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Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America's First Nuclear Accident
The little-known true story of a mysterious nuclear reactor disaster ― years before Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, or Fukushima Before the Three Mile Island incident or the Chernobyl disaster, the world’s first nuclear reactor meltdown to claim lives happened on U.S. soil. Chronicled here for the first time is the strange tale of SL-1, an experimental military reactor located in Idaho’s Lost River Desert that exploded on the night of January 3, 1961, killing the three crewmembers on duty. Through exclusive interviews with the victims’ families and friends, firsthand accounts from rescue workers and nuclear industry insiders, and extensive research into official documents, journalist William McKeown probes the many questions surrounding this devastating blast that have gone unanswered for decades. From reports of faulty design and mismanagement to incompetent personnel and even rumors of sabotage after a failed love affair, these plausible explanations raise startling new questions about whether the truth was deliberately suppressed to protect the nuclear energy industry.
269 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
September 22, 2022
An interesting read about what happened at the SL-1 reactor accident in Idaho in January 1961, which was the first fatal nuclear accident that claimed the lives of three servicemen working as reactor technicians. It gives good detail of the history of both the reactor and the three men killed, and of how flawed the whole setup was from the design of the reactor, the men's training and the management of the site, which on that January night led to the perfect storm. The aftermath of it is also covered in very good detail from the rescue, the clean-up and the intricate autopsies that had to be carried out on the bodies, because they had to make the bodies ready for "normal" burials for the families, and what these burials all entailed.
After this the author goes into the investigation and does a lot of speculating as to the personal feelings between the men that also includes that it could have been a murder-suicide as two of the men had months earlier had a drunken brawl and there was gossip about a love triangle also. In the end no one will never know exactly why the human error occurred that night and the author should have left it at that in my opinion.
After this the author goes into the investigation and does a lot of speculating as to the personal feelings between the men that also includes that it could have been a murder-suicide as two of the men had months earlier had a drunken brawl and there was gossip about a love triangle also. In the end no one will never know exactly why the human error occurred that night and the author should have left it at that in my opinion.
December 31, 2012
William McKeown's "Idaho Falls, about the Idaho Falls SL-1 reactor incident in 1961, may be the most awful non-fiction book I have ever read -- and believe me, there's a hell of a lot of competition for that "honor."
I can't possibly go into everything I hate about this book, since there's probably more words to be written about how bad this book is than there is in the original work. This is a textbook example of how bad popular science writing can be. Imagine The Hot Zone with ONLY the overwrought tones of terror present in the most overblown scary segments about how ebola rips you apart from the inside. Now imagine that kind of narrative style applied to such speculative scenes as how much liquor was consumed by Idaho Falls workers on a given night, or what a husband and wife or a commanding officer and subordinate may have said to each other while they were having a fight...in 1960.
What it boils down to is that the author tries to whip up drama from complete speculation, using overheated language for the most simplistic claims. He goes into great detail about very sketchy personal interactions, speculating wildly about what happened off the record -- which is not a hanging offense -- and, far worse, doing so in a crazed, overheated narrative voice that made me feel like I have been buttonholed at a backyard party by a crazed conspiracy theorist whose conspiracies are without a doubt the MOST BORING CONSPIRACIES IN HISTORY.
Obviously, this is a book that's been padded from relatively sketchy information. The author does not really seem to understand the milieu of nuclear power, and repeatedly refers to atoms buzzing like "angry bees." Such language is ridiculous the first time, and by what seems like the ten thousandth, the author has completely exhausted any chance of being taken seriously in my mind.
This dissonance becomes particularly evident near the end, when the author introduces some essentially unrelated questions (in quotations) about nuclear waste, as if it is a huge revelation, and as profound as the author thinks every other word in this book is. Unfortunately, such a sentiment is pretty pointless...since the SL-1 incident had nothing at all to do with waste. It was an operational accident, not a waste accent. That just goes to illustrate the incoherence central to this book's narrative. As a reader, I was let with no real picture of what actually happened, in operational terms, or what the institutional failings were that led to the SL-1 incident. That makes the author's completely credulous delivery of the "suicide" and "love triangle" hypotheses seem like I've stumbled on to the set of The Jerry Springer Show.
