30 August 2004 Canadian Link to 1st Atomic Bomb to be Destroyed Trail - The dark stacks of Teck Cominco's lead and zinc smelter are omnipresent in the B.C. Interior city of Trail.   But on a hill above the smelter looms a dark grey 14-storey building. It, too, has an ominous presence. It's not so much the structure that casts a shadow over the town, though, but the building's past.   The deuterium oxide - heavy water - used in the first atomic bombs was made there.   Now, however, Teck Cominco wants to rid itself of the Project 9 tower, a long-disused relic of a bygone era that has been little more than an expansive birdhouse for half a century.   The company plans to spend $2.4 million to demolish the building as part of a program to remove obsolete structures at the plant site where it has stood for 60 years.   Trail Coun. Gordon DeRosa favours retaining the building as a historic site.   "Yes, it has its negativity," said DeRosa, a former union safety co-ordinator. "I don't think we can turn a blind eye to it. It's there. We did what we did. Our contribution to the war effort was the production of heavy water. "We can't deny that fact and I think that building should stand."   Mark Edwards, manager of environment, health and safety for Teck Cominco's Trail operations, says the building's significance isn't lost on the company but its condition makes it a safety hazard.   "It's sad to see any pieces of history disappear but certainly, from an age and integrity point of view, it is beginning to pose significant risks to us.   "It hasn't been used in 50 years," he said. "The concrete is probably sound but everything else is in disrepair. "The top floors are literally filled with several feet of pigeon droppings."   Edwards said there has been no significant groundswell of support to preserve the building and the company has been discussing recording its history with local museums.   As for preserving it as some form of monument, Edwards doesn't think that would work. It's in the middle of a fertilizer plant with ammonia stored nearby.   "It's not something we want anyone near," he said.   The company has spent more than $20 million on removing old buildings in the past few years. While no plan is in place to remove the Project 9 building just yet, Edwards said it could be gone by the end of the year.   The trail to Trail began in 1939.   As Hitler's scientists were working toward the production of atomic weapons in Europe, the Military Application of Uranium Detonation Commission was struck in Britain in 1939. Two years later, it reported production of a bomb would take about three years but could only be done in North America.   The findings were presented to President Franklin Roosevelt who authorized the formation of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, which concluded that Trail area was one place where heavy water could be made.   As a result, a letter arrived in February 1941 on the desk of Selwyn Blaylock, president of Consolidated Mining & Smelting, the Canadian Pacific subsidiary which then operated the Trail smelter.   An agreement between the United States and the company to produce heavy water for the Manhattan Project was concluded 1 Aug 1942.   But that agreement was only reached after Blaylock consulted C.D. Howe, Canadian minister of munitions and supply, to see if he could proceed under Canadian law.   "It sounds like a fairy tale," Blaylock wrote, not revealing details.   Cryptically, Howe replied: "I am familiar with the whole project to which you refer."   Shortly after, British-born Ernie Mason was taken on as chief design engineer.   While believing himself possibly still bound by an FBI secrecy oath, Mason spoke at length with The Trail Daily Times in 1990 about his involvement with the Manhattan Project.   "I didn't know what we were doing it for," Mason said, "Not until the day they dropped the bomb did I know what it was used for.   "They sent Col. Rogers from (Richland Atomic Research station in Washington State) the actual day they were dropping the bomb to tell us what we'd been working on.   "I went grey," Mason said.   "Somebody whispered in my ear about what we were doing: "It's something that's equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT," Mason said. "I began to figure that out. A railroad car carries about 40 tons and it's about 40 feet long so it's a train 20,000 feet long. That's the equivalent of a train six kilometres long."   While the heavy water was not used in the bombs which devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was used in the test bombs detonated at Alamogordo, New Mexico. The first test there was 16 Jul 1945.   The project to produce the heavy water came with a price tag of about $20 million.   The Manhattan Project aside, it was obviously money well spent. The building is solid. While it has been deteriorating, Teck Cominco officials acknowledge its thick walls won't be easy to take down.   The only other site capable of producing deuterium at the time was in Vemork, Norway, which had been under Hitler's thumb since 1940.   When Mason died aged 99 in 1994, a framed citation signed by United States Secretary of War Henry Stimson hung hidden by his television in his home. From the window, he had been able to see the tower where he had done so much work.