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This is a question that we get asked more and more often these days — whether a company should consider eliminating the testing requirement for marijuana due to the fast-changing state-specific rules. A response to this question requires an understanding that there are many different rules applicable to drug and alcohol testing both, state-by-state, and applicable federal rules. The most appropriate answer would also require us to know more about what the root concerns are for a company to consider removing marijuana from their testing panel(s), and what are the company’s overall hopes and goals for their workplace screening program. In general, we advocate that employers should continue enforcing drug-free workplace programs, including the screening for marijuana use unless there is a specific reason, issue or concern that an employer can justify otherwise.In lieu of a direct engagement opportunity, we offer a breakdown of the question and related facts, to help you determine what the best course of action is for your workplace.Marijuana @ WorkCurrently, there are 10 states that have authorized the legal use of marijuana for anyone 21 years old or older (CA is "over 21-yrs old"): Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont & Washington (and Washington D.C.). Although criminal & civil penalties saw a dramatic change, it’s very important to note that each of these state's laws specifically provides that Employers do not need to accommodate employee marijuana use at work.Employers are still authorized to prohibit the use of marijuana, permitted to test for marijuana use and authorized to discipline employees that violate workplace screening programs.As of this November, 33 states (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia (and Washington D.C.) now permit the medical use of marijuana.17 states have adopted some form of law permitting the use of Cannabidiol (CBD) (a non-psychoactive component found in hemp and marijuana plants) for patients that meet requirements from very specific lists of medical conditions. In June of this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first ever cannabis-derived drug (Epidiolex) for the treatment of specific epileptic conditions. The DEA has authorized this drug as a Schedule V substance. In general, CBD products are now being sold nationwide in various forms (concentrates, oils, edibles, balms, rubs, drinks, etc.) and concentrations, with little regulatory oversite.Drug Use on the RiseDrug use in America is at its highest levels in more than a decade. According to the latest data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 30 million people, or 11.2% of the U.S. population, used an illicit drug in the past month. One in seven people, or 20.7 million Americans, needed substance use treatment in 2017. Approximately 26 million people were current marijuana users.Overall, according to the recent Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index, marijuana positivity continued its five-year upward trajectory in urine testing for both the general U.S. workforce and the federally-mandated, safety-sensitive workforce. Marijuana positivity increased four percent in the general U.S. workforce (2.5% in 2016 versus 2.6% in 2017) and nearly eight percent in the safety-sensitive workforce (0.78% versus 0.84%).Increases in positivity rates for marijuana in the general U.S. workforce were most striking in states that have enacted recreational use statues since 2016. Those states include Nevada (43%), Massachusetts (14%) and California (11%).Three states also saw significant increases in marijuana positivity in federally-mandated, safety-sensitive workers: Nevada (39%), California (20%), and Massachusetts (11%). Federally-mandated, safety-sensitive workers include pilots, rail, bus and truck drivers, and workers in nuclear power plants, for whom routine drug testing is required by the DOT. You can view the Quest Diagnostics interactive map for more details on how marijuana use in your state compares to the rest of the nation.The LawsNo state, that has authorized either the personal use or medical use of marijuana, prohibits an employer from including marijuana in a work-related drug testing program. Moreover, with limited exception (Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island) in court decisions, where an employee who is also a legal marijuana user challenges an employer's discipline following a positive test result for marijuana; the employer has won.With limited exception, (e.g. AZ, DE, MN, NY & potentially MI) states with medical marijuana laws do not require employers to accommodate an employee’s medical marijuana use.Employers can continue to enforce drug-free workplaces, including the screening of marijuana. Employers are still permitted to prohibit the use, possession, sales, etc. while at work, in a company vehicle, or on company property.Employers are not limited from refusing to hire, discharging, disciplining, or otherwise taking an adverse employment action against an employee that violates their drug-free workplace policy or because they were at work while under the influence of marijuana.Who and When to Test?Except as noted below, there are no mandatory state-specific laws that require an employer to test for marijuana use. There are certain states that limit what employers can screen for (e.g. Oklahoma – screening is limited to Schedule I, II, or III drugs only; other state exceptions) and there are federal limits (such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the screening of prescription drugs) and state disability discrimination rules that must be considered, but in general non-regulated employers have never been ‘required’ to screen for marijuana use.We could write an entire separate article on the benefits of including marijuana in workplace screening programs. It has been an industry best practice for more than 30 years. Past studies have shown the impacts of marijuana use in the workplace to be very costly specifically related to:AbsenteeismLost productivityChanges in mood & emotionsPoor judgment & coordinationShort-term