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Title: Idaho Falls: The Untold Story of America's First Nuclear Accident
ISBN: 1550225626
Author:
William McKeown
Publicate Date: 2003-04-01
Publish: 2003-04-01
List Price: $16.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.13
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.01
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.53
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| Customer Review: |
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1: This book is an eye opener!
The book was well researched and written. It showed another side to the "official" investigation and cleared up a lot of the mystery surrounding the explosion and deaths of the men involved. For those who have not heard of this mishap, it can definitely open the eyes as to what it took to propel us forward into the nuclear age and the limitations of human emotion. Three Mile Island was not our first mishap...obviously, this was, but more tightly controlled media and national security. It happened when I was young (though I lived nearby) and my neighbor had to respond to the site when it occurred. A very interesting and informative book.
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2: idaho falls
Was there at test site when this happened. Mostly accurate and alerts the reader to the dificulty in managing a nuclear accident. Accidents are rare but the nuclear waste problem is real challenge of all operational reactors. Probably mostly enjoyed by someone familiar with or working in nuclear field.
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3: riveting: death, sex and uranium
I read half of this while waiting for the train! The author's style is very clear and he's a good storyteller. While some of the chapters were a bit sensationalized, this book is well worth your time and money. "Idaho Falls" is more interesting than 99% of contemporary fiction out there :)
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4: Fascinating
In the interest of full disclosure I will say up front that I am not in any way connected to The Site (locals' name for the facility out on the desert now called the INEEL) I have friends who work there and friends who would love to see it shut down.That said I think McKeown does an excellent job in telling what's known about the SL-1 accident (if that's what it was) and the rumors that surrounded it. I found it an first-rate read (I read it in two days) and very informative. McKeown goes to great lengths to delineate between what can be and is known and what is rumor and supposition. He also repeatedly explains (which keeps me from giving the book a 5th star) how different attitudes were then, particulary among the personel working at and responsible for the facility. This is the excuse given and accepted by the author for the lack of disclosure at the time. There's nothing here about what changed, or more importantly, what didn't change, as a result of SL-1. Its unfortunate that the story of this incident is completely unkown by the general public. Both the heroism of those there immediately after the incident and the behavior of those in charge should be common knowledge. Reading this book goes a long way in correcting that.
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5: Important lesson from history
McKeown does a good job of pulling together the many strands of this story, giving just enough technical detail to know what went wrong, and enough (relevant) human interest to keep the story interesting.
Yes, it's true that Idaho Falls isn't exactly a brand-new 'revelation', but few outside the nuclear industry have heard about it, or know its significance. McKeown shows that the ultimate cause was a failure by the designers of the reactor to take into account Murphy's Law - if something can go wrong, it will. This is a common thread running thru nuclear incidents ranging from Windscale to Chernobyl. With some energy experts now calling for us to embrace nuclear power again in order to meet energy demand without triggering excessive global warming, McKeown's book is a very timely reminder of why and how things went wrong 50 years ago, and what we need to look out for the second time around (if nuclear power is granted one)
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