b'P ROVING THE P RINCIPLE6. The GCRE was the eighth reactor type 14. AClass II event would impact other Await AEC Action, Salt Lake Tr i b u n e,developed by the AEC Nuclear Reactor facilities on the site; a Class III, territory January 17, 1961; (lead wrap) C. Wayn edevelopment program, selected for both beyond the boundaries of the Site. Aroad Bills, February 3, 1999; Military Getsmilitary and civilian potential. The name of block was not required. C. Wayne Bills Bodies of NRTS Victims, P o s t - R e g i s t, e rthe AREAreactor complex was changed recalled that the HPs may have stopped one January 23, 1961; Atom Victim is Buried inlater to ARA(Army Reactor Area) and still or two autos in order to determine whether Lead Vault, Utica Observ e r- D i s p a t c, hlater to ARA(Auxiliary Reactor Area). U.S. their tires had picked up any contamination. January 25, 1961; ACatastrophe New toAEC press release, June 6, 1956; IHS 15. SL-1 Report Task Force, IDO Report on the Man, New York Herald Tr i b u n e, January 29,Dworshak Papers, Mss 84, Box 55, File: Nuclear Incident at the SL-1 Reactor on 1961. The AEC required that the cemeteriesAECIdaho Plant. January 3, 1961, at the National Reactor accepting the caskets must have perpetual7. Norman Engineering Co., Master Plan Study Testing Station, Report No. IDO-19302 care, that the graves not be disturbed withoutfor the Army Reactor Experimental Area, (Idaho Falls: Idaho Operations Office, AEC permission, and that the graves beReport No. IDO-24033 (Idaho Falls: 1962), 54. shielded with concrete and dirt.Norman Engineering, 1959), Section II16. Big Hazard at Idaho Atom Site? Traffic 28. Jay Kunze, February 5, 1999. The AEC(no p.n.). Accidents, Says Nurse, Post-Register, contracted General Electric to disassemble8. R.T. Canfield, SL-1 Annual Operating February 23, 1961. and analyze the reactor on May 5, 1961;Report, February 1959-February 1960, 17. Dr. George Voelz, Remembering the Early (Dugway) C.W. Bills, personalReport No. IDO 19012 or CEND-82 (Idaho Years, Oral History Interview, November communication, June 25, 1999.Falls: Combustion Engineering, 1960), 7. 29, 1994, HREX Doc. No. 0727845. 29. Kunze, February 5 and July 6, 1999.SL-1 was the first power plant reactor in the 18. The men were Specialist 5 John A. Byrnes, 30. Kunze, February 5, 1999.country to use aluminum-clad fuel elements, 27, U.S. Army; Specialist 4 Richard L. 31. (Crane) Wayne Bills, interview with author,which heretofore had been used only in test McKinley, 22, U.S. Army; and Construction February 3, 1999; (vessel in transit) Generalreactors like the MTR. Anew alloy Electrician Richard C. Legg, 26, U.S. Navy. Electric, Final Report of SL-1 p. II-37, II-39.overcame the low melting point of Byrnes had been certified at SL-1 in See also SL-1 Reactor Core Trucked to Hotaluminum, and after SL-1, aluminum alloys February 1960; Legg, in September 1960. Cell for Study, Arco Advertiser, Decemberwere used widely. See Suid, Armys Nuclear McKinley was a trainee. 8, 1961, 3.Program, 83.9. SL-1 Explosion Kills 3; Cause and 19. John Horan, interview with author, July 16, 32. General Electric Final Report, ii.Significance Unclear, Nucleonics(February 1998. C H A P T E R S I X T E E N1961): 17. 20. Horan, July 16, 1998.10. See drawing in Nucleonics, (February 1969): 21. Findings of the Board of Investigation, 1. (Monster quote) Robert F.Alkire,54 ff. The fuel zone was 27.8 inches long. Nuclear News(July 1961): 15. MonstersHuddle in Weird Stillness,11. (Water hammer) General Electric, Final 22. INELHistoric Dose Evaluation, Volume, 2 Associated Press story published in SaltReport of SL-1 Recovery Operation(Idaho p. A-83 to A-85. See also Volume Imap, Lake Tribune, January 8, 1961, and asFalls: GE Report No. IDO-19311, 1962), p. p.27. Moon-like Eastern Idaho Desert Scene ofI-6. 23. (Squad rescue) Staff of the JCAE, Nuclear MonsterRunaway, in Idaho12. Staff of the JCAE, Summary of the SL-1 Summary of the SL-1 Reactor Incident, 2- Daily Statesman, same date, 5; (sleepingReactor Incident at the National Reactor 3; (GCRE decontamination, logbook, quote) A-Reactors Wont Blow Us Up,Testing Station in Idaho on January 3, neutron detector) film The SL-1 Accident, The Deseret News and Telegram, January 6,1961, January 10, 1961, IHS, Dworshak (Idaho Falls: Idaho Operations Office). 1961.Papers, Box 122 B, File: AEC Id Press 24. The General Managers Board of 2. (Mishaps) NRTS Marks First Fatal AtomicReleases. Other details of the accident were Investigation, Report on the SL-1 Incident, Mishap, Idaho Daily Statesman, January 5,reported in Nucleonics(February 1961): 17- January 3, 1961, Press Release No. 61-24 1961; (instructed) Frank Carey, Chemical23; and in a series of press releases from the (SL-1), (Idaho Falls: Idaho Operations Explosion in Nuclear Reactor PotentiallyIdaho Operations Office after the accident, Office, June 11, 1961), 31. More Perilous than A-`Blast, Idaho Dailycopies in Dworshak papers. 25. (Team recovery) IDO Press release, January Statesman, January 5, 1961.13. Sequence of Events Related to the SL-1 9, 1961, Dworshak Papers, box 122 B; 3. The IDO compiled 154 press clippings fromAccident at the National Reactor Testing (Dugway, mockup, procedures) film The around the country in a document The SL-1Station, Idaho, on January 3, 1961. HREX SL-1 Accident. Accident, Press Clippings. Acopy is extantdocument #0715561. No author or date. This 26. George Voelz, M.D., November 29, 1994; at the IDO public information office inreport was an appendix to an unidentified John Horan and Wayne Bills, What Have Idaho Falls, Idaho.AEC document. See also Nucleonics We Learned? Health Physics at SL-1, 4. (Siting) John W. Finney, Blast Stresses A-(February 1961); and Detailed Events Nucleonics(December 1961): 48. Question, Salt Lake Tribune, January 5,Chain at SL-1 Reactor Told, Post-Register, 1961; (set back) What Happened inJanuary 12, 1961. 27 . (Luedecke proposal) John Horan, July 16, 1998; (caskets) Blast Vic ti ms [sic] Rites 29 2'