Page 3 of 21 (STORY-WMOR-03) In Their Own Words Walter Calvin Moore Civilian Engineer Oak Ridge (K-25)
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My Oak Ridge Experience - Walter Calvin Moore - Page 3 of 21 After about two hours I had memorized the procedure, and from then on the job became pretty boring, and what with the difficulty I had in getting any sleep days, I soon reached the point where I had trouble staying awake on the job, and began. to wonder how long I could keep this up without getting fired! About that time the operations foreman, a fellow with some common sense, suggested that with a war on, it didn’t seem very efficient to run a pipe with one spot on it all the way back through the whole cleaning procedure. I agreed and that shift we doubled production. The next morning the Inspection Department Head, a very capable man, as I was to later discover, asked me what had happened, and I told him. Instead of being commended, as I had expected, I was severely censured for not following orders to the exact letter. Somewhat irritated by his reaction I suggested that the procedures were written so rigidly that this would result in rejection of all production, and when he expressed skepticism I offered to prove it to him. He said, “O.K." but you had better be right!” The next night I rejected every item that came through the tanks and carefully noted the reason on every rejection tag. Of course the pipe was clean and I was rejecting it on technicalities. The next morning my chief, Hank Wolters, asked what I had done and I showed him. After reviewing all the rejection tags he smiled and said, ”Stick around for about an hour.” Shortly thereafter the Operations Supervisor for all three shifts came running out of his office and screaming at the top of his voice, “I want that inspector fired!”. But I wasn’t fired. Hank Wolters got the Engineering Department people to rewrite the procedures along more practical but still adequate lines, and production was soon doubled on all three shifts. And I got a promotion. About three weeks later, after my clearance arrived, they put me in charge of inspection on all three shifts, not only of the cleaning line, but also of the leak testing operation, about which I knew nothing. And best of all I was on the day shift and could get some much needed sleep after that first week. I also got a fifty dollar raise on my monthly salary. This was after I had been on the job about one week. After about a month on the job I was approached by one of the U. S. Army officers with a request that I work with Army Intelligence and report to them any unusual or suspicious activities. I could hardly refuse so I agreed and worked with them until after the war. Of course no one knew this except myself, not even my wife, Erma. The leak testing operation which I mentioned in the last chapter involved the use of a helium mass spectrometer. This was at that time a new and secret device, and I never did learn much about it until years later when I was working at the Y-12 plant. However
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