b'P ROVING THE P RINCIPLEA forceful and skillful manager, Shaw like the ATRwas the only correctalso practiced his mentors abrasive approach. Parts and systems must meetinterface style of dealing with people, standards, and management must assuremaking no virtue of tact even on cere- the standards be observed. The AT Rmonial occasions. The president of an problems had made a strong impressionIDO contractor, Chuck Rice, recalled on him. Years later, he still referred toone such occasion: them when discussing the quality issuewith the JCAE. 5After I had been elected president ofNuclear [Aerojet Nuclear], we had a As Shaw considered the state of thebig dinner for key managers in the AECs national reactor program, he feltcompany at the Stardust Motel. Milton there was duplication of effort and poorShaw was there, Bill Ginkel, many fromcoordination among the labs. KeyAerojet, all the way down to branch members of the AEC commission andmanagers. Shaw got up and did his the JCAE supported him in this view.Rickover-type tirade on all that these Shaw felt that the situation justifiedpeople in the room had done wrong. reform, redirection, and tight control.They were lousy managers, had poor His introduction to the ATR gave himcontrol, and so on. no reason to exempt the NRTS or itscontractors from this overall appraisal.When it was my turn to speak, I got up Shaws new broom began the sweep,and listed the outstanding accomplish -and the dust-up generated discord andments of the group and complimented anxiety, program changes, and person-them on the work they had done so well.nel dislocations. Some misunderstand-ings lasted for years. 6As I walked out after dinner,deBoisblanc came up and said, I real - five-year operating contract,Phillipsly appreciated the comments. Youll bewhich the AEC had renewed regularlyfired, but it was nice to hear it. since Phillips began at the Site in 1951,was scheduled to conclude in 1966. InThe next day there was a meeting on March of 1965 the AEC announced awhether to fire Rice or not. Shaw said, new approach to selecting the next con-Find out the reason for his speech. tractor. The AEC wanted contractorsThen well decide. Someone called methat intended to invest in the nuclearAbove. Logo for Aerojet Nuclear Corporation. Middle. and I said, Shaw works at Headquar - industry. While Phillips had a laudableLogo for Idaho Nuclear Corporation. Below. Logo for ters, I work here. If we are to do well, recordand in fact would continue toAllied Chemical. Ive got to invite the people who work manage reactor safety researchh e re to join my part y. I kept my job. Phillips only involvement in the indus-4try, aside from uranium mining, hadLa er , Rice and Shaw developed a been at the NRTS. The company wastwarmer relationship. But Shaws obser- inclined more to research, not engineer-vation of the ATR troubles reinforced his ing. It had no other nuclear involve-view that a quality assurance approach ment. 7to reactor operationseven test reactors1 7 6'