Idaho Falls - What? - Where? - A forgotten and little known nuclear accident

I just read Idaho Falls by William McKeown

Let me first say that I finished it within hours of starting it, all told it probably took me all of five hours to read it. It was a genuine page turner with a strong narrative, a careful discussion of the victims of the Idaho Falls incident, a discussion of their entry into the nuclear program, their arrival and personal characteristics regarding their activities and temperament at SL 1, material providing color on their likely psychological state in the moments leading up to the accident, and a careful discussion of the fallout which came afterwards. 

For me there were several themes that stood out in this book. One theme that stood out is inter-agency and extra-agency rivalries, another theme is the willingness to overlook the human element, to think that technical excellence alone is enough to avoid tragedy, another theme is the capacity for people to get used to things, to begin to think that things that are extraordinary and special and above all dangerous are in fact normal and mundane, and finally the willingness to permit problems to fester when they need to be fixed. 

Similarly stupefying was the manner in which the SL 1 tragedy previsaged, albeit on a small scale, the same events that would later happen at Chernobyl. Both crews were going in to do some kind of maintenance. Both crews were unaware of what might happen if they violated the rules. Both reactors had design flaws which made the eventual failure more likely.  In the case of the SL 1 reactor, as usual, the likelihood of a possible criticality was kept secret from the operators. In the case of the Chernobyl reactor, there were various design flaws which were kept secret from the operators. In the case of the SL 1 reactor, it is likely that the operators had no idea that things went wrong, or if they had any idea, it was likely a bright blue flash for a brief fraction of a second. The main incident itself, the subject of this whole book, the first nuclear accident with fatalities, occurred in fact, literally in less than a second, between 9:00 and 9:01 pm. In a similar way, the Chernobyl reactor exploded abruptly once the situation got out of hand. In the cleanup operation at SL 1, they assembled about a thousand individuals who would each spend a minute or two on the premises to perform the cleanup of the SL 1 site. This is very similar, except on a much tinier scale, as what would eventually happen in Chernobyl. 

The manner in which McKeown pieces together the post-accident analysis was very smooth and informative. Like a detective story, he weaves together the various kinds of information and evidence available to the investigators and lays out concretely the facts of what happened and how these facts were derived. It was fascinating and enthralling. 

What is most troubling is the fact that this accident is so little known, that the lessons it provided were not entirely heeded, and above all, that we still believe that nuclear power is safe, that we think we can control it, and that we will not ever ever ever have another accident, and that if we do, it will be able to be contained. 

I see Idaho Falls as a further cautionary tale about the dangers of Nuclear Energy. I definitely recommend this book!!