The Idaho National Laboratory is one of 17 Department of Energy national research laboratories. This 980 square mile site located 200 miles east of Boise and 40 miles west of Idaho Falls, has mainly been used for nuclear research - various organizations have built more than 50 reactors at the lab over the years - and it has been said that the history of nuclear energy for peaceful application has principally been written in Idaho. It first opened in 1949 as the Atomic Energy Commission's Nuclear Reactor Testing Station.
The Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One (SL-1) began operations in 1958 to train soldiers, sailors, and airmen chosen for the Army nuclear program to operate small reactors at several planned radar station inside the arctic circle to act as an early warning in the event of a Russian attack. The large cylindrical building holds the nuclear reactor embedded in gravel at the bottom, with a main operating floor in the middle, and a condenser fan room near the top. Miscellaneous support and administration buildings surround it.
On the night of the accident, January 3, 1961, Navy Construction Electrician First Class Dick Legg was supervising operations to restart the reactor after its annual shut down for the Christmas holiday. Also on shift that evening were Army Specialist 5 Jack Byrnes and Specialist 4 Richard McKinley.
The accident required extensive clean up, which was undertaken by a contract with General Electric, which, ironically, had just lost the Air Force nuclear plane contract after that project was cancelled. Much of the building was eventually buried as nuclear waste at the testing site, including the core, seen being removed here.
A safety poster showing the melted SL-1 was posted around the testing site to reinforce the importance of vigilance in working with nuclear reactors.
Jack Byrnes was buried in his hometown of Utica, NY
Dick Legg in his hometown of Kingston, Michigan
Richard McKinley, a Korean War veteran, was buried in a somewhat isolated location at Arlington National Cemetery, in Section 31, Grave 472.
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