Management of the Hanford Engineer Works in World War II

This book presents an exemplary case of successful crisis management. Combining in-depth research, along with first-hand interviews with key participants in the project, the author engagingly recounts an important aspect of America's race to combat the perceived German threat in the development of atomic weapons. He describes the organization and management methods involved in one of the major engineering achievements of the 20th century - the design and construction of the original plutonium-production plant at Hanford, Washington, during World War II. The efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DuPont, and the Metallurgical Laboratory are described in detail, in addition to detailed discussions of the desperate nature of the crisis, labor conditions, technologies, and intangibles of those wartime years. This book also contains information not available in any other published work.