America's Forgotten Atomic Town

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  • Опубліковано 21 лис 2024

КОМЕНТАРІ • 469

  • @IMPERIALYT
    @IMPERIALYT  Рік тому +70

    Go to ground.news/imperial to stay fully informed on breaking news, compare coverage and avoid media bias. Try it out or subscribe through my link for 30% OFF the Vantage plan if you support the mission and find it as useful as I do.

    • @IMPERIALYT
      @IMPERIALYT  Рік тому +14

      Please also find the script and sources in the description - don't hesitate to use this comment to point out any inaccuracies and I'll be happy to add them to the document.

    • @BaderAlsh
      @BaderAlsh Рік тому

      Can you make a music list? I really like your music but I can't find them@@IMPERIALYT

    • @NickIggler1969
      @NickIggler1969 Рік тому +2

      ​@@IMPERIALYTI love you and I'm gay

    • @xarin42
      @xarin42 Рік тому +1

      Kinda hard to forget the place when I live quite close to it (Not gonna say exactly where on the internet for obvious reasons). Though I can't deny that it is currently a mostly unimportant place now and is defintely still in the middle of nowhere.
      For the few people who are curious it's probably just as common to call it IF (pronounced ai-eff, aka just saying to letters in the accronym) as it is to call it Idaho Falls properly. Though it obviously varies between buisness and private settings.

    • @ElementWolfe01
      @ElementWolfe01 11 місяців тому +3

      Really picky detail here but I thought I’d point it out anyway, at 6:05, the symbol used is a Biohazardous Materials symbol, and not a Nuclear Materials symbol. Such an interesting video and I’ve really enjoyed binging your content 😊

  • @No_Feelings
    @No_Feelings Рік тому +332

    I love how you really put into perspective the sheer horror of the situation those firefighters walked into. Many people focus on the atftermath, or the reactor itself, but not the men who are the only ones who know what truly happened.

    • @hallquiche
      @hallquiche Рік тому +6

      Reminded me of the Chernobyl HBO-show. That really captured the horror of being first on the scene in such an accident.

    • @mygetawayart
      @mygetawayart 10 місяців тому +2

      ​@@hallquiche I've been meaning to watch that show for a while and your comment finally convinced me

    • @hallquiche
      @hallquiche 10 місяців тому

      @@mygetawayart do it. It’s incredible!

    • @OutbackCatgirl
      @OutbackCatgirl 5 місяців тому +3

      ​@@hallquichethe chernobyl hbo show cherry picks and fabricates a lot of details to make drama. It is needlessly biased in multiple different senses of the phrase, and only partially justified in places. It's not very accurate except in the broad strokes.

    • @Geoplanetjane
      @Geoplanetjane 3 місяці тому

      @@OutbackCatgirlhow?

  • @dante3546
    @dante3546 Рік тому +374

    Never thought I'd hear "ASS-KISSING" and "VERY SHIT" spoken seriously in a Imprial video.

    • @BlaireSnorlax
      @BlaireSnorlax 3 місяці тому +2

      I know I'm where I belong thanks to this comment lmao

    • @floycewhite6991
      @floycewhite6991 2 місяці тому +1

      Probably literally, as in "the pretty women of Idaho Falls" paid to service him.

  • @kevting4512
    @kevting4512 Рік тому +324

    Speaking of Atomic Town, I highly recommend 'Plutopia' by Kate Brown. A comparative study on two atomic cities: Richland, WA and Ozerk, Russia; both the world's first cities to exclusively produced plutonium. Yet the development and housing of the inhabitant are different based on 'permanent housing' and 'temporary workers' despite sharing equal access to the comfort of consumer goods. Its a fascinating look at both Cold War adversaries approach to their vision of the ideal community while concealing the truth of its purpose.

    • @jalako8592
      @jalako8592 Рік тому +24

      Are you crazy? Recommending BOOKS? Books to people whose attention span is the worst it has probably ever been in the existence of humans?
      I am obviously kidding though. Thanks for the recommendation, sounds really good, especially when you are interrested in this kind of topic. Honestly, if I could read, I would probably buy it.

    • @RyanLynch1
      @RyanLynch1 Рік тому +1

      it's free with an audible subscription!