Ultimately, the lack of credibility in this book is not about specific problems but about something ineffable. I felt like the author either knows virtually nothing about nuclear history, or is simply a terrible writer...and not that smart. I find that last point somewhat impolite of me to make, and unlikely. But I can't resist making it after suffering through this book's delirious overblown and largely content-free narrative.
I'm not suggesting there's not a story in the Idaho Falls incident, but this author was apparently unable to find it. Instead, he gave us an incoherent mess of a book with a clear agenda to whip the reader up into a frenzy.
Avoid this book like you would a swarm of angry bees.
I can't possibly go into everything I hate about this book, since there's probably more words to be written about how bad this book is than there is in the original work. This is a textbook example of how bad popular science writing can be. Imagine The Hot Zone with ONLY the overwrought tones of terror present in the most overblown scary segments about how ebola rips you apart from the inside. Now imagine that kind of narrative style applied to such speculative scenes as how much liquor was consumed by Idaho Falls workers on a given night, or what a husband and wife or a commanding officer and subordinate may have said to each other while they were having a fight...in 1960.
What it boils down to is that the author tries to whip up drama from complete speculation, using overheated language for the most simplistic claims. He goes into great detail about very sketchy personal interactions, speculating wildly about what happened off the record -- which is not a hanging offense -- and, far worse, doing so in a crazed, overheated narrative voice that made me feel like I have been buttonholed at a backyard party by a crazed conspiracy theorist whose conspiracies are without a doubt the MOST BORING CONSPIRACIES IN HISTORY.
Obviously, this is a book that's been padded from relatively sketchy information. The author does not really seem to understand the milieu of nuclear power, and repeatedly refers to atoms buzzing like "angry bees." Such language is ridiculous the first time, and by what seems like the ten thousandth, the author has completely exhausted any chance of being taken seriously in my mind.
This dissonance becomes particularly evident near the end, when the author introduces some essentially unrelated questions (in quotations) about nuclear waste, as if it is a huge revelation, and as profound as the author thinks every other word in this book is. Unfortunately, such a sentiment is pretty pointless...since the SL-1 incident had nothing at all to do with waste. It was an operational accident, not a waste accent. That just goes to illustrate the incoherence central to this book's narrative. As a reader, I was let with no real picture of what actually happened, in operational terms, or what the institutional failings were that led to the SL-1 incident. That makes the author's completely credulous delivery of the "suicide" and "love triangle" hypotheses seem like I've stumbled on to the set of The Jerry Springer Show.
Ultimately, the lack of credibility in this book is not about specific problems but about something ineffable. I felt like the author either knows virtually nothing about nuclear history, or is simply a terrible writer...and not that smart. I find that last point somewhat impolite of me to make, and unlikely. But I can't resist making it after suffering through this book's delirious overblown and largely content-free narrative.
I'm not suggesting there's not a story in the Idaho Falls incident, but this author was apparently unable to find it. Instead, he gave us an incoherent mess of a book with a clear agenda to whip the reader up into a frenzy.
Avoid this book like you would a swarm of angry bees.
July 3, 2020
An interesting story that has to rely on speculation due to the lack of records. The author in trying to be sensational is too loose with his terminology and several times uses the phrase "nuclear explosion" when such an event never occurred. His discussion of the steam explosion shows he understood the difference and purposely chose to conflate the two for a sense of drama. Once again confusing the difference between reactors and weapons. Additionally the author has difficulty remembering what service branch the men were in and who they were married too. He did an ok job of telling the story but he could have done better.
