Transcript of Lansing Lamont Interview with Dr. Raemer Schreiber, Deputy Director of the Los Alamos Laboratory (Tape IX)

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TAPE IX LAMONT: This is an interview with Dr. Ramer Schreiber, the Deputy Director of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. MR. Schreiber, if I can ask you to reconstruct that twenty-fou: hours, roughly starting around July 15th. Were you down at the site then ? You had already been down there. DR. SCHREIBER: A. group of us went down about three days before the shot. This was to do the final assembly of the nuclear parts of the weapon. TRUMAN LAMONT: Was this before the device had arrived itself? NATIONAL DEPARTMENT ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE DR. SCHREIBER: We went down at the same time that the fissionable GOVERNMENT material went down. I imagine that the overall device aside from that had gone down two or three days before. LAMONT: Now you were assembling this material at the Old MacDonald Ranch? DR. SCHREIBER: That is correct. There had been a little laboratory sat up there. As I recall it was two days prior to the shot that we fifted out all of the components and all of the gadgets that created the real explosion and source of energy, were fitted out and tried. Of course, everybody was in on the act. But we had to double check and triple check. All of this work essentially was done on the 14th as I recall. And then that particular capsule, which was to be inserted in the bomb itself at the tower was left there under guard until the following morning whenwe made the final check. And then it was hauled over to the tower and inserted into the high explosive assembly. I don't know the exact hour, but it would be probably toward noon of the day before the shot. LAMONT: Can you tell me a little bit about the work that you did at the MacDonald Ranch? When did you start assembling ? Is there any way you

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