In 1944, Gladys Owens worked in a city that officially did not exist. She knew which dials to turn—but not what her machine was making.
This documentary uncovers Site X, Site W and Site Y: Oak Ridge, Hanford and Los Alamos. Together, they separated uranium, manufactured plutonium and designed the first atomic weapons. Their secrecy changed the war. Their human and environmental consequences lasted far longer.
00:00 The city that did not exist
00:23 The Secret Cities That Built the Atomic Bomb
00:27 Why the project was divided into X, W and Y
00:53 Site X: Oak Ridge
02:50 Site W: Hanford
04:46 Site Y: Los Alamos
06:05 Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki
07:05 How a secret this large survived
07:58 Who sees the whole machine?
Primary and official sources:
https://www.nps.gov/mapr/learn/manhattan-project.htm
https://www.nps.gov/mapr/learn/historyculture/secretcities.htm
https://www.nps.gov/mapr/about-oak-ridge.htm
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-calutron-girls.htm
https://home.nps.gov/mapr/learn/historyculture/african-americans.htm
https://www.nps.gov/mapr/about-hanford.htm
https://www.nps.gov/mapr/learn/historyculture/hanford-displacement.htm
https://hanford.gov/page.cfm/BReactor
https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/manhattan-project-science-at-los-alamos.htm
Some scenes are clearly labelled documentary reconstructions. Archival images come primarily from NPS and DOE collections; public-domain film comes from U.S. government and NARA collections. Pexels footage is used under the Pexels licence.
#ManhattanProject #SecretCities #OakRidge #Hanford #LosAlamos #HistoryDocumentary #AcrossTimme
