b'C HAPTER S E VENTEENS C I E N C E I N T H E D E S E R TThe promise and prospects of nuclear energy were high and the problems were few.We were the good guys.William GinkelH at the University of Rochester included or no, Idaho offered them bothandchemical engineering and business others who had lived behind the securityugo N. Eskildson administration. With the opening of the gates of a government townthe wel-replaced Allan Johnson as the IDO man- N RTS, he saw an opportunity for promo- come prospect of living a more civilian r gage , but after a troubled term lasting tion and a chance to join an emergi nlife in a traditional American neighbor-only two years, he left the NRTS. T h e engineering outfit. After a successful hood. After a series of promotions, atinterlude had been uncomfortable for IDO interview, he wondered how he first in work related to the Chem Plant,other IDO administrators and the busi- might persuade his southern-born wife to and a short hiatus at Knolls A t o mi c ness leaders of the town, who realized love the West. Used to lush vegetation, Power Laboratory in Schenectady,how important their mutual regard had Ginkel reached the upper tier of IDObecome. The IDO wanted to preserve the ma nagemen t . 2support it enjoyed from the community,and the business leaders wanted to pre- Just as Ginkel moved into the manag-serve an environment in which that sup- ers office, Dr. Richard Doan, agedport would continue. As Allan Johnson sixty-five, retired from Phillips and thepointed out when he resigned, the NRTSNRTS. Doans unembroidered approachhad grown on his watch from 1,400 to to work lasted through his final day on4,000 employees. The number of reactors the job. He spent his last day as if ithad risen from seven to thirty. The NRTSwere any other dayno round of good-was fulfilling its promise as a propellant byes, he just worked until five oclockfor regional economic growth. 1 and walked out, wrote one of his col-leagues. Doans retirement proved notThe AEC elevated Eskildsons deputy, to be very thorough. He had been aWilliam Ginkel, as acting manager in member of the AECs AdvisorySeptember 1963, making it permanent in Committee on Reactor Safeguards sinceApril 1964. Ginkel was the first of the INEEL Cultural Resources its inception, and he continued to servemanagers not to share the military back- William Ginkel on this committee and as an advisor toground of his predecessors. He had the licensing staff for the AEC. 3worked as a civilian at Oak Ridge from1944 through 1950, first for contractor she had her doubts about the desert. He Ginkel took office as reactor researchTennessee Eastman and then for the sent her photographs of the lovely gar- was in full flourish everywhere at theAEC, involved with the chemical aspects dens around Idaho FallsTautphaus Park Site. The success of the original fourof keeping track of uranium. His degrees and the Latter Day Saints temple. Desert projects had led to second and third15 8'