memory problemsImpaired thinkingLoss of balance and coordinationDecreased concentrationChanges in sensory perceptionImpaired ability to perform complex tasksDecreased alertnessDecreased reaction timePre-Hire vs Post-Hire ScreeningIt is very common for a company to require a drug test as a post-offer condition of employment. This test commonly includes the screening for marijuana use.A popular headline in the news as of late is the number of employers struggling to find workers that can pass a drug screen. Related to that is the general perceived “unfairness” with the dramatic difference in the detection time period for marijuana use. Marijuana and its metabolites are fat-soluble and store in the body longer the other popular drugs of abuse. With the lack of a true method to show that someone is “under the influence” of marijuana, it is nearly impossible to make a distinction between someone being “high” right now or if it was off-duty use (use over a weekend, habitual use, etc.).It is important to note that, just because a prospective employee fails a drug screen for marijuana doesn’t mean the employer must take adverse action or deny employment. (There is a serious question whether this can be done at all in Maine) Employers still have the option to hire the employee, evaluate the nature of the job to be performed and decide whether there is a safety or security concern or if reasonable accommodations would be appropriate or not.A company’s drug-free workplace program also commonly includes the requirements of testing apart of a random screening program or in reasonable suspicion and post-accident situations. The continued testing for marijuana in these situations is likely crucial.So, as an alternate solution to a blanket removal of marijuana testing, a company may choose to assess the value of their pre-hire screening panel compared to that of their post-employment screening panel.By Employee Group or Job FunctionAs another alternative, an employer can make distinctions between employee groups and how or when the company drug testing is imposed.Distinctions between workgroups happen in drug testing all the time. Some companies choose to apply random testing to safety-sensitive workers only (required in some states like Minnesota). Some states limit employers, for example, post-accident testing is not allowed in 5 states and 2 cities; employers in many states (and Boulder, CO) can't conduct observed collections of a sample. In Iowa, the law allows employers to randomly test all workers or just some workers at a site. 31 states have laws that require employers to drug test some workers, but not others. As we’ve mentioned, it is very important to understand the rules that apply to your specific workplace screening program.When is Marijuana Testing Required?Department of Transportation (DOT) Testing: Companies that have employees conducting federally regulated work (truck drivers, bus drivers, pilots, boat captains, rail workers, etc.) MUST follow DOT drug & alcohol testing rules which include the screening of marijuana. Furthermore, the DOT has made it very clear that medical marijuana users are not exempt from federal DOT regulations.State Benefits Programs: There are 15 states that offer benefits to employers who voluntarily comply with state workers’ compensation premium discount programs (Drug-Free Workplace Programs). To earn the benefits the employer must comply with a very complex set of rules including when to test, how to test and for what substances - which includes the required screening of marijuana.Federal Grants: Companies that operate from a state or federal grant likely must continue to screen for marijuana as a condition of the grant.Contractor/Subcontractor Work: It is very common for contractors and subcontractors to require the screening of marijuana, whether by company policy, contract requirement, customer requirement, etc.State Regulations: Several states have some form of law or rule that specifically requires employers to follow Federal (HHS/DOT) rules, which includes screening for marijuana, either in general and in specific circumstances.There are 12 states that prohibit discrimination of an applicant or employee simply because of their status as a medical marijuana patient. (or in the case of Maine, personal use – “off property.”). As one example, the state of New York’s Compassionate Care Act (CCA) created new anti-discrimination protections for medical marijuana users. The CCA namely provides that patients who are certified for medical marijuana use shall not be subject to “disciplinary action by a business” for exercising their rights to use medical marijuana. The CCA further provides that being a certified patient is the equivalent of having a disability for purposes of the New York State Human Rights Law.Suggested Action Steps for Employers· Clearly understand the state-specific drug & alcohol screening laws and court & agency rulings that apply to your company in each state(s) you operate in.· Evaluate the pros and cons of the screening of marijuana for your specific workforce.· Create and/or update and implement a written Drug-Free Workplace Policy that clearly states the company’s stance on prohibited drug & alcohol use and the related consequences that will be imposed. This policy should be reviewed at twice a year, if not more often.· Design and implement sound processes and procedures that complement the language within the company policy. This will remove any guessing or potential mistakes when action needs to be taken in the 'heat of the moment'.· Educated your employees on the dangers and impacts of drug and alcohol use.· Encourage employees to seek help with any drug or alcohol dependency or addiction through your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefits.· Train your managers and supervisors on the details of your companies Drug-Free Workplace policy. Help them understand the laws that apply (including the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)). Train them on how to recognize the signs of impairment from drug or alcohol use and clearly define the action steps they should take in these instances.· Stay up-to-date with the rules, regulations and court decisions that may impact your program.Resource: Drug Screening Compliance InstituteDisclaimer: I am not a lawyer. The information contained herein is for general informational purposes only.

