b'P ROVING THE P RINCIPLEtheir elections and invited to tour theSite. They presented awards and attend-ed ceremonial functions at the NRTS.Governor Smylie in particular was anadvocate of industrial safety and recog-nized the unprecedented safety recordmaintained at the NRTS. At times, theIDO and the AEC in Washingtoninformed the governor and Dr. Carverwhen spent fuel was being shipped intoIdaho. 26When Smylie created a GovernorsCommittee on the Use of Atomic Energy and Radiation Hazards in 1959, the IDOsupplied three of its high-level staff spe-cialists in health physics and waste dis-posal to serve on the committee alongwith his other appointees from stateINEEL 59-3091 agencies and industries. Smylie askedThe IDO ambulance in 1959, fully loaded with ter themselves with the Board. The the committee to examine how other emergency equipment when ready to roll. brief set of rules prohibited dischargi ng states set radiation standards and then to radioactive wastes to the environment recommend improved control measureswithout prior approval of the Board for Idaho. With input from this commit-In 1955 the Idaho Department of and required that the board be tee, the Board of Health adopted a moreHealth was reorganized as a Board of informed in the event of an accident. detailed set of standards and regulationsHealth, giving it more authority in After 1961, by which time hospitals in 1964. These refined the earlier ruleswatershed protection, sewage collection were more involved with radioactive and exempted federal agencies and theirand disposal. Dr. Terrell O. Carver, the source materials (nuclear medicine), contractors from having to register withadministrator for the Board of Health the Idaho legislature directed the Board the state. The committee discussed theafter 1958, began to promulgate the to establish more-comprehensive stan- st aes rights issue and concluded thattBoards policies formally, holding hear- dards. That was also the year that the the state should not restrict the AECings on a spectrum of issues, including Board of Health purchased its first because federal rules already governedcrematoria, nursing homes, water pollu- equipment for conducting a few basic it. According to committee minutes, thetion, cleaning of septic tanks, and radia- types of radiological analyses. 2 5 members were not disposed to enacttion protection. 24 regulations that might discourage indus-The managers of the NRTS spent the trial development within this state. 27 The Board of Health adopted radiation 1950s being cordial to the succeedingprotection rules in August 1958 after a governors who entered and left the Although the relationship between thefew industrial users elsewhere in the Statehouse. Len B. Jordan followed governors office and the NRTS wasstate accidentally spilled radioactive Robins, and after him came Robert courteous, it was also distant. The issuematerials into the environment. Such Smylie, elected in 1954. New gover- of waste disposal did arouse statesusers were henceforth obliged to regis- nors were routinely congratulated on rights sentiments in government circles.6 2'