b'P ROVING THE P RINCIPLEjects: Zinns Experimental BreederA Memoir of the Rogers Hotel Reactor (EBR, later called EBR-I), theMaterials Testing Reactor (MTR), theIdaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP,I n the early years, the fourth floor of times produced complicated traffic or Chem Plant), and the Submarinethe Rogers Hotel provided an unusu- problems. Sometimes youd have to Thermal Reactor (STR, later namedal environment for an office. The go, and youd find blueprints and S 1 W). 4available rooms were generally small plans spread out all over the fixtures.with an adjoining bathroom. The toi- Window screens werent tight, and the Johnston pressed forward, even thoughlets were of the noisier power-flush secretaries didnt appreciate the dead the Navy continued to occupy the siterather than the gravity type. This made flies that greeted them in the tub every through most of 1949. The Navalfor embarrassing incidents, such as morning. The downtown eateries were Proving Ground families graduallywhen you were on a long distance call overwhelmed at lunch hour, so many moved away, but the last one didntand the unknowing caller would com- employees brought lunches, and that leave until the night before the Navysment about the sound of a flushing certainly helped attract the flies. last official day of possession ontoilet. In the summer when windows December 1, 1949. Johnston carried onand doors were open you could hear Air conditioning was very limited, so as though the testing station were aeven more flushing sounds from the major saving feature of the place going concern. He moved his staff intoadjoining rooms, across the hallway, during the very hot days of summer the Rogers Hotel and moved his familyand across the narrow break between was the existence of the White Horse to Idaho Falls from Schenectady. 5building sections.Bar in the lower level of the hotel,where a cool beer was always avail- Johnstons effort to secure a dependableSince filing space was at a premium, able at the end of a long hard day. supply of electricity brought him intothe secretaries put file cabinets and the middle of a regional struggleboxes in the bathtubs, which some- Anonymous between public and private suppliers ofpower. The Idaho Power Company waswilling to cooperate only if the AECpaid for every bit of the investment andguaranteed a ten-year contract. Thecompany feared that the BonnevillePower Administration (BPA) would stepin and offer public power at cheaperrates, wiping out Idaho Power invest-ments. The negotiation, which alsoincluded Utah Power and Light(UP&L), extended well into 1950.Before it was over, Johnstons andAECs legal counsel, Bigelow Boysen,went so far as to prepare a case againstthe two private companies condemningall or part of each companys properties.Drill rig crew takes core sample from spillway on anold irrigation canal.INEEL 01333 8'