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Dna1':941213.021 DNA1':941213.021 / HRE-919 , ,. i""';,-- ,,.. ._ , . .-:---' ' -. 3 ',,. ' - .!I REPRODU_CEO AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIvESi'i '' '. , .; .- , ..-~-=~~..:-.-.?-&=a=-- .... .... ,. .. ,... .@ nothing habeen omitted or sli;ht.ed t,hat my te of' interest tci those who snsk I icht upon questicns still tc be answored. Another limltaficn is inherent in the .%ture of an cffioinl record.. This is the necessary omission of many s;.ibjective factere. The succcss of so oompldx and unOeI%'.r. II venture en Los Alfunos depends upon its ability to extend knowledge or the explicit cuiC publicly acco~intaSlesort at which science aims. Eut this ability depenCs, in tam, upon an sccmul.at:or, of. experience and skill in technical and hmm? affairs inseparably connected with the qual!.ties, : and even the'vagaries, of persooality. 'Wict clppaars in retrcclsct as n ratural unfolding of possibilitlrs acquire:. this 'appearunce only throri,?h the interaction anr?.on occasiorj the clash of opinion, in nn atmosphere domirAtcd' by the ptoblen~nticucd the uncertain. The orr.iasior. 13 itieviteble in en account which inust itself be base& upon objective eviderice, It ig honevcr, proper to stete here the writer's belief that these necessary omissions do not ser!.ouslg distnrt tnc picture, as they WDUld if importhnt ocour~up.ce~and tendencies were not objectioely justif :ad. That the pattern of.~eva~opmentia yo largely a rational'one is a t1.ibut.P to the unity/' of'purpose of all conccrrlcd: ar'Jninlstrators &lid sciontlsts, civil iau an6 nilitary. A'large share of the credit that this bits been so must he Given to thti Dirtrotor, Dr. Oppenheiner; not only for his general loadership, but also mre specifically because lie underGtood the necessity for unity and sought io every my to fOktCt it. The reader will observe from the tat.1.c OP contents that tne history of Lo6 Alamos has been divided into two periods, the first extending to August, I 1944, and tha second fron Angust 19& to August lykr,. This division does Dot ?. ... ......, . 'i correspond to acy ,mJo / .. c it doe5 come gt the tiino of an 6xte;:civc hdrF.iniztratiori reorganization. Tho I.. real purposs of this division is to permit come c&ce to smrire an2 oonnect I. I. octivitim which, nlthouph constnn%ly interrelated in practice, must bo witteu about in separate chapters. And a1 though no dLstinot separation into phases is po66ib18, the data chosen mrks 8s well &R any the transition at; Lcs Alamos from raseoroh to developmmt, from scheratiratioc to cnKineoring. At tiiia place I wish to ncknmledge the assiatunce I *have rwtiived frat 44~many xeabers of the Lo6 Alancs LaborEtorJ. In particular I wish to thankI Dr. El& kntwson, Kr. Allan U. Hershey, PI*.Frederick Reineh, Dr. Richard Taauhek, Dr. Efirnbeth Graves, an? Gr. Charles Critchfield, who have helped ue in gathering datM for ecd writing various cn%$erb. I wish also to thank >ic. blly Zorrjson anc. Yrsa Driscil la Daffield Tor editorial and. wrltitg assfatrnce, for tho proparation of Eraphio materinl, an? for often ingonlouii r raseerohes iri the reccrds of mi 7rZa:izztiw. t'ia:. was i'req'xntly too busy to be L soscernej. with posleritg. T.'irnilIy it muat t.: mado clear that a11 errors of fkct in this reoort arc tiie sole rosponsibillcy o!' the author. I August 6, 1946 . ...e ....H 0 U G If G KA-1-T This ie copy I of cories This docment cantafns pgss Hlistorr of Lns Alamos i'rojact Chapter 1sI: General Admintstratlve--.- httors 3.1 The first ;ieriw3 uf the Los Alainos liiborafory's existence presented the problem? cmon tc organizational hglnning :' t!ir dtflnitlon cf 'program, the'division of rcsponsibilitios, ani liairron. Of tkise the first .baa been dhCU5Sbd in ths firat chapter, 'The dlvisiun of rcsponsltilities follms tiat of the program, E~perkwntalPhpks, Tiearctical Pl~pics,Chmistry ac? Xetalhrgy, Odnance, Each cf these was organized as an hdminlstrative division 3 .. each consisted of a nilober of operating units. or groups. Grcr~pLeaders were ' made responsible to their respective DivLsian Leadws, an3 Division Isaderu- to the Director. In a position of responaibility parallel LO that of the Dlrestsr. wns estRblished R Governing 3oard. This cansisted of the Pirectnr, Division Leaders, geners: administrative officers, and indivlduah in important technical liaison position. 3.2 The minutes of the Governing Board meet-ings are pertaps t:hc most convincinc record that the building of the Laboratory was tor? th3r. the planning and impie;n3nting of its technical work. Especially a< first t!wsa meetings were the only rcykr occasions fcr vicnlr,& in a general po1itica: way, tw? nuny .L questions 'hat a;rpared, As B cm%r fcr planniri~and polic:r-nu%ing. Lhe Soar3 considered a wide variety of topics. 3.3 On th. technical side the aoarcl prczidsd a mans f3r relating the wor'k.of 'the diffarent divisions, and for rnlatlng the program of the la5o.