Although there are many deniers—including a prominent person on this site—there is no question that Japan was trying to build its own atomic bombs in WWII. This is not, however, the same thing as saying that “Japan (successfully) developed an atom bomb at the end of WWII”. In order to answer the question of whether Japan in fact succeeded in its own Second World War nuclear quest or not, we must consider the evidence and also the history of how that evidence appeared in public sources in the West.The story of the WWII Japanese atomic bomb project—or actually, “projects”, since there were at least four (4) of them—was first told in Western mass media in a 3 October 1946 story by the late newspaper writer and journalist, David Snell. A quick search on the internet did not yield any proper biographies of Snell, only a since-deleted Wikipedia entry—which was predictably and quickly dismissive of his Japanese a-bomb piece—and a useful if not particularly detailed “infogalactic dot com” article.David Snell (journalist)Atlanta Constitution Headline From 3 October 1946 Story by David Snell Alleging Successful Test of a Japanese Atomic Bomb at the Tail End of WWIISo rather than depend on hostile or incomplete sources, here it would be best to quote Snell directly. The following excerpt consists of roughly half of the full text of his article in the Atlanta Constitution newspaper. The complete text is available by following the link below the excerpt:When told this story, I was an agent with the Twenty-Fourth Criminal Investigation Department, operating in Korea. I was able to interview Capt. Wakabayashi (a pseudonym given to protect his identity), not as an investigator or as a member of the armed forces, but as a newspaperman. He was advised and understood thoroughly, that he was speaking for publication.He was in Seoul, en route to Japan as a repatriate. The interview took place in a former Shinto temple on a mount overlooking Korea's capital city. The shrine had been converted into an hotel for transient Japanese en route to their homeland.Since V-J Day wisps of information have drifted into the hands of U.S. Army Intelligence of the existence of a gigantic and mystery-shrouded industrial project operated during the closing months of the war in a mountain vastness near the Northern Korean coastal city of Konan. It was near here that Japan's uranium supply was said to exist.This, the most complete account of activities at Konan to reach American ears, is believed to be the first time Japanese silence has been broken on the subject.In a cave in a mountain near Konan, men worked against time, in final assembly of genzai bakuden, Japan's name for the atomic bomb. It was August 10, 1945 (Japanese time), only four days after an atomic bomb flashed in the sky over Hiroshima, and five days before Japan surrendered.To the north, Russian hordes were spilling into Manchuria.Shortly after midnight of that day a convoy of Japanese trucks moved from the mouth of the cave, past watchful sentries. The trucks wound through valleys, past sleeping farm villages. It was August, and frogs in the mud of terraced rice paddies sang in a still night. In the cool predawn Japanese scientists and engineers loaded genzai bakudan aboard a ship in Konan.Off the coast near an inlet in the Sea of Japan more frantic preparations were under way. All that day and night ancient ships, junks and fishing vessels moved into the anchorage.Before dawn on Aug. 12 a robot launch chugged through the ships at anchor and beached itself on the inlet. Its passenger was genzai bakudan. A clock ticked.The observers were 20 miles away. This waiting was difficult and strange to men who had worked relentlessly so long who knew their job had been completed too late.OBSERVORS BLINDED BY FLASHThe light in the east where Japan lay grew brighter. The moment the sun peeped over the sea there was a burst of light at the anchorage blinding the observers who wore welders' glasses. The ball of fire was estimated to be 1,000 yards in diameter. A multicolored cloud of vapors boiled toward the heavens then mushroomed in the stratosphere.The churn of water and vapor obscured the vessels directly under the burst. Ships and junks on the fringe burned fiercely at anchor. When the atmosphere cleared slightly the observers could detect several vessels had vanished.Genzai bakudun in that moment had matched the brilliance of the rising sun in the east.Japan had perfected and successfully tested an atomic bomb as cataclysmic as those that withered Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The time was short. The war was roaring to its climax. The advancing Russians would arrive at Konan before the weapon could be mounted in the ready Kamikaze planes to be thrown against any attempted landing by American troops on Japan's shores.It was a difficult decision. But it had to be made.The observers sped across the water, back to Konan. With the advance units of the Russian Army only hours away, the final scene of this gotterdammerung began. The scientists and engineers smashed machines, and destroyed partially completed genzai bakudans.Before Russian columns reached Konan, dynamite sealed the secrets of the cave. But the Russians had come so quickly that the scientists could not escape.This is the story told me by Capt. Wakabayashi.1946 Atlanta Constitution Atom Bomb Articles Link to a transcription of Snell’s complete original newspaper story and related articlesNote that the Japanese term “Genzai bakudan” in Snell’s article is probably more correctly rendered “genshi hakai dan”and is literally translated into English as “element bomb”.Subsequent denials, harrumph-harrumphs and how-dare-you-sirs quickly appeared in various newspapers, including (shockingly—not) a New York Times piece in which “an MIT scientist scoffed” at the idea that Japan had been doing its own advanced nuclear weapons work during WWII and might even have