World War II Kenneth Nichols

argonne national laboratory, dupage county, illinois

in june 1941, colonel james c. marshall summoned nichols syracuse engineer district become area engineer in charge of construction of rome air depot. promoted major on 10 october 1941 , lieutenant colonel on 1 february 1942, when marshall asked him take on additional responsibility area engineer in charge of construction of new tnt plant, pennsylvania ordnance works, in williamsport, pennsylvania. on project, nichols worked dupont , stone & webster major contractors, , dealt leslie groves, colonel in charge of military construction.

in june 1942, nichols again summoned marshall, time washington, d.c. marshall had been appointed district engineer of new manhattan engineer district (med), , had received authorization staff drawing on officers , civilians working syracuse engineer district, winding down major part of construction program nearing completion. marshall started designating nichols deputy district engineer, became effective when manhattan district officially formed on 16 august 1942.

y-12 national security complex @ oak ridge, tennessee

the first major decision confronting new district, unlike other engineer districts had no geographic limits, choice of construction site. on 30 june nichols , marshall set out tennessee, met officials of tennessee valley authority , looked on prospective sites in foothills of cumberland mountains had been identified (by scouts office of scientific research , development) possessing desirable attributes of abundant electric power, water , transportation sparse population. site @ oak ridge, tennessee chosen, marshall delayed purchase while awaited scientific results justified full-scale plant. afterwards, nichols visited metallurgical laboratory, or met lab , @ university of chicago, met arthur compton. seeing problems of overcrowding there, nichols, on own authority, arranged new experimental site established in argonne forest become argonne national laboratory.

nichols took charge of ore procurement. arranged state department export controls placed on uranium oxide , negotiated edgar sengier purchase of 1,200 tons of ore belgian congo being stored in warehouse on staten island. nichols arranged eldorado mining , refining company purchase of ore mine in port hope, ontario, , shipment in 100-ton lots. nichols met undersecretary of treasury daniel w. bell , arranged transfer of 14,700 tons of silver west point depository use in y-12 national security complex in place of copper, in desperately short supply in wartime.

in september 1942, groves, brigadier general, became director of manhattan project. groves moved on urgent issues. promptly approved purchase of site @ oak ridge , negotiated project given aaa priority rating. groves decided establish project headquarters on fifth floor of new war department building in washington, d.c., marshall had maintained liaison office.

nichols, concentrated attention on ore procurement, feed materials , plutonium project, promoted colonel on 22 may 1943. on 13 august, replaced marshall district engineer of manhattan engineer district. district engineer, nichols responsible both uranium production facility @ clinton engineer works @ oak ridge , plutonium production facility @ hanford site. 1 of first tasks district engineer move district headquarters oak ridge, although name did not change. wartime work on manhattan project, nichols awarded distinguished service medal united states secretary of war, robert p. patterson.