-at3v to other &nhatt+n District sctivlties. 'It heard re?or:s or the latest nuclear calcuhtlons and measiresents. and on the baa15 of these set basic arccificatiocs for (kdnance and Chenistry. k ,ex;sr?rt~erit?rltal3nd dosiEn cia& became ovallw?e shoug be centralized to insure accuracy as well as speed. Early in 1943, D, R., Iaglls of Johns Hopkiils Univcrsiiy *as appointed Project Witm. All rcpn-Ls of completed mrk (knmvn a3 documents) or of aork jrogress (holm:. in 1 - . yanuscriph) which mere to be .repreduced in any form went thrTdgh the hanits -0.C Inglis. He-checkd them thoroughly from both 3 technical snd'editorial point ,, of vias. decided on the apropriats fors of reproduction, and routed them to the -. workshop or 9Aotostztifig shop. ThrullgS his efforLs the &bo-atory was assurcd a* series of techiilcally accurate, and editorially consistent reports of work cmgleted and in progress, and Y-Safa . cHealth 3.87' A Health Grmp reporting to the Director. uas part of the &SOrjtOW administration frm the beginning.. Throughout the jrcscn: history this .'u+ .'u+ grrnrp vas unr?er the supervision of H. Hekphnn. -. Dr. L.' .*,..S" 3.88 Health problem Of the Labontory may be classified as (1) standard -inchastrisl health and safety problem. (2) ths definition cf heaith standards in rehtioc to special hazaxb, (3) the esSaS'ishment of safe operating procedures. an6 (4) ,rmtfne monitoring and record keeping. At the beginning all of those. were , .ptrt of the Health "Jocp's responsibility with Dr. Hempelmann acting as'chaLrman had ... ' of the 'Gboratory's Safety Committee. By April 1944 the c-ttee felt t.bt it becorce too ~wi~1.1~to handle effectively the increased safety prablems resultizg I Iran the rapid gronth .of the Project. and wggested that the !b-ector accept its resizmtion nnd organize a new committee Settar qualified to handle the probloq. >' WtchelS, Procurement.. Wflce leader Secame,hwd of the nen conmitt+ aose function wns dofined b be supr~i3lon!of all safety hstirlhtions. inspecttow. and wds . activities connect& with thrt Technical Area and the outljfng sites. This Lo include fire, general safety, and maintcnancc as well as technical 3-afely, Dr. Kemplmann remainel a otcmSer {f tho comrofttee representing the Health Grap, THIS PAGE ONLY ._ DEPARTMENT O( lNLRGY DECLASSlllCATlON MVIEbv - .- .i__ ., ,. ... ,: , __-,-.--__I_-- - ), '. : .. 3 , '.. :. .. , , douceo-.-_.. ~ AT __THE .NATIONAL..._. .-.-.-Is ARC.. -...I HI^ :; ':*.-. IC .e .. ,!, . ,.. lllsy &I' : ,. \. $1 .. ' ,.. .d ,I_( , -' Laterthe execution of safety policies was &ken over by the Safekf Grmp > .. under a fuu-tb safety engineer ( 9.37). The establishment of safe operating :.ii !$ .I. procedures and routine monitoring and record keeping remined under the Health .!: ., . *cup's general juri%iiction but such duties were delegated. wherever possible, to the '&rating .grcmps or appropriate subcmnit',ee?l of the Safety Connittee. *::; 3.89 The CCnbrd rcSpOnSibility of the Health Groui, was the establishment >.?Ii;j and dissentidtion ,of health standards; specifically, of safe toler*rtnccc levels of exi~osureto ralhtion'and to radioactive an3 chemical pofsms. In this tnd in its general .supervisory work the grmp was concsr,ed prbrily to protect the health of #!$a: laboratory employees. .Secondarily it sought 3130 to protect the legal interests !$ !;. of employees and of the Contractor. To thia end it kept records of the haads .. ;If:i to rhicb individuals were exposed. the extent of exposwe, ,accidents and te3b for ovenx.somra, In addition it obtained and recorded pre-cmploynent medical exalrinatiqp fur all '@chnical personnel. It &le complete &mhtionu,~ including , nectssary'tcsts, of ill employees on termination. Ordinary industrial' accident recorda. hwever, such as shop injuries, wero kept by the Post Xospltal; .3,90 In the origkl plan pf Laboratory activities it ms assumed t biological and phbical research related to health problems would be entirely e responsibility of other laboratories wiLhin the Idanhattan Distrlct. .%lb+nce e> .:,r; 1:; 1:; 1:; 1:; the work ,$ others did.iot, however, s2mys providz necessary infomation at .,: li e time it i*3s needed. Research sections were.set up ag needed within the .4:i' i1.j Ith Grmp or by its request in other gr&ps. Thus th$ 3evelopnent cf apparatus ,.>.. ) 'I eded for rnonitorine was undertaken st bs Alnmoa in the spring of 4964, and a e share of the instrumante built in the Electronics 'Orciip. Again in ::: .$,.: st 1944 it became necessary to investigate bio~ogical'methcdsof +sting for +: eraxpm.si;re to radioactive pobons. and this work nag undertaken by a section of .i? i:. :'.r. !* ,.. 3.91 ' curing its first year the work of the %alth Group was relatively ... i ." .. .. ..,. ,~ ~~ . ... ... ,. .. .. , ,. , ....I .. , .. 1.. I. , .. ... .. I I, ,.-. I .-. ,. ..,:.*:e' discover'the extent of variation in nom1blbrd counts, It was dircwered .
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