successfully tested an atomic bomb.US Occupation entities conducted fairly extensive investigations into whatever Japan was doing with its nuclear weapons R&D, but there was considerable political pressure to brush everything under the rug because the United States had already determined that Japan would be brought into the Western orbit as a Cold War proxy state to thwart Soviet expansion into the Pacific. What digging there was, was done by 1) the Atomic Bomb Mission, attached to the Manhattan Engineer District and thus an Asian version of the highly successful “Alsos” European atomic intelligence gathering effort, and 2) the Scientific Intelligence Survey, headed by the prominent American scientist Dr. Karl T. Compton. Compton had been a member of the “Interim Committee”, the advisory think tank formed by President Truman soon after he took office whose mission was to recommend the best use of the newly perfected American a-bomb. Of the two, the Atomic Bomb Mission was much more persistent and raised many more questions until it was finally ordered to cease and desist in the late 1940s. The Scientific Intelligence Survey quickly reached its own “conclusions” and was plainly acting as an arm of the US State Department, which had already decided as a fait accompli that there was nothing to see here, so move along, move along.There was, however, one notable result of US investigations that was immediately obvious.US Occupation Forces Dismantling One of the Massive Cyclotrons at the Riken Institute North of Tokyo, Japan, on 4 December 1945.https://books.google.com/books?id=BkkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=tokyo+bay+cyclotrons+sunk&source=bl&ots=9JXLOtdJ2X&sig=bcCyvZB0mJBjyS4iGuT9AHS0GQ8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JAxAVJLRK82NyAT_y4KQAQ#v=onepage&q=tokyo%20bay%20cyclotrons%20sunk&f=false — link goes to a Life magazine story about the destruction of the Japanese cyclotrons, including photos of Professor Yoshio Nishina, head of theoretical research for the Japanese Army’s WWII nuclear weapons program.Tokyo, Japan 1917-1950: Rare Images Of Love, Loathing And Life - Flashbak — additional Life magazine photos, including the two immediately above.A total of five (5) cyclotrons had been located in Japan, with two of them at the Riken Institute—the headquarters of Japanese “big science” and the location of the offices of Dr. Yoshio Nishina, head scientist of the Japanese Army’s atomic bomb enterprise, known as “Project Ni”. Cyclotrons are particle accelerators capable of measuring the neutron fission cross section of uranium and other fissionable elements, and they can also be used to create fissile materials themselves, although the output of all but the largest cyclotrons is very small. American Occupation forces arrived at the Riken and other Japanese science institutes in November of 1945. Using axes and dynamite, they quickly disassembled all 5 machines and dumped the wreckage into Tokyo Bay—obviously a rather extreme measure if there was no danger of Japanese science being anywhere close to a nuclear weapon.US Occupation Forces Destroying Professor Bunsaku Arakatsu’s Cockroft-Walton Particle Accelerator on 24 November 1945. This Device, Along With Arakatsu’s Own Massive Cyclotron, Was Located at Kyoto Imperial University, the Primary R&D Center for the Japanese Navy’s Nuclear Weapons and Propulsion Effort, Project F-Go, During WWII. Photo Courtesy of the Website Atomic Heritage Dot Org.Cockcroft–Walton generator - WikipediaSnell’s account then receded into the background until the Korean War. This time the NYT ran an article that actually supported Snell’s story, “North Korean Plant Held Uranium Works”, in the 26 October 1950 edition, on page 3. This particular article was, naturally, based on testimony of US soldiers fighting on the Korean Peninsula, most notably in the region of Konan (Hamhung), North Korea and at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.Battle of the Chosin Reservoir | Korean WarM-26 Pershing Tank and US Marines During the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, November - December 1950.American troops were operating in precisely the area in which Snell and his pseudonymous source located the WWII Japanese atomic bomb project (or one of them—more detail on this point later). Tucked away in the Wikipedia entry about the Chosin Reservoir clash is this note:“(The) Chosin Reservoir is a man-made lake located in the northeast of the Korean peninsula. The name Chosin is the Japanese pronunciation of the Korean place name Changjin, and the name stuck due to the outdated Japanese maps used by UN forces. The battle's main focus was around the 78 miles (126 km) long road that connects Hungnam and Chosin Reservoir.”Battle of Chosin Reservoir - WikipediaUS MARINES at Chosin ReservoirHungnam was the North Korean coastal city near the site at which the alleged-to-exist Japanese atomic bomb was said to have been tested. Snell’s article states that the bomb was assembled in a cave above Hungnam, then trucked down a road to the coast, where it was detonated at “an inlet in the Sea of Japan”.The Chosin Reservoir was, in fact, part of a colossal hydroelectric plant—built by Japanese zaibatsu colonial industrialists—whose output was two and a half times greater than the Tennessee Valley Authority hydroelectric installations that had powered the Clinton Engineer Works at Oak Ridge, TN, where the US built its Little Boy U-235 atomic bomb in WWII.Retreating US forces, which had previously advanced past Hungnam on their way north, were taken off by amphibious transports in the aftermath of the fighting withdrawal by the “Frozen Chosen”. Whatever proof they might have seen of Japan’s WWII nuclear activities in that port city was probably destroyed when the Americans dynamited most of the buildings to prevent their capture by the advancing Chinese.US Navy Attack Personnel Destroyer USS Begor (APD-127) Off the Coast of Hungnam (Konan), Korea, During American Demolition of Port Facilities, December 1950.However, a few photos of the massive, if by that point badly damaged, facilities at Hungnam did surface in the public realm. Most