Science: Elusive Dream

What had happened to the nation's glamorous program for peacetime uses of nuclear energy? In 1946, the Manhattan District had predicted that an experimental atomic power plant would be ready for testing in two years. But last week this plan was still far from realization. Grumbled Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, "It seems as though every reactor is always two years off." What had gone wrong?

Daniels Pile. Admittedly, the Manhattan District had been over-optimistic in its prediction. When it plunged into the power project two years ago, no one had made more than a...