The Manhattan Project

In partnership with the National Museum of Nuclear Science & HistoryNational Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Norris-Adler barrier

Hugh Taylor's Interview

Sir Hugh Taylor: I had been requested by the British Government to find out certain things. They wanted, for example, to know whether they could use this thing and the General Electric Company made it available to them on the condition that their affiliate in England was entrusted with the responsibility of supplying it. It was the British Thomson-Houston Company [in] Rugby.

Then another job that I did for them, I got the Shell Oil Company in California to give me—

Stephane Groueff: Shell Oil.

Donald Trauger's Interview

Donald Trauger: Yes, I’m Donald Trauger. And Trauger is T-R-A-U-G-E-R, Trauger. My mother-in-law when we first married would say auger, Trauger so she could remember it. [Laughter.]

Kelly: All right. Well, tell us how you came to Oak Ridge and how—what you did as your role in the Manhattan Project; where you were from and how you got involved.

Decatur, IL

The Houdaille-Hershey Plant was a secret Manhattan Project site located in Decatur, Illinois that was responsible for plating the interior of pipes with a nickel-powder barrier material that could be used for the gaseous diffusion process for the enrichment of uranium.

Continuing failure to develop a suitable barrier material for the gaseous diffusion process by 1943 led to a renewed sense of urgency to develop an adequate material that could withstand the high pressure of the heavy, corrosive gas used in the process.

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