of these were taken by various US personnel, either during their advance to the north or their subsequent retreat to the south. One of them is immediately below:Some of the Ruins of Hungnam, North Korea, Seen Here on 18 November, 1950. The American Journalist David Snell Called The Electrical Power Infrastructure Clearly Visible in This Photo, “The Greatest Concentration of High Voltage Electrical Wiring I Have Ever Seen”. Photograph Courtesy of Dwight Rider and is From His Personal Research Into the Wartime Japanese Nuclear Projects.As it happened, a halfhearted retraction of the 26 October NY Times story was subsequently printed on the back page on 3 November, quoting “Tenth Corps Headquarters” in Korea. Thus US officialdom once again told the world that there was nothing to see here. (Both of these articles and others are cited in Robert Wilcox’s book, Japan’s Secret War, pgs. 212-3).Yet again Snell’s account faded from history.And yet again, it would be resurrected, this time from a Japanese source.Science and Society in Modern Japan, a Book Edited in Part by Eri Yagi. Yagi Studied Under the Yale University Professor of the History of Science, Derek de Solla Price.Amazon.com: Science and Society in Modern Japan (The M.I.T. East Asian science series ; 5) (9780262140225): Shigeru Nakayama, David L. Swain, Eric Yagi: BooksEri Yagi is one of the more prominent names in Japanese science over the past half century. In the early 1960s, she was a student at Yale University under the direction of the eminent physicist, historian of science, and information scientist Derek de Solla Price.Publication List — Eri Yagi’s professional scientific publicationsDerek John de Solla Price (Official Site) Official Website of the late Yale University professor, Derek de Solla PriceYagi would make a name for herself in the latter years of the 20th century, as her list of subsequent published papers demonstrates. Price was already justifiably famous for his work regarding the discovery and purpose of the ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism.Gears from the Greeks. The Antikythera Mechanism: A Calendar Computer from ca. 80 B. C.Modern Replica of the Original Ancient Greek Analog Computer, the Antikythera MechanismIn the November 1962 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Price and his then-graduate student Yagi published an open letter detailing the few scraps of information that had come to him (probably at least in part from Yagi herself) about Japan’s attempts to build atomic bombs during WWII. There wasn’t much other than the names of a couple of Japanese scientists, an apparently early code name, Project AEROPOWER, and a few financial records describing certain sums of yen earmarked for nuclear R&D. After telling the world what he had learned to that point in time, Price asked the world scientific community at large to come forward with any additional information. I have never read that anyone did so. Note that the choice of the word “Aeropower” was probably a reflection of the personal interest of General Takeo Yasuda in nuclear physics, Yasuda being the head of the Army Aeronautical Technical Research Institute when the Army first began serious investigation into nuclear weapons in April of 1940 (see the section on Project Ni below).Takeo Yasuda - WikipediaCover of the November 1962 Issue of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in Which Yale University Professor Derek de Solla Price and His Japanese Graduate Student Eri Yagi Asked the World Scientific Community for More Information About the WWII Japanese Atomic Bomb Projectshttps://books.google.com/books?d...— Link to Price and Yagi’s November 1962 Open Letter in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.Shortly before his death in 1985, Price passed the story to the American journalist Robert Wilcox, whose subsequent archival research and personal interviews formed the basis of his book, Japan’s Secret War.Book Review: Japan's Secret War: Japan's Race Against Time to Build Its Own Atomic Bomb (Robert K. Wilcox): WWIICover of the 1995 2nd Edition of Japan’s Secret War by Robert K. Wilcox.Wilcox’s book was of course instantly controversial and it continues to be in the present day. In my experience this is almost never because of any disagreement with the factual content, but rather simply because the idea of a WWII Japanese atomic bomb flies in the face of the postwar leftist pseudomorality that unfortunately soon grew up around the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.William Pellas's answer to Why is Nazi Germany stereotyped as villainous while Japan’s militarism is presented in American pop culture as repository of ancient chivalrous martial art?It should be noted, too, that most critics of Wilcox accuse him of “claiming that Japan tested its own atomic bomb” or that “Japan had The Bomb, too”. Wrong. It was Snell and his anonymous Japanese source who said that Japan had test-fired its own atomic bomb just after the second American nuclear attack. What Wilcox did was take the earlier information from Snell, Yagi, and Price, and then couple it with the results of his own personal interviews and archival research to see if Snell’s story could be corroborated. Japan’s Secret War is still the best and most complete overview of Japan’s attempted atomic bomb development in WWII.In the first two editions of his book, Wilcox was able to document three of the four known wartime Japanese nuclear projects. These were:Project Ni, the Japanese Army’s nuclear weapons program, led initially by Professor Yoshio Nishina and later by the Army scientist, Lt. Col. Tatsusaburo Suzuki. Nishina and his immediate staff were headquartered at the Riken Institute, just north of Tokyo, the birthplace of Japanese “big science”. Suzuki is the man who personally conducted the 1940 industrial and mineralogical survey that convinced the Japanese Army that building an atomic bomb was feasible. It is likely that he worked on specialized metallurgy for use in thermal diffusion and possibly gaseous diffusion separators from the start of the project until 1943. So far as I have been able to determine to