U.S. nukes chief honors Trinity anniversary
NNSA leader lauds Los Alamos researchers, benefits of atomic science 75 years after N.M. test
LOS ALAMOS — The Trinity test that detonated the first atomic bomb 75 years ago led to great progress in science, national defense and even peacekeeping, the head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said Thursday.
“I hope I can impart how it contributed to the betterment of humanity,” said Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, who leads the agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear programs.
Gordon-Hagerty delivered a speech that commemorated the Trinity blast and extolled the positive breakthroughs born from nuclear science while she stood at the site at Los Alamos National Laboratory where the first atomic bomb —dubbed “The Gadget” — was mostly assembled for the Manhattan Project.
Gordon-Hagerty is touring national laboratories this week. She stopped at the lab’s “V-site” to pay tribute to the atomic bomb detonated July 16, 1945, at a military base in south-central New Mexico — an explosion that led to the end of World War II and marked the dawn of the nuclear age.
She hailed the team of scientists and engineers who took part in the grand experiment over which hung immense uncertainty. She noted that many team members had a betting pool going on whether the bomb would actually detonate.
It was the greatest scientific experiment ever conducted — not only because of the new frontiers it opened, but because of the courage and commitment required to venture so deep into the unknown, she said.
“The testament to its scientific significance cannot be underestimated,” Gordon-Hagerty said.
Being shrouded in secrecy made the project even more challenging, Gordon Hagerty said, adding it was “so secret that then Vice President [Harry] Truman was unaware of its existence.”
Those involved couldn’t talk to anyone outside the confines of the project, and the scientists couldn’t use any of their groundbreaking methods or publish papers about them.
Gordon-Hagerty mostly sidestepped the darker consequences of the Trinity test, such as the bombs dropped on Japan, which killed an estimated 200,000 people, and the victims of radioactive fallout from Trinity and subsequent nuclear tests in the years that followed.
Critics of nuclear weapons contend the successful atomic test propelled the world into an angst-ridden half-century known as the Cold War, creating diplomatic barriers that continue today.
Gordon-Hagerty argued the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ultimately saved more lives than were lost in Japan because they ended the war.
Almost from the beginning, many people have vilified the destructive power of nuclear weapons, she said. Even Robert Oppenheimer, who was in
charge of designing The Gadget, wondered whether he and other nuclear pioneers would be harshly condemned.
Instead, they are celebrated as bold scientists, she said.
Nuclear science has created a blueprint for research in other fields, including at LANL, she said, pointing to medicine and space exploration as examples.
With diplomacy, nuclear weapons act a a deterrent, giving the United States leverage in dealing with adversaries and encouraging nonproliferation, Gordon-Hagerty said.
“Our objective is that the bombs are never used,” she said.