b'C H A P T E R 18T H E S H A W E F F E CT . . .surrounded by a containment vessel. Westinghouse, not from the fabrication suring what fraction of the total mightPhillips placed the domed structure shops at the NRTS where parts were so reach the atmosphere. They expected tonext to the old hangar building at TAN, often given individual attention, not learn enough about LOCAs to definefinding the old four-track railroad and mass produced. In a series of non- more precisely the sequence of eventsother ANP facilities very adaptable to a nuclear experiments, the operators and the exact nature of the hazards. Thenew mission. The shielded control would first test the performance of the data would be extrapolated to larger-building next to the hangar became the componentsthe emergency sprays, scale reactors. The test was expected toLOFT control room. Phillips hauled out pressure suppression devices, and other take place in the winter of 1968. 17the old shielded locomotive, intending emergency equipment that would sup-to move the reactor from the contain- posedly come into play if the regular The LOFT project hit a snag immedi-ment building to the Hot Shop for coolant pipe broke. They would also ately. The new commercial reactorsdetailed examination after the experi- find out how much pressure the con- proposed to use zircaloy claddingment. Kaiser Engineers broke ground tainment vessel could endure. 16 instead of stainless steel. In 1965,for the project on October 14, 1964, a therefore, Phillips changed the LOFThappy ceremony that brought the vice- After those tests, the grand finale would reactor design for zircaloy-clad fuel.chairman of the JCAE, Chet Holifield, be the NRTS specialtya test to This affected the parameters for theto Idaho to make the featured speech. 15 destruction. Operators would break safe operation of the LOFT reactor, soan 18-inch coolant pipe, delay the the safety studies had to be redone.The LOFT experiment was fairly sim- insertion of the control rods, cut off the These changes delayed the project.ple. It would be a small version of a cooling water, and decline to spray Back in Washington, the regulatorslarge reactor, the containment vessel an water onto the core. They could study were trying to cope with license appli-integral part of the test. The cooling- the melting fuel, perhaps learn some- cations. They wondered whether thesystem components would come off thing useful about the dynamics of the proposed tests, being performed on athe shelf from the commercial vendors process. The instrumentation would small reactor, would actually tell themwho sold to General Electric and keep track of the fission products, mea- anything relevant about large reactors.Some of the AEC staff doubted that themethods for analyzing the core melt orthe water interaction with meltingzircaloy were sophisticated enough toproduce meaningful data. Nor werethey sure that the containment vesselwould withstand the gas pressures gen-erated during the meltdown. 18Milton Shaw wondered if the LOFTproject would fall prey to the samekinds of problems as the ATR. He sawthe possibility that unreliable parts orequipment might interfere with goodGovernor Don Samuelson (center) visits LOFT site in1967. Bill Ginkel on left, Joe P. Lyon of INC on right. INEEL 67-21041 7 9'