January 1961: SL-1 Explosion Aftermath
At 9:01 pm on January 3, 1961, the first indication of trouble at SL-1 was received at Atomic Energy Commission Fire Stations. The alarm, which was triggered by one of several measured parameters at...
View ArticleWhat Caused the Accident?: Plenty of Blame to Share
The root cause of the accident is well understood. Investigators found the central control rod lying across the top of the reactor vessel. All the other rods were clamped in their fully inserted...
View ArticleLetter from the Editor: Solving the SL-1 Mystery
Some of the sources that we interviewed suggested that there may have been unstated reasons for not releasing the report. While the term “cover-up” was not used, the phrase “let sleeping dogs lie” was...
View ArticleSL-1: Designed for Remote Power and Heat
SL-1′s mission was to provide power to radar stations along the northern perimeter of North America; a series of such stations was known as the DEW (Defense Early Warning) Line. The Army’s designation...
View ArticleAccident Consequences: Design Added to Magnitude
The reactor was more reactive than planned due to problems with the aluminum-boron alloy burnable poison strips. Apparently, these strips had begun to rapidly deteriorate, causing some of the poison...
View ArticleIn the News: July 1996
Russian Floating Power Stations (June 11, 1996: Source-NucNet, an Internet service of the European Nuclear Agency) – Officials at the Kurchatov Atomic Energy Institute in Moscow have announced that the...
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