December 4, 2023
3.5✨
Surprisingly good, but I live close to Idaho falls so that’s prob why it interested me so much
Surprisingly good, but I live close to Idaho falls so that’s prob why it interested me so much
November 6, 2014
I gave this a 4 star mainly because it was so informative to me, where I live, where I work, and the accident that helped to shape the nuclear industry with the only fatalities in the industry attributed directly to a nuclear accident. I really enjoyed this book and explaining more of what happened compared to the rumors that still swirl around this fatal accident at work. The history was very informative of Idaho falls and the INL. It was also interesting to see their dilemma with such a new 'science' and how to safely deal with the meltdown. The last few chapters were a bit long for me, but still a really good book to read.
November 27, 2016
Excellent look at the 1961 nuclear reactor accident in Idaho. I'd heard of the incident in documentaries, and knew it caused the first deaths at a nuclear reactor, but I didn't know much more. This great book is very well researched, unfolds in a very engaging manner, and the authors writing style is really wonderful and so readable. I definitely recommend this book if you are interested in the history of the nuclear industry, especially how it impacted the people involved in the work.
July 16, 2021
This was an interesting read with a great twist at the end and some really gnarly details.
January 16, 2023
This was fascinating to me because I grew up in Salmon, Idaho and my uncle worked at the site. As a 12 year old, I had no knowledge of this event.
November 27, 2014
What a fascinating and macabre real-life mystery written by a gifted historian and sleuth regarding a basically brushed-off chapter of US nuclear history. Nevermind the cover resembles a heavy metal album from the '90s, or the apparently whispered rumor-mill that sporadically sparked over the decades. The saying that "truth is stranger [and far more compelling] than fiction" is proven through this read, and thankfully the author leaves ultimate decisions to the reader, since dead men can't talk.
To spur one's interest, here's the mathematical breakdown of the heart of this story, a small nuclear reactor going critical:
"- 500 milliseconds: The central control rod withdrawal begins.
- 120 milliseconds: The reactor goes critical when the control rod reaches 16.7 inches; rod continues to its full 20-inch extension.
- 0 seconds: The power of the nuclear excursion peaks at 19,000 megawatts; the fuel plates begin to vaporize as temperatures hit 3,740 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 0.5 milliseconds: The nuclear energy release ends; the center fuel elements and central control rod blade and shroud are ejected from the core; the water column above the core begins to accelerate upward.
- 34 milliseconds: The water column rushes into the lid of the vessel; shield plugs are ejected from the lid at speeds of 85 feet per second; the vessel rises out of its sheath.
- 160 milliseconds: The first shield plug hits the reactor room ceiling; two-thirds of the water inside the reactor is expelled and 5 percent of the fission products are released.
- 800 milliseconds: The reactor vessel hits the ceiling.
- 2,000 - 4,000 milliseconds: The reactor vessel falls down and comes to rest in its sheath."
Now, imagine standing on top of and around this explosion. Three people were. What happened?
Enjoy*
PS: Excellent additional reading: http://theappendix.net/issues/2014/10...
To spur one's interest, here's the mathematical breakdown of the heart of this story, a small nuclear reactor going critical:
"- 500 milliseconds: The central control rod withdrawal begins.
- 120 milliseconds: The reactor goes critical when the control rod reaches 16.7 inches; rod continues to its full 20-inch extension.
- 0 seconds: The power of the nuclear excursion peaks at 19,000 megawatts; the fuel plates begin to vaporize as temperatures hit 3,740 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 0.5 milliseconds: The nuclear energy release ends; the center fuel elements and central control rod blade and shroud are ejected from the core; the water column above the core begins to accelerate upward.
- 34 milliseconds: The water column rushes into the lid of the vessel; shield plugs are ejected from the lid at speeds of 85 feet per second; the vessel rises out of its sheath.
- 160 milliseconds: The first shield plug hits the reactor room ceiling; two-thirds of the water inside the reactor is expelled and 5 percent of the fission products are released.
- 800 milliseconds: The reactor vessel hits the ceiling.
- 2,000 - 4,000 milliseconds: The reactor vessel falls down and comes to rest in its sheath."
