'59 nuclear reactor accident remains vivid for former Santa Susana Field Laboratory worker

[bananas]

Source: Ventura County Star

<snip>

At 6:25 p.m. on July 13, 1959, the experimental reactor’s power went out of control, forcing a manual emergency shutdown after an automatic shutdown failed to kick in. It was the beginning of a partial meltdown, a rarity in U.S. history.

<snip>

In recent years, knowledge of what occurred that summer has weighed heavily on the retiree’s shoulders.

His reluctance to speak out began to wane when he saw a TV documentary about the little-known partial nuclear meltdown. Pace watched himself working on the reactor in vintage film, recorded for training purposes in fall 1959 and featured in the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” episode about California’s first partial meltdown.

Along with the televised account of the incident, Pace was moved by recent news reports of workers sickened by exposure to chemical and radioactive exposure at the Cold War-era facility, workers who faced difficulties or were rejected when they applied for a federal government compensation program because they lacked the needed proof of their employment and work assignments.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/jul/12/field-lab-meltdown-50-years-later-delayed-59-for/

[bananas]

1. kick. nt

[Joe Bacon]

2. Kick

My dad worked a lot at the Shippingport nuclear reactor. He kept telling me that it was safe.

Then he died from a bizarre cancer that destroyed his blood platelets. The doctor said he never saw anything like it and when he consulted the books, it was a rare form of cancer linked with radiation exposure.

[Tikki]

3. The gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving....

This kind of chemical and radioactive exposure...:sarcasm:


Tikki

[SidDithers]

4. Some perspective...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_tests
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/nuclear/usnuctests.htm

Sid

[ensho]

5. kick - nuke plant waste is toxic forever

nt

[Iterate]

6. Interesting article and good account.

I'm left wondering if the some of the research at this site wasn't used in the design and construction of another liquid-sodium cooled reactor, the fast-breeder reactor at the Fermi I site near Monroe, Michigan. It also suffered coolant failure and partial melting, finally resulting in it being shut down in 1972. That incident never seemed to get the attention it deserved, but then we were distracted by the war.

Come to think of it, McCain visited the Michigan site during his campaign. I doubt he brought up its history.