Idaho Falls

The Untold Story of America's First Nuclear Accident

De: William McKeown

Narrado por: Bob Dunsworth

When asked to name the world’s first major nuclear accident, most people cite the Three Mile Island incident or the Chernobyl disaster. Revealed in this book is one of American history’s best-kept secrets: the world’s first nuclear reactor accident to claim fatalities happened on United States soil. Chronicled here for the first time is the strange tale of SL-1, a military test reactor located in Idaho’s Lost River Desert that exploded on the night of January 3, 1961, killing the three-man maintenance crew on duty.

Through details uncovered in official documents, firsthand accounts from rescue workers and nuclear industry insiders, and exclusive interviews with the victims’ families and friends, this book probes intriguing questions about the devastating blast that have remained unanswered for more than 40 years. From reports of a faulty reactor design and mismanagement of the reactor’s facilities to rumors of incompetent personnel and a failed love affair that prompted deliberate sabotage of the plant, these plausible explanations for the explosion raise questions about whether the truth was deliberately suppressed to protect the nuclear energy industry.

©2003 William Thomas McKeown (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

A mini Chernobyl

The most interesting story that very few people are aware of. Recommended as part of the history of the nuclear industry.

Weird details

Oddly bawdy for no reason. The narrator has a monotone voice that should be doing voice overs for high school non fiction videos so people can sleep.

True Story

this is an interesting story that keeps you attention from beginning to end. There is much to be learned from it too.

Great read

This was a very well written and fascinating look at the human side of a technological tragedy. A little more analysis of the mechanics of the stream explosion itself would have been nice but I guess asking for more is a mark of a good book.

How Did I Not Know About This Incident?

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 remember that nuclear reactors do not contribute to greenhouse 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.

A Really Good, but Dreadfully Written Book

‘Idaho Falls’ sat in my wish list for about 9-months gathering digital dust, all but forgotten among other various titles. Then, while listening to ‘Atomic Awakening’ this event was detailed. That reference piqued my interest and, upon finishing that book, I purchased this. I started this book last Friday night and finished it on Sunday morning. That should give some idea of how captivating this story was. I didn’t want to stop listening, which is ironic considering my overall opinion of the book.

The Writing – In short, it was sloppy. It lacked important scientific background information and details for some of the topics discussed. Because of that and the fact that the author was not clear and consistent with his use of descriptive words a reader who knows nothing about nuclear power or the physics behind it may have trouble following the content. Or, worse yet, if the reader harbors fear or bias about nuclear science this book will likely terrify them and make them feel as though all irrational fears have been confirmed. This is a significant problem because correct application of technical jargon is important for proper context and correct understanding of topics like this.

The Not So Good – The author wrote the following; “…others thought a sudden rod withdrawal would take the reactor critical destroying the reactor core.” Now, this isn’t ‘technically’ incorrect, it’s just an incomplete explanation even in context and is very misleading to any layperson and it’s frustrating to anyone who understands this subject. He, like so many, makes it sound as though “criticality” is a bad thing when, in fact, it’s a normal function of controlled nuclear fission. Further, some of his analogies were callus in presentation such as when he referred to the three victims of this event becoming “nuclear pioneers” because they were the first people to be killed by this type of incident or when he described retrieving the body of the third victim as a ‘rescue’ when it was clearly a recovery. Minor points? Maybe, but when I say aloud; “wow, that’s a bad way to describe things” I need to put it in my review.

The Bad – The deadly incident at the SL-1 reactor would properly be described as a ‘criticality accident’ and/or ‘power excursion’ in the reactor core resulting in over pressurization and explosion of the containment vessel. Granted, there’re several ways to accurately describe it, but the author was not consistent in his use of terminology when referring to this event calling it a blast, a nuclear catastrophe, an atomic incident, an excursion, and an explosion. That makes it hard for a layperson to stay on track with the events. Worse yet, he used grossly inaccurate terminology at least twice when referring to this event; once calling it a nuclear explosion, and later a nuclear blast! These two descriptions are so misleading, if not outright biased, as to make my head spin. The use of these two descriptions in this context for this event was sloppy writing and research at best and outright anti-nuclear bias at worst and it calls into question the author’s qualifications on this subject matter and/or the accuracy of other information in the book.

Narration – Bob Dunsworth’s narration wasn’t ‘bad’ it’s just very inconsistent. I didn’t take issue with the way he pronounced ‘nuclear’, as some did, but I did notice that he changed the way he pronounced it from time-to-time as well as how he pronounced ‘Roentgen’. It was as if he was practicing different ways to pronounce words while he was recording the book? Certain words were simply not pronounced clearly; ‘but’ sounded like ‘bought’, ‘rod’ sounded like ‘rawhd’, and ‘deaths’ sounded like ‘deafs’. When saying the reactor name, SL-1, it sounded like he was saying ‘SO-1’. Taken individually, these are minor points, but cumulatively it makes me not want to listen to his narration again.

The Editing – Including the information heretofore stated the editing was just bad. On at least one occasion, which I listened to three times to be sure I heard it correctly, the narrator said “nuclear erector” when it should have been “reactor”. I lay this on the writer and/or editor, not the narrator. It’s another sloppy and avoidable mistake.

The Feel - The feeling this book gave me was that of a mystery novel and it evoked that nostalgic and eerie, yet very entertaining, feeling I would get watching those 1950’s Sci-Fi films. Both of these factors, coupled with the importance of this particular event, made this a very engaging book. If this book were fiction, rather than a real-life tragedy, my rating would be five stars overall.

Summation – This book presented a conundrum for me in writing this review. While I take some significant umbrage to the book’s writing style, the editing and the narration I still thoroughly enjoyed the telling of the story and I did learn some things. I made 10 bookmarks with notes for later reference as well. All things considered with my aforementioned frustrations I can still recommend this book because it was a good story telling and it kept me captivated and wanting more of it. I recommend this book if for no other reason then the ‘feel’ it gives and the pure entertainment value it affords. If you’re a Sci-Fi fan I think you’ll love this book. I don’t want to be flippant about the true nature of this tragic event, but this book somehow worked for me in all the wrong ways.

not great, but not terrible

didn't like the narrator. the story itself wasn't boring, but not as interesting as it l had hoped.

Great read

Working in the nuclear power industry, we've been trained many times on the science behind this event. This book provides an account of the individuals, their background, and the results of the accident. Be aware that this book contains a very detailed description of the damage and destruction caused by the accident to the three individuals located inside.

Industrial Disaster Told as a Mystery Movie

This account of the SL-1 accident includes human elements I had never heard before, and its explicit narrative of the exact moment of the accident will remain in my memory for quite some time.
My shallow criticism: in some cases creative language (e.g., "agitated neutrons," "lasso the atom") actually detracted from certain parts of a story that could have been told with plain descriptive terms or even basic technical language.
I highly recommend this story to any person with existing notions of the SL-1 accident, or to any person with an interest in industrial emergency planning.

Junior high pronunciation, good story.

This narrator just detracts from the story, his pronunciation is junior high or below. Some words are so bad it requires thought to figure out what was meant!
The story is good.