Now, imagine standing on top of and around this explosion. Three people were. What happened?
Enjoy*
PS: Excellent additional reading: http://theappendix.net/issues/2014/10...
September 2, 2013
Fukashima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island are the top three answers on the board when you're asked about the world's worse nuclear disasters. Until I read this book, I would never have added reactor SL-1 at the National Reactor Testing Station. I just didn't know about it.
Notably absent in the history I studied in school, this accident near Idaho Falls in 1961 was perhaps the world's first death by nuclear accident. The world's first meltdowns occurred at the NRTS. The highest concentration of active nuclear reactors on the planet was kept at this facility. And all of this is a quiet, not often discussed, footnote in our history.
William McKeown packs a lot of interesting information and covers a lot of conjecture regarding the cause of the SL-1 explosion in January, 1961. His writing style is a bit slow and he covers things more than once. He's informative and teases you with some of the alleged "hanky-panky" of the principle actors. But the book is a bit of a struggle to get through. Fortunately, it isn't very long (it probably could have been 1/2 to 2/3 it's current size and still had the same impact.)
For those interested in history, this is a decent book. For those interested in nuclear technology, I'd say it's a must-read. For those looking for a thriller with a nuclear explosion as it's central point, look elsewhere.
Notably absent in the history I studied in school, this accident near Idaho Falls in 1961 was perhaps the world's first death by nuclear accident. The world's first meltdowns occurred at the NRTS. The highest concentration of active nuclear reactors on the planet was kept at this facility. And all of this is a quiet, not often discussed, footnote in our history.
William McKeown packs a lot of interesting information and covers a lot of conjecture regarding the cause of the SL-1 explosion in January, 1961. His writing style is a bit slow and he covers things more than once. He's informative and teases you with some of the alleged "hanky-panky" of the principle actors. But the book is a bit of a struggle to get through. Fortunately, it isn't very long (it probably could have been 1/2 to 2/3 it's current size and still had the same impact.)
For those interested in history, this is a decent book. For those interested in nuclear technology, I'd say it's a must-read. For those looking for a thriller with a nuclear explosion as it's central point, look elsewhere.
January 1, 2018
You might recall the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island that happened in 1979. It put quite a damper on America's nuclear industry. But you might not know that the incident was not the country's first nuclear accident. That happened in 1961 at a small reactor at a remote government reservation in Idaho's Lost River Desert. Three people died immediately; many rescuers died later.
You were probably unaware of the accident and deaths because the government didn't want you to be. They didn't want the explosion or grotesque details of radiation poisoning to stifle their research or curtail the birth of the nuclear power industry. But author William McKeown has written his version of the events and subsequent investigations that lays out the details, but leaves the final verdict to the reader. Was it a murder-suicide? Was it caused by mismanagement? It is a well-presented case, a real-life mystery. I liked it.
You were probably unaware of the accident and deaths because the government didn't want you to be. They didn't want the explosion or grotesque details of radiation poisoning to stifle their research or curtail the birth of the nuclear power industry. But author William McKeown has written his version of the events and subsequent investigations that lays out the details, but leaves the final verdict to the reader. Was it a murder-suicide? Was it caused by mismanagement? It is a well-presented case, a real-life mystery. I liked it.
July 1, 2019
I don't read a lot of non-fiction. This is a true life mystery which I found hard to put down even though I knew the ending. The player's backgrounds and motivations were well fleshed out. The building problems and technicalities were nicely explained in an easy to understand way. The gradual sense of impending doom was palpable throughout. The mystery is how or what actually caused the ending. There are so many troubling situations that could have caused or contributed to what happens. Even the investigation into the cause was never definitely determined. You will be given the possible causes and you will be left to decide what really occurred. Even though I knew basics of what was going to happen in the end, the possible why and how left me stunned. I finished it 2 days ago and I still get a shocked feeling when I think about it. I do recommend this book for nonfiction or nuclear accident fans, and those who want a book to read that will give you a lot to think about.
