Bill Text: IL HJR0030 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Designates the portion of Illinois Route 171 between Illinois Route 83 and U.S. Route 45 as the "Atomic Veterans Highway".

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-05-06 - Referred to Assignments [HJR0030 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HJR0030-Introduced.html

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HJ0030 LRB102 17726 MST 23761 r
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, It is appropriate to remember the many sacrifices
and contributions to the cause of freedom made by the
outstanding men and women who have served in the United States
Armed Forces; and
WHEREAS, From 1946 to 1962, the United States conducted
approximately 200 atmospheric nuclear tests, more than all
other nuclear states combined at that time; and
WHEREAS, Approximately 400,000 servicemen in the U.S.
Army, Navy, and Marines were present during these atmospheric
tests, whether as witnesses to the tests themselves or as
post-test cleanup crews; and
WHEREAS, The Manhattan Project was the code name for the
American-led effort to develop a functional atomic weapon
during World War II; and
WHEREAS, Two types of atomic bombs were developed
concurrently during the war, a relatively simple gun-type
fission weapon and a more complex implosion-type nuclear
weapon; the Thin Man gun-type design proved impractical to use
with plutonium, and therefore, a simpler gun-type called
Little Boy was developed that used uranium-235, an isotope

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that makes up only 0.7 percent of natural uranium; since it was
chemically identical to the most common isotope, uranium-238,
and had almost the same mass, separating the two proved
difficult; three methods were employed for uranium enrichment,
electromagnetic, gaseous, and thermal; most of this work was
performed at the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge,
Tennessee; and
WHEREAS, In parallel with the work on uranium was an
effort to produce plutonium, which was discovered by
researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, in
1940; after the feasibility of the world's first artificial
nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1, was demonstrated in 1942
at the Metallurgical Laboratory in the University of Chicago,
the project designed the X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge
and the production reactors at the Hanford Site in Washington
state, in which uranium was irradiated and transmuted into
plutonium and the plutonium was then chemically separated from
the uranium, using the bismuth phosphate process; the Fat Man
plutonium implosion-type weapon was developed in a concerted
design and development effort by the Los Alamos Laboratory;
and
WHEREAS, Illinois played an important part in the
Manhattan Project; and

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WHEREAS, Argonne National Laboratory is a science and
engineering research national laboratory operated by the
University of Chicago for the United States Department of
Energy; the facility is located in Lemont, outside of Chicago,
and is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the
Midwest; and
WHEREAS, On July 1, 1946, the laboratory was formally
chartered as Argonne National Laboratory to conduct
cooperative research in nucleonics; at the request of the U.S.
Atomic Energy Commission, it began developing nuclear reactors
for the nation's peaceful nuclear energy program; in the late
1940s and early 1950s, the laboratory moved to a larger
location in Lemont and established a remote location in Idaho
called "Argonne-West" to conduct further nuclear research; and
WHEREAS, Code-named the "Metallurgical Lab", the team
constructed Chicago Pile-1, which achieved criticality on
December 2, 1942 underneath the stands at the University of
Chicago's Stagg Field; because the experiments were deemed too
dangerous to conduct in a major city, the operations were
moved to a spot in nearby Palos Hills and renamed "Argonne"
after the surrounding forest; and
WHEREAS, Red Gate Woods is a forest preserve within the
Palos Division of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County

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and is located near where the Cal-Sag Channel meets the
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; the original site of Argonne
National Laboratory and the Site A/Plot M Disposal Site is in
the woods, which contains the buried remains of Chicago
Pile-1, the world's first artificial nuclear reactor; and
WHEREAS, It is important to remember and honor the
sacrifices and achievements of all those who served;
therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we designate the portion of
Illinois Route 171 between Illinois Route 83 and U.S. Route 45
as the "Atomic Veterans Highway"; and be it further
RESOLVED, That the Illinois Department of Transportation
is requested to erect at suitable locations, consistent with
State and federal regulations, appropriate plaques or signs
giving notice of the name of "Atomic Veterans Highway"; and be
it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
presented to the Secretary of Transportation and the Atomic
Heritage Foundation.