Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, also known as SL-1, initially the Argonne Low Power Reactor (ALPR), was a United States Army experimental nuclear reactor in the western United States at the National Reactor Testing Station (NRTS) in Idaho about forty miles (65 km) west of Idaho Falls, now the Idaho National Laboratory.

Feb 9, 2022 · This caused SL-1 to quickly surpass full operation, setting off a chain reaction that resulted in an explosion. The blast slammed Byrnes against a concrete wall and impaled Legg against the...

Jan 20, 2019 · Around 9:10 p.m. on January 3, 1961, first responders rushed to the site of the Stationary Low-Power Nuclear Reactor Number One (or SL-1) forty miles west of Idaho Falls, Idaho after a...

Apr 2, 2021 · Byrne and Legg appear to have died instantly, McKinley seems to have survived for an hour or two before succumbing to his injuries. Although all three men died of physical trauma from the explosion, they received a dose of radiation that would have been fatal even in the absence of their injuries.

The SL-1 accident was the first fatal nuclear accident in the United States. The men killed in the incident were two Army Specialists, John Byrnes, age 25 and Richard McKinley, age 22, and Richard Legg, a 25 year old Navy Electricians Mate.

Factsheets | About INL - Idaho National Laboratory

Mar 21, 2018 · America’s only fatal reactor accident was the culmination of a costly battle between the army and navy at the dawn of the Atomic Age. John Byrnes knelt atop the U.S. Army’s SL-1 nuclear reactor, poised to pull the 84-pound central control rod straight up.

Radiation-induced damage to reactor materials was causing swelling and deformation in core materials at an increasing rate during the last month of operation. SL-1’s history of frequent control rod sticking was downplayed and ruled out as …

Sep 25, 2013 · The SL-1, or Stationary Low-Power Reactor Number One, was a United States Army experimental nuclear power reactor which underwent a steam explosion and meltdown on January 3, 1961, killing its three operators. The direct cause was the improper withdrawal of the central control rod, responsible for absorbing neutrons in the reactor core.

Apr 11, 2022 · On Jan. 3, 1961, two soldiers and a sailor died during the Stationary Low Power Reactor 1 (SL-1) accident. 61 years later, there is finally a place to honor and remember the ultimate sacrifice of Richard Legg, John Byrnes and Richard McKinley.