September 22, 2021
The author speculates, rightly so in my case, that the reader has never heard of Idaho Falls and the first nuclear accident in America. Then he goes on to tell me as much about it as he could. I got the impression this was highly researched, or as researched as something decommissioned from the government could be. Each theory to the cause felt put forth in an equal sensationalist view so the reader could pick and chose which theory they felt was in play. In case you missed them, the author would whip them back up again to remind you which lead to a repetitious feel to the book. My big take away from it is that ultimately, the government was in charge of the investigation and reporting and of course they don't want to make themselves look bad so that explains the ambiguity. It was definitely an interesting read about a piece of history I knew nothing about.
June 28, 2008
My interest in the Chernobyl incident lead me to this book. I never knew that there had been any deaths in the US related to a nuclear reactor criticality accident until I started reading about the experimental reactors at the Idaho testing site.
This book reads like a good true crime story. It gives a lot of facts, but is never dry or boring. I read it in two evenings. There may never be a definitive answer to "What happened that night to cause three deaths?" The author has been criticized for his speculations and theories, but I thought his ideas were well founded and plausible.
This book reads like a good true crime story. It gives a lot of facts, but is never dry or boring. I read it in two evenings. There may never be a definitive answer to "What happened that night to cause three deaths?" The author has been criticized for his speculations and theories, but I thought his ideas were well founded and plausible.
November 2, 2015
I grew up in Idaho Falls and never really heard of this incident, but found McKeown's book to be interesting. I don't know if he's a local, but he does talk a little disparagingly about the Idaho Falls region (yes, I get it can perceived as an "uptight" Mormon town, but I still felt it colored the book a bit). The writing was sometimes overhanded, but I still found it informative. My grandfather worked out Argonne National Laboratory (essentially next-door to the SL-1 reactor), but I don't know if it was during this time (but I'm going to find out!).
May 9, 2016
First of all, it was well researched and the author certainly did his homework. The problem with the premise of the story is that we will never know what really happened and the book keeps going around and around with different takes on the same few theories. It doesn't have a resolution. And not the good cliffhanger kind. I definitely know much more about the beginnings of the nuclear power age here in the U.S., but the human element of the book leaves me wanting more of the story. There isn't more to tell, because the author tried to get as much of it as he could.
July 31, 2019
The book highlights the first nuclear fatalities within the United States in the state of Idaho at the experimental SL-1 reactor near Idaho Falls in 1961. The SL-1 was a prototype reactor which was intended to be mobile and transportable to provide electrical power in remote areas for strategic purposes. Conjectures are made within the book as to what led up to the causes of these fatalities. Although it is certain that human error--intentional or otherwise--was a major factor which took the lives of three men.
April 27, 2020
After seeing a short segment about this disaster on a television show, my interest was piqued. I was pleased to find a book about this event.
Idaho Falls was very informative and easy to read. I enjoyed the facts and the way that the author also built up the mystery and intrigue.
So many details about this incident and the aftermath were startling. I learned a great deal from this book and really enjoyed the way the information was presented as well as the few pictures that accompanied the text. This was a great read and I appreciate all that I was able to learn.
Idaho Falls was very informative and easy to read. I enjoyed the facts and the way that the author also built up the mystery and intrigue.
So many details about this incident and the aftermath were startling. I learned a great deal from this book and really enjoyed the way the information was presented as well as the few pictures that accompanied the text. This was a great read and I appreciate all that I was able to learn.
April 1, 2022
The Three Mile Island nuclear accident happened March 28, 1979. Until reading Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America’s First Nuclear Accident by William McKeown, I was unaware that an earlier accident occurred January 3, 1961 and resulted in the deaths of the 3 operators. The book also contains other information, such as there was interest early on in designing and building nuclear powered aircraft, despite the fact that a crash of such a craft could have been and would have been catastrophic. An interesting read that leaves the reader shaking their head.
November 26, 2021
3.5 - An interesting book. I’d never heard of the Idaho Falls incident (or if I did, it was just in passing). I didn’t find the book all too engaging, but the facts were there and ultimately what I wanted.