this point, while thermal diffusion, gaseous diffusion, and electromagnetic separation were all studied and considered, only the thermal diffusion separators were actually built. Project Ni was significantly disrupted by severe damage to the Riken Institute as a result of the “Great Tokyo Fire Raid” of 9–10 March, 1945. Note that this mission, and not either of the two atomic bombings, was far and away the deadliest air raid of the entire war. 73 Years Ago Today: The Deadliest Air Raid in History, Operation Meetinghouse.Project F-Go, the Japanese Navy’s nuclear weapons and propulsion effort. The lead scientists here were Professor Bunsaku Arakatsu—formerly the personal student of Einstein himself—and future Nobel laureate, Hideki Yukawa. Arakatsu decided to go with the ultracentrifuge for uranium separation, and at least one large machine was built; according to Wilcox it was destroyed by B_29s at a railroad siding in mainland Japan while en route to Korea. Whether any additional units were built is unknown. F-Go was headquartered at Kyoto Imperial University. The city of Kyoto, in one of history’s supreme ironies, was spared from inclusion on the emerging American nuclear attack list by the US Secretary of War, Henry Stimson. Stimson never knew that his decision was enabling the Japanese to proceed with their own atomic weapons development. The city saved from the atomic bombThe Joint Imperial Japanese Army-Navy Atomic Bomb Research Program, called in some sources “Project F-NZ”. This was the result of the late-war amalgamation of the previously competing Army and Navy efforts, and was probably organized in the immediate aftermath of the B-29 Great Tokyo Fire Raid (Operation Meetinghouse) in early March, 1945, which destroyed most of the buildings at the Riken Institute, along with Nishina’s thermal diffusion UF-6 uranium separation pilot plant. Japan’s last ditch nuclear weapons effort was located in what is today North Korea and utilized the considerable industrial muscle—particularly the enormously powerful hydroelectric power plants—that had been built up after Korea came under Japanese control following the 1904–5 Russo-Japanese War. As far as I have been able to determine, none of the Japanese industrial belt in Korea was ever attacked by Allied forces throughout the entire war until the Red Army overran the region in August - September, 1945. William Pellas' answer to Was Korea, an important Japanese colony, bombed by our B-29's in WWII?Japanese Nuclear Scientist Yoshio Nishina, Far Left, With Other Prominent Physicists at the Riken Institute, Probably in 1929. Werner Heisenberg is Fourth From Left.The RIKEN Story | RIKEN From the Riken’s present-day website.The fourth epicenter of wartime Japanese atomic bomb development was somewhere in mainland Asia, probably in Japanese-occupied Manchuria, under the auspices of the shadowy Unit 516 of the Kwantung Army. Unit 516 is described in most sources as a chemical weapons specialty group operating under the supervision of the notorious bioweapons lab, Unit 731. However, certain OSS documents from “Project Ramona” indicate that it was also working on atomic bombs. The OSS papers—cited extensively by Wilcox in the recently issued Third Edition of his book—point to a decision by the Kwantung Army to attempt development of nuclear weapons following the decisive defeat of Japanese ground forces by the Soviet Union at Khalkin Gol in the undeclared, 1939 border war in Mongolia. I believe, but have not yet seen documentary proof, that the Kwantung project was likely folded into the crash program in Korea in 1945.The Forgotten Soviet-Japanese War of 1939It is claimed in the same OSS files that the Kwantung project also attempted a test detonation or perhaps a “cold test”, somewhere in the Gobi Desert. Very few details of what was going on in this end of the Japanese effort have surfaced to date; Wilcox is again the best and most complete source available in the public realm, as the third edition of Secret War, first published in 2019, contains a section derived from the Ramona documents. I was able to find one corroborating paper at the US National Archives, when I visited in 2012. This was a very brief mention by Nishina of a wartime Japanese scientist of his acquaintance who, according to him, was doing atomic bomb R&D in Japanese-controlled Chinese territory and had gone over to the Chinese communists after the war and was now working on The Bomb for them. If this is so, it means that Japan was anything but a nuclear victim. Rather, she has made her own, sizable contribution to world nuclear weapons proliferation. Both China and Russia (through its capture of Hungnam and the surrounding industrial infrastructure), as well as North Korea, very likely benefited from the fruits of wartime Japanese nuclear weapons research and development.It is clear that Japan’s initial approach to producing a nuclear detonation was broadly similar to what the United States was doing with what ultimately became the U-235 “Little Boy” atomic fission bomb. It is likely that Nishina was the primary impetus in this direction, as the Kuroda Papers (see the notes in the Sources section below this Answer) contain considerable discussion of the use of U-235 as an explosive along with extensive mathematical calculations to that effect. The use and benefits of a polonium neutron initiator or “spark plug”, as well as a neutron reflector or “tamper”, are also mentioned. All three of these were integral parts of the American Little Boy gun-type U-235 atomic fission bomb.Based on what I have seen to this point in time, however, it appears to me that Japan probably did not separate - enrich enough U-235 to enable the production of a bomb along the same lines as the gun-type “Little Boy” device—that is, not within the time frame of the war as it actually played out. Therefore, if one or perhaps two Japanese nuclear devices of some kind really were test-fired, it stands to reason that some other source or sources of fissile material must have been utilized—and also that the Japanese bomb, if in fact it did exist in prototype form, probably at least attempted to employ a more