Blasted test fuel with center melt

During summer 1959, July 12, 1959, GETR had a wild time with blastout of a leaking oxide fuel element that had center melting.
HERE IT IS, CLICK TO ENLARGE

Here is the Incident Report of that wild time! It sounds less exciting than it was. An understatement from page 3 of this report, "2. It appears that the reactor scram aggravated the leak from the fuel element in the PWL."


I'll report more later. I have a copy of the pertinent parts of the log . Things were somewhat settled down by the graveyard shift on July 16, 1959. Paul Larson, the shift supervisor reported, "Carried a bottle of hydrogen to the third floor. Sure hope that elevator gets fixed today."