February 23, 2022
"Interesting story, and for those that have read it, it does fail to follow the natural conclusion to its end--the threat of nuclear terrorism to the American people. But that's because we Americans prefer to discuss bigger deals like the shortage of wings on super bowl Sunday"
-Tom Brady, the GOAT
-Tom Brady, the GOAT
August 16, 2021
This book is a lot of repetitive speculation with no apparent purpose
January 31, 2024
As the author points out, it’s astonishing that even among nuclear professionals, the first reactor accident in America is usually (and incorrectly) given as Three Mile Island in 1979.
It says a lot about the efforts of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and other involved government groups that the 1961 SL-1 reactor explosion—which also has the distinction of being the first reactor accident worldwide to result in the deaths of its operators—has been swept under the rug of history.
McKeown presents an atmospheric buildup to the night of the accident, then takes us step by step through the incident, the rescue attempts, the cleanup, and the investigation. Although the lurid theory of a love triangle and murder-suicide claims the most attention, McKeown adresses the opposing side, namely that the government emphasized the emotional instability of the the dead men in order to draw attention away from officials’ negligence of the reactor’s many problems.
It says a lot about the efforts of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and other involved government groups that the 1961 SL-1 reactor explosion—which also has the distinction of being the first reactor accident worldwide to result in the deaths of its operators—has been swept under the rug of history.
McKeown presents an atmospheric buildup to the night of the accident, then takes us step by step through the incident, the rescue attempts, the cleanup, and the investigation. Although the lurid theory of a love triangle and murder-suicide claims the most attention, McKeown adresses the opposing side, namely that the government emphasized the emotional instability of the the dead men in order to draw attention away from officials’ negligence of the reactor’s many problems.
March 27, 2024
How did I not know about this incident?
In our country's first nuclear accident, personalities and mental stability may have interacted with a design flaw to create tragic results for three nuclear workers and the people charged with recovering their mangled bodies. The text highlights what happened during the nuclear accident, from recovering the pieces to skinning the contaminated bodies to the concerns about their burials--and the botching of the burials.
This book can enhance your appreciation of how nuclear reactors work, why the human factor is important, and why the design has changed from the use of a single control rod to a more complex one.
It's also important to keep in mind that nuclear reactors do not contribute to the green-house gasses like fossil-fuel plants, but that does not mean that they provide us with a free ride. Our descendants will have a price to pay if we contaminate the air with carbon or radiation.
In our country's first nuclear accident, personalities and mental stability may have interacted with a design flaw to create tragic results for three nuclear workers and the people charged with recovering their mangled bodies. The text highlights what happened during the nuclear accident, from recovering the pieces to skinning the contaminated bodies to the concerns about their burials--and the botching of the burials.
This book can enhance your appreciation of how nuclear reactors work, why the human factor is important, and why the design has changed from the use of a single control rod to a more complex one.
It's also important to keep in mind that nuclear reactors do not contribute to the green-house gasses like fossil-fuel plants, but that does not mean that they provide us with a free ride. Our descendants will have a price to pay if we contaminate the air with carbon or radiation.
September 5, 2023
The writing could have used some more polishing for impact but the book was a well-researched bit of micro-history. If you, like me, are interested in nuclear history and you haven't heard about Idaho Falls, you should check this out. An interesting peek into the attitudes toward nuclear power at the beginning of the drive.
November 6, 2024
Never heard of this before
September 12, 2021
So, I'm not sure exactly what to think of this book.
In brief, "Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America's First Nuclear Accident" sets out to be similar in nature, topic, and approach to "Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster" by Adam Higginbotham. In fairness to the book, it does meet this objective, though I'm left with a bizarre sense of not exactly liking this book while I've loved other similar books.
