K.D. Nichols

Kenneth David (“K.D.”) Nichols was an officer in the US Army and a civil engineer who worked on the Manhattan Project, where he led both the uranium production facility at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the plutonium production facility at Hanford in Washington state. After briefly teaching at the US Military Academy at West Point after World War II, he was promoted to major general and was responsible for the military aspects of atomic weapons, including logistics, handling, and training. In 1953, he became general manager of the Atomic Energy Commission, where he promoted the construction of nuclear power plants. He played a key role in the proceedings brought against J. Robert Oppenheimer that resulted in Oppenheimer’s security clearance being revoked.