efficient detonation mechanism than the easier to build but also grossly inefficient gun-type.There are two candidates if Japan was able to manufacture or acquire additional “bomb fuel” besides the small (and insufficient) amount of enriched uranium she is believed to have produced during the war. One, Nazi Germany, whose own nuclear weapons projects were along significantly different lines but whose R&D may still have helped the Japanese, and two, a “pile” or production reactor.William Pellas's answer to Were any nuclear bombs tested before Hiroshima and Nagasaki?Regarding nuclear cooperation between Imperial Japan and the Hitler regime, a recent opinion piece by the Japanese journalist Yonichi Shimatsu makes a couple of startling claims. The first is that the real beginning of Japanese interest in nuclear weapons goes all the way back to Heisenberg’s visit to the Riken in 1929. From there, a joint Nazi-Japanese consortium known as “Bund-Eine” (Alliance One) operated a uranium mine located on Mount Uzumine on the outskirts of Sukagawa, southeast Fukushima Prefecture. Possible corroboration is found in the article below, which mentions extensive monazite deposits among the other “rare earth minerals” found in and around Uzumine. Uranium ores are often found in monazite.RARE-ELEMENT MINERALOGY OF THE UZUMINE GRANITIC PEGMATITE, ABUKUMA MOUNTAINS, NORTHEASTERN JAPANShimatsu also draws a direct line through history which connects the recently retired Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi. Kishi was the head of Japan’s WWII Munitions Ministry and, according to Shimatsu, was directly involved in financing the Korean nuclear effort. Although I have yet to research Shimatsu’s sources for his article, his information is compelling and, I think, probably true. (NOTE: the link immediately below seems to be vacillating between active and dead, and I have gotten both results when I clicked on it in recent weeks. The article title is as it appears below so it may be reachable with certain web browsers but not others.)Opinion: Hiroshima memories compel us to save the last childIt is known that there were dozens of submarine cargo voyages between Germany and Japan during the war, with missions carried out by German, Japanese, and Italian submarines. There were also surface ship blockade runners until mid-1943, as well as ultra-long distance flights by specialized aircraft throughout the war. At least one of these aircraft, and probably more than one, was a repurposed prototype from the cancelled Amerikabomber project that was subsequently operated by one of Germany’s sonderkommando (“Special Command”, ie, special forces) formations.German WW2 Amerika Bombers - Concepts and ProjectsA Messerschmitt Me-264 Long Range Bomber in Flight. Although Cancelled After a Handful of Prototypes Were Constructed, it is Likely That at Least One of These Aircraft Flew Multiple Sonderkommando Missions Between Finland and Japan During WWII. Whether These Flights Were Connected in Any Way With Axis Nuclear Weapons Projects is Unknown at This Time.Only the submarines are known to have attempted the transport of nuclear weapons material and technology. A number of U-boats and I-boats involved in this “Nuclear Axis” (as the author Philip Henshall termed it) were hunted down and sunk by determined Allied antisubmarine countermeasures. Perhaps it is a coincidence that a fairly large number of the “boats” involved in the underwater cargo missions were destroyed. Or maybe Allied intelligence specifically targeted them because it knew, or had some inkling, that the Axis submarines had something to do with attempts at building nuclear weapons. I will say that enough of these attempted uranium supply missions were killed or compromised for me to suspect strongly that there was, in fact, an Allied atomic bomb interdiction effort—but I cannot say for certain at this time.Regarding a Japanese “pile” or reactor, Japanese science was certainly equal to the task of building one, as demonstrated by the rapid emergence of nuclear power in Japan less than 20 years after the end of WWII despite the enormous destruction in nearly every one of Japan’s major industrial centers during the war. Whether one or more were built during the actual conflict, I don’t know without a deeper and broader examination of declassified documents than I have been able to do to this point. (Note: fellow researcher Dwight Rider has documents in his possession which indicate considerable wartime Japanese interest in “Magnox” reactors. Several nuclear power stations that utilized this approach were built in the UK shortly following the end of the war. Magnox is a dual-use technology—that is, reactors of this type are used for both power generation and plutonium production—and have the considerable advantage of being able to run using natural uranium as fuel. Magnox - Wikipedia)As for the targets of an actual Japanese atomic bomb, it has been known since the 1970s that Japan’s military was developing its own nuclear attack list and that it included the US B-29 bases on Tinian Island which were used for the American missions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.William Pellas's answer to What if the Japanese were the first to drop a nuclear bomb?And according to a German Catholic priest who claimed to have heard it personally from a Japanese university official in the ruins of Hiroshima, the American west coast city of San Francisco could also have been hit by an atomic bomb had Japan been able to complete them in time.William Pellas's answer to Did the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki wipe out a significant portion of Japanese Christians?None of this is definitive proof that the Japanese actually succeeded, during WWII itself, in producing a practical, functioning atomic bomb or nuclear weapon in some form. But they certainly made a considerable effort to do so. And at minimum, they came much closer to turning the end of the Second World War into an exchange of weapons of mass destruction than most people know or care to admit in the present day.