While Idaho Falls does delve into the technical minutia, the governance, and the aftermath of the SL-1 disaster, for every minute it devotes to the above three topics, it spends another minute discussing the personal affairs and tribulations of two of the three reactor operators - Army Specialist John Byrnes and Navy Seabee Construction Electrician First Class Richard Legg.
I do understand this focus - for those familiar with the disaster (or who have read the book), the fundamental "trigger" of the accident was the inadvertent, manual withdrawal of a single reactor control rod past its critical point. While the book does make it plain that such a disaster being possible was poor design, it does maintain the question "Why did one of the operators withdraw the rod so far?"
To date, no SL-1 disaster post-mortem I've read or seen provides any explanation. They simply attribute the disaster to human "error", failing to even determine why this action was taken (be it accident, intentional, etc).
So the book makes it a point to dig through the back stories of these two men in particular in a drama-filled, paparazzi-like expose. In doing so, it leaves the question similarly open though better defined: did one of the operators A) fuck up, B) play a prank on his fellow operators, C) decide to commit suicide by reactor explosion due to marital problems, or D) was a Soviet agent.
The book fails to ultimately answer the question, and I guess I can't fault it for it. But it still reads weird, for a book about a technological disaster, to spend so much time focusing on human foibles.
Outside of the virtues of the book, Idaho Falls also explores (briefly) the early history of how man learned how to clean up after nuclear accidents, providing a brilliant synopsis of how the SL-1 disaster was cleaned up when no prior playbook was established, how doctors figured out how to dispose of the human remains of men horrifically contaminated by radiation, and the precursor to modern safety standards in the nuclear industry.
One further note: for anyone who reads this book, be advised that there is a 40 minute film produced by the Atomic Energy Commission (now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC) titled "The SL-1 Accident", which is a condensed version of the AEC's final report on the SL-1 disaster. It, paired with this book, helps paint a more complete picture of the disaster.
In brief, "Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America's First Nuclear Accident" sets out to be similar in nature, topic, and approach to "Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster" by Adam Higginbotham. In fairness to the book, it does meet this objective, though I'm left with a bizarre sense of not exactly liking this book while I've loved other similar books.
While Idaho Falls does delve into the technical minutia, the governance, and the aftermath of the SL-1 disaster, for every minute it devotes to the above three topics, it spends another minute discussing the personal affairs and tribulations of two of the three reactor operators - Army Specialist John Byrnes and Navy Seabee Construction Electrician First Class Richard Legg.
I do understand this focus - for those familiar with the disaster (or who have read the book), the fundamental "trigger" of the accident was the inadvertent, manual withdrawal of a single reactor control rod past its critical point. While the book does make it plain that such a disaster being possible was poor design, it does maintain the question "Why did one of the operators withdraw the rod so far?"
To date, no SL-1 disaster post-mortem I've read or seen provides any explanation. They simply attribute the disaster to human "error", failing to even determine why this action was taken (be it accident, intentional, etc).
So the book makes it a point to dig through the back stories of these two men in particular in a drama-filled, paparazzi-like expose. In doing so, it leaves the question similarly open though better defined: did one of the operators A) fuck up, B) play a prank on his fellow operators, C) decide to commit suicide by reactor explosion due to marital problems, or D) was a Soviet agent.
The book fails to ultimately answer the question, and I guess I can't fault it for it. But it still reads weird, for a book about a technological disaster, to spend so much time focusing on human foibles.
Outside of the virtues of the book, Idaho Falls also explores (briefly) the early history of how man learned how to clean up after nuclear accidents, providing a brilliant synopsis of how the SL-1 disaster was cleaned up when no prior playbook was established, how doctors figured out how to dispose of the human remains of men horrifically contaminated by radiation, and the precursor to modern safety standards in the nuclear industry.
One further note: for anyone who reads this book, be advised that there is a 40 minute film produced by the Atomic Energy Commission (now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC) titled "The SL-1 Accident", which is a condensed version of the AEC's final report on the SL-1 disaster. It, paired with this book, helps paint a more complete picture of the disaster.
