Spencer Bush of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory was renowned globally for his work in nuclear metallurgy and the safety of nuclear power plants.

But until recently, few knew of Bush's association with the Manhattan Project and the role he played in the test at the Trinity site, where the world's first atomic bomb was detonated July 16, 1945. Wednesday marked the 63rd anniversary of the test in the New Mexico desert.

Bush was a 25-year-old Army corporal who drove an inconspicuous sedan carrying the plutonium core of the "gadget," -- the world's first nuclear device -- to what's now the White Sands Missile Range, said Judy Graybeal, a member of PNNL's media relations team.

The Trinity test changed the world and also provided a direction to Bush's life, said Graybeal, who began researching Bush's life at the request of the National Academy of Engineering for a memorial tribute later this year. Bush died in 2005.

Bush, who grew up in Flint, Mich., had worked as assistant chemist at Dow Chemical Co. in Midland before joining the Army in 1942, Graybeal said. She said his science background was responsible for his posting in the Special Engineering Detachment assigned to the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, N.M..

Graybeal's research also is helping the family learn more about Bush and his role during the war, said his son Carl, a quality control expert at Hanford's vitrification plant.

His father never talked about the war, he said.

The test must have inspired him to study metallurgical and chemical engineering at the University of Michigan after the war, said Carl Bush, whose work involves making sure welding is up to code at the plant. He credits his father for getting him into the nuclear safety business, he said.

Spencer Bush got a Ph.D. in metallurgy in 1953, the same year he came to work for the General Electric Co. at the Hanford site. He initially studied the effects of radiation on materials used in reactor fuels and reactor fabrication.

Later he joined PNNL and continued to work to help develop fabrication processes for nuclear fuels and structural components.

"He pioneered development of nondestructive inspection technologies and risk-based, in-service inspection standards, as well as the development of rules for flaw evaluation that permit nuclear power plants to safely operate with known acceptable flaws," Graybeal said.