—————————————————————————————————-PARTIAL LIST OF SOURCESJapanese Intelligence in World War II — Link goes to Quoran Dwight Rider’s book, Tsetusuo Wakabayashi Revealed. In addition to surveying the evidence he has gathered pointing to what he believes is “Wakabayashi’s” real identity, Rider provides considerable background information about Japanese atomic bomb research and development during WWII.Japanese Atomic Bomb Project From the website atomicheritage dot org. Factually correct as far as it goes, but dismisses Robert Wilcox’s work (without having the courtesy to mention him by name) as “a conspiracy theory”.New evidence of Japan's effort to build atom bomb at the end of WWII This is a Los Angeles Times piece by Jake Adelstein about the discovery of WWII Japanese Navy Project F-Go ultracentrifuge design blueprints at Kyoto University. Adelstein states incorrectly that two Japanese on board the German submarine U-234 killed themselves “upon being captured”, when in fact they committed suicide after learning that the crew intended to surrender to the United States. The article is otherwise factually correct.What If, in World War II, Japan Got the Atomic Bomb First? Follow-up article by Adelstein dated 6 August 2019, the day that the Third Edition of Japan’s Secret War was released—in Japan, and translated in Japanese.Was Japan building a nuclear bomb? Notebooks uncovered in Kyoto show how far wartime scientists had got — South China Morning Post article about the Project F-Go notebooks.Japan ‘came close’ to wartime A-bomb Article contains personal testimony from Japanese Army scientist Lt. Col. Tatsusaburo Suzuki about Project Ni, the Army’s WWII atomic bomb effort. Suzuki disclosed that Japan’s nuclear program considered electromagnetic isotope separation in the form of a proposed gargantuan cyclotron. Thermal diffusion separators were designed for the Army program, and at least a handful were actually built. These were apparently based on Nishina’s original pilot plant apparatus at the Riken Institute. Ultracentrifuges were designed for the Navy—Wilcox states that at least one was completed—and may possibly have been influenced by German machinery that was built under the direction of Dr. Paul Harteck.The German Physical Chemist Dr. Paul Harteck Was a Pioneer in the Development of Highly Efficient Centrifuge Machinery.Paul Harteck - WikipediaAtomic plans returned to Japan BBC News website article by Jane Warr about the return of the “Kuroda Papers” (so called after the name of a WWII Japanese nuclear scientist who had them in his possession) to the Riken Institute north of Tokyo. The Papers are a series of notes transcribed directly from three lectures given by Nishina at the Riken on the state of Japanese nuclear weapons research.An English translation of the Papers, along with a detailed commentary on what they contain by Dwight Rider and Eric Hehl, is found here:http://www.mansell.com/Resources/Rider_The_Kuroda_Papers_25-March-2020.pdfThe Kuroda PapersRegarding the progress of wartime Japanese nuclear weapons science, a Japanese Asahi Shimbun newspaper article dated 25 August 2005 and titled “Lost A-Bomb Research Resurfaces in Hiroshima”, states the following:Of the 60 kilograms of uranium 235 used in the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, according to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum,about 1 kilogram was used for the atomic detonation. The reports (of the Japanese who investigated the Hiroshima atomic attack) thus suggest that the Japanese military had grasped the essential characteristics of the bomb with relative accuracy soon after it was dropped. "In Japan, too, during the war, the army and navy were separately undertaking atomic research," explained Masakatsu Yamazaki, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and an expert on the history of atomic development. "After the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, those who were involved in the research speedily began to investigate the bombing. The investigative team determined four days after the bombing that it had been an atomic bomb, because they had a high level of scientific analytical capability as a result of their own atomic research."http://www.energy-net.org/N-LET/... Item #13 in this link goes to a transcription of the full text of the piece in the Asahi Shimbun.Yoshio NishinaBunsaku ArakatsuYukawa Hideki | Japanese physicist — comprehensive overview of Yukawa’s sterling career in science, but with no mention whatsoever of his work on Project F-Go as Arakatsu’s head theoretical mathematician.Logs of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Yukawa show clues on wartime nuke research - The MainichiJapanese Nuclear Scientist and Nobel Laureate Hideki YukawaJapanese Scientist and College Professor Kazuo “Paul” Kuroda, 1917–2001. During WWII, Kuroda Was One of the Scientists Working on the Atomic Bomb at the Riken Institute for the Japanese Army’s Project Ni.http://physicstoday.scitation.or... Link to a Physics Today news page that includes a brief story about the return of the WWII Project Ni papers that were in Kuroda’s possession to the Riken Institute in 2002.Paul Kazuo Kuroda (1917–2001)Summary of Kuroda’s outstanding career in science both in Japan and in the United States. Note that prior to WWII he was a professor at Tokyo Imperial University. This was one of the centers of Japanese atomic bomb R&D during the war.Questions About Hiroshima Persist – Reconsidering Obama’s “Apology” and Truman's Claim that Hiroshima was a Military Target - A blog written by Dr. Stephen Bryenhttps://www.csmonitor.com/1995/0801/01041.html — “Japan Eyed Bomb, Favored Using It”. This is a brief article in the Christian Science Monitor newspaper from 1995. Most notable is its confirmation of the likely target of a WWII Japanese atomic bomb—the US B-29 base in the Marianas Islands.The Japanese nuclear weapons program • Axis History Forum I found a copy of this extensive discussion thread at the US National Archives when I went to NARA’s College Park, MD location in 2012.William Pellas's answer to People debate the morality of using atomic weapons on WWII Japan. I don't but I do wonder about two bombs. Did we have to drop two?