June 14, 2023
A book that could've been a short article. It was incredibly repetitive, speculative, and didn't leave the reader feeling like they learned much. I imagine it was horrible for the families of these men, whatever the story actually was (of which there is no conclusion) to have a book based on the speculation of a murder-suicide with only a couple pages to say, "maybe they were actually good guys." If we don't actually know what happened, why write a whole book about it? Was not engaging - other than the few pages that described the incident itself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2020
Not quite worth a read.
I don't enjoy giving low ratings to books. I feel that even if I didn't like it, someone went through a kind of hell to write this book and the effort should be respected. But this book is just ridiculous. The writing and the rhythm of the book is off and the whole thing feels as though the author had a 2am epiphany and instead of forgetting it after a good sleep decided he had to prove his ideas to the rest of the world. Quite a few chapters contain phrases in the style of "but wait, there's more!" as the author tries to sell us his ideas. His ideas are usually presented through apophasis and that gets more and more irritating as the book progresses to its conclusion. I did find it informative although the best written piece was also the most gruesome. The author broke from his usual random style to give us a summary of the autopsies of the three men killed in the event in minute detail.
It was still an interesting glimpse into the Atomic Age, and I finished the book in spite of feeling so annoyed. It's a relatively unknown chapter of American history and is still a fascinating story without the author resorting to a tabloid style rehash of small town gossip taken as evidence to pad the novel.
I don't enjoy giving low ratings to books. I feel that even if I didn't like it, someone went through a kind of hell to write this book and the effort should be respected. But this book is just ridiculous. The writing and the rhythm of the book is off and the whole thing feels as though the author had a 2am epiphany and instead of forgetting it after a good sleep decided he had to prove his ideas to the rest of the world. Quite a few chapters contain phrases in the style of "but wait, there's more!" as the author tries to sell us his ideas. His ideas are usually presented through apophasis and that gets more and more irritating as the book progresses to its conclusion. I did find it informative although the best written piece was also the most gruesome. The author broke from his usual random style to give us a summary of the autopsies of the three men killed in the event in minute detail.
It was still an interesting glimpse into the Atomic Age, and I finished the book in spite of feeling so annoyed. It's a relatively unknown chapter of American history and is still a fascinating story without the author resorting to a tabloid style rehash of small town gossip taken as evidence to pad the novel.
January 15, 2021
We Will Never Really Know What Happened
I gave this book four stars. Most people who don't follow the history of the development of the use of atomic energy, can only name Three Mile Island and Chernobyl if asked about atomic accidents. This book relates the story of the first and this far only Americans killed in an the explosion of a reactor. The author does a fine job of relating the events surrounding January 3, 1961 at the atomic research installation outside of Idaho Falls, ID. On that day, while doing routine maintenance work on
what was considered to be a tiny and very simple reactor used mostly for training purposes, three men died suddenly. This book uses very little scientific jargon and by going through many resources, tells the story. If the reader wants definitive answers about what caused the tragedy, they remain unknown to this day, as with Chernobyl, no one cause can be ascribed. Was it sabotage? Equipment failure? Murder, suicide? We will never know for certain. I would recommend this to anyone who with interest in the history when the world was learning about atomic energy.
I gave this book four stars. Most people who don't follow the history of the development of the use of atomic energy, can only name Three Mile Island and Chernobyl if asked about atomic accidents. This book relates the story of the first and this far only Americans killed in an the explosion of a reactor. The author does a fine job of relating the events surrounding January 3, 1961 at the atomic research installation outside of Idaho Falls, ID. On that day, while doing routine maintenance work on
what was considered to be a tiny and very simple reactor used mostly for training purposes, three men died suddenly. This book uses very little scientific jargon and by going through many resources, tells the story. If the reader wants definitive answers about what caused the tragedy, they remain unknown to this day, as with Chernobyl, no one cause can be ascribed. Was it sabotage? Equipment failure? Murder, suicide? We will never know for certain. I would recommend this to anyone who with interest in the history when the world was learning about atomic energy.
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