b'P ROVING THE P RINCIPLEmittee decided early that if Idaho didnt training program at ISU for health physi- Nuclear Progress State, had funded amake it through the first turnstyle cists. This situation in no way lent Idaho promotional office, and was distributingover a hundred applicants from forty- any status in academic circles concerned full-color brochures toutingthree states were competingIdaho with high-energy physics. Smylie regret- Was h i n g t o n s Total Nuclear could fall back to a regional deal ted Idahos neglect. 15E n v i r o n me n t .1 6 involving Utah, Montana, Nevada, andOregon. Political Smylie appointedtrading would be business promoterspossible, Rooney and members oftold Smylie. In the Bill Ginkels staffmeantime, Brady to the committee.would make a dis- Evidence of thecreet contact with states new enthu-AEC commissioner siasm for nuclearJames Ramey, and industry appearedanother committee immediately. Amember would 1966 analysis ofcontact Glenn the states industri-Seaborg. 13 al opportunitiesidentified atomicWatson developed energy as one ofthe livability sec- the states promis-tions of the propos- ing growth indus-al and orchestrated tries, NTRSs 600the reception of the engineers a valu-NAS fact-finding Teamwork inside the NRTS duplicated the outside Argonne National Laboratory-West 1173 able asset. Theteam when it visited the Site. Vo l una ryteamwork among NRTS supporters. Here, technicians committee recommended that the Idahotturnover of scientific personnel at the work over the core of EBR-I. legislature create an office similar toNRTS is low almost to the point of Washington States, run by a state com-being non-existent, said the proposal. Amonth after that disappointment, mission. The cause would be helped,Along with the technical data on the cost Smylie dissolved his old Nuclear too, if Idaho could express its positiveof electrical power at the NRTS went Radiation Hazards Safety Committee and interest in atomic energy by regulatingstatistics on the below-national-average created a Committee on Nuclear Science radioactive materials in the state, anhigh school drop-out rate in Idaho Falls. and Industry to take its place. The states activity then managed by the AEC. 17Idaho slipped through the first turnstyle, interest in the NRTS shifted firmly frombut it was crowded: eighty-four other the Health Department to the Department Among its first acts, the Governorsproposals also made the cut. 1 4 of Commerce and Development. The committee decided that Idaho should eleven volunteer members were to advise fight to have the FFTF built in Idaho.The NAS committee did not favor Idaho. him, Commerce and Development per- Feelings ran high because many viewedThe NRTS was not near the right kind of sonnel, and the legislature on all matters the cancellation of FARET as a politicalun v r pertaining to nuclear energy and the uti- act, not solely a technical one. Theiesi ty. Although ISU was geographi-cally near, the Idaho legislature had done lization of same in the State of Idaho. NRTS was the obvious place to build it.little to support the AEC through higher Among other forces, Idaho was compet- Breeder technology had been born,education. Only in 1965 had it made its ing with Hanfords home state of proven, matured, and safety-tested atfirst significant gesture by authorizing a Washington, which called itself the the NRTS. Where else was there a bet-1 8 8'