Science, Submarines & Secrets

Book excerpt: An unbelievable series of events led to the establishment of the Northwest Electrodevelopment Laboratory, later the U.S. Bureau of Mines Albany Research Center. Though the fledgling lab had difficulty securing staff due to World War II, world-renown metallurgist William J. Kroll was hired early on as a consultant after fleeing Nazi occupation. Kroll, who had pioneered a method for producing commercial titanium, worked with his core group of associates to develop malleable zirconium, just as a need arose for the little-known metal.On the other side of the country, the petulant and abrasive Captain Rickover was working with his Naval Reactors Group to develop the world's first nuclear submarine, the U.S.S. Nautilus, under the cover of extreme secrecy. But as engineers worked night and day to create a suitable form of propulsion, one problem after another cropped up. New metals were needed for the hellish nuclear environment within a reactor-metals that had never been produced in vast quantities. Enter Kroll's titanium, and its sister metal, hafnium. The two entwined metals, once freed from each other, were exactly what Rickover was looking for.Would the little laboratory in rural Albany, Oregon, be able to produce enough zirconium and hafnium for Rickover's ambitious project? Delve into the establishment and early years of the U.S. Bureau of Mines in Albany, Oregon, and the incredible series of events during the period of 1940-1956.