgical Laboratory in the University of Chicago, | 14 | | the project designed the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge | 15 | | and the production reactors at the Hanford Site in Washington | 16 | | state, in which uranium was irradiated and transmuted into | 17 | | plutonium and the plutonium was then chemically separated from | 18 | | the uranium, using the bismuth phosphate process; the Fat Man | 19 | | plutonium implosion-type weapon was developed in a concerted | 20 | | design and development effort by the Los Alamos Laboratory; | 21 | | and | 22 | | WHEREAS, Illinois played an important part in the | 23 | | Manhattan Project; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Argonne National Laboratory is a science and | 2 | | engineering research national laboratory operated by the | 3 | | University of Chicago for the United States Department of | 4 | | Energy; the facility is located in Lemont, outside of Chicago, | 5 | | and is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the | 6 | | Midwest; and | 7 | | WHEREAS, On July 1, 1946, the laboratory was formally | 8 | | chartered as Argonne National Laboratory to conduct | 9 | | cooperative research in nucleonics; at the request of the U.S. | 10 | | Atomic Energy Commission, it began developing nuclear reactors | 11 | | for the nation's peaceful nuclear energy program; in the late | 12 | | 1940s and early 1950s, the laboratory moved to a larger | 13 | | location in Lemont and established a remote location in Idaho | 14 | | called "Argonne-West" to conduct further nuclear research; and | 15 | | WHEREAS, Code-named the "Metallurgical Lab", the team | 16 | | constructed Chicago Pile-1, which achieved criticality on | 17 | | December 2, 1942 underneath the stands at the University of | 18 | | Chicago's Stagg Field; because the experiments were deemed too | 19 | | dangerous to conduct in a major city, the operations were | 20 | | moved to a spot in nearby Palos Hills and renamed "Argonne" | 21 | | after the surrounding forest; and | 22 | | WHEREAS, Red Gate Woods is a forest preserve within the | 23 | | Palos Division of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County |
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| 1 | | and is located near where the Cal-Sag Channel meets the | 2 | | Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; the original site of Argonne | 3 | | National Laboratory and the Site A/Plot M Disposal Site is in | 4 | | the woods, which contains the buried remains of Chicago | 5 | | Pile-1, the world's first artificial nuclear reactor; and | 6 | | WHEREAS, It is important to remember and honor the | 7 | | achievements and sacrifices of the men and women of this | 8 | | nation who during their time of service experienced exposure | 9 | | to nuclear radiation while on active duty and served so | 10 | | valiantly in the cause of freedom; therefore, be it | 11 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL | 12 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare July 16, | 13 | | 2024 as Atomic Veterans Day in the State of Illinois; and be it | 14 | | further | 15 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 16 | | presented to the Atomic Heritage Foundation as a symbol of our | 17 | | esteem and respect. |
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