    • @Dr-Weird
      @Dr-Weird Рік тому +4

      ​@@jalako8592 HOW DARE THIS PERSON RECOMMEND BOOKS.
      Lol I'm telling Big Brother to get the 'Firemen' before I go see The Giver

    • @Konusu
      @Konusu 11 місяців тому +5

      Being from richland wa, it's interesting to compare the looks of Richland, WA to other towns that had developed around the same time.

    • @Miguel_El_Chileno
      @Miguel_El_Chileno 3 місяці тому

      Ozersk outside Chelyabinsk, Russia

  • @eugenenalpin6058
    @eugenenalpin6058 Рік тому +306

    Wow. I've heard the tale of SL-1 many times before, but noone else has touched upon the politics and competition that took place before the disaster. Amazing job mate!
    P.S. The reason why SL-1 was designed to be controlled by only one control rod is because it was an experiment by the US military into field-deployable nuclear power source, so they were trying to make it as cheap and simple as possible, which is certainly in-character for any military

    • @cdservices4753
      @cdservices4753 10 місяців тому +10

      having been stationed at the Navy's prototype training site not all that far from SL-1, it was always a source of fascination. There were actually 9 control rods in the SL-1 design, 5 of which were described as "cruciform control rods." SL-1 was not truly an "experiment." It was more of a prototype for the Army's nuclear power program--similar to the way the Navy had determined that training personnel for nuclear plant operations was so important, no one could be certified for submarine (or surface ship) operation until they made it through a 6 month classroom training course and THEN actually "qualified" at a prototype site. There were a series of Army "portable" reactors actually deployed in the 1960s, but to my knowledge only the SL-1 site in Idaho and the first Army reactor in Fort Belvoir, Virginia were training prototypes. These reactors ended up on a mountain in Wyoming (Sundance), an army base in Alaska, "Camp Century" in Greenland, McMurdo Station in Antarctica, and on an old Liberty ship at the Panama Canal.
      The US Military is now considering getting back into this with the next generation of micro reactors. We'll see!

    • @bilgesu71
      @bilgesu71 2 місяці тому

      ​@@cdservices4753​Was it true that, personale knew how removing that one rod would end in this and sometimes joked about how they would remove it like a suicide mission if the Russians ever attacked? (I read that somewhere I don't remember) (also, thank you very much for the info, I did not know this design/something like it was actually used)

  • @matthewgaines10
    @matthewgaines10 10 місяців тому +37

    The social issues of the operators were played up to distract from the fact that the SL-1 design and operations were substandard. They wanted to deflect blame on the operators instead of the design of the reactor. The reactor design was flawed which resulted in flawed operational methods. There, 100% of the blame resides when one uses a root cause failure analysis approach.

    • @misham6547
      @misham6547 3 місяці тому +3

      Well at least this time they built a containment building before the accident

    • @imfknradio9978
      @imfknradio9978 3 місяці тому +3

      @@misham6547the difference between capitalism vs communism. Sure an argument can be made it was done cheaply under capitalism, under communism, it wouldnt of happened at all. And it didnt as history shows

  • @epeterd
    @epeterd Рік тому +41

    I find the accident explanation to be far more plausible than the "I'm gonna kill us all" explanation. Just because they were assholes doesn't mean they'd be crazy enough to set off a nuclear accident.

  • @fantasticbrit3515
    @fantasticbrit3515 11 місяців тому +58

    As an kid living just ten miles from Idaho Falls, I'm honestly surprised I've never heard this story as much of my family works at the site. Very good work!

    • @djlopez7976
      @djlopez7976 9 місяців тому +5

      I’m a kid living in Idaho falls. hi

    • @KPrendo
      @KPrendo 9 місяців тому +2

      what is it like

    • @IdaholifeV
      @IdaholifeV 3 місяці тому +1

      ​@@KPrendoI love Idaho Falls. Been living here for 8 years, and will probably spend the rest of my life here👍

    • @RussetPotato
      @RussetPotato 3 місяці тому +1

      Your family is not supposed to share stories from the site off site. Being a nuclear potato myself I learn more through video historians than local shares. Well other than the drunken table talk that comes with all the plausible deniability of did the Sun Valley billionaire class really hire local indigenous performers to play "cowboys and Indians" with their kids in a mock western set made by local contactors or ..... I dunno I hope some future video sets the record correctly. I heard it at a local bar circa 2019

    • @english-tudor
      @english-tudor 3 місяці тому +2

      ​@@RussetPotato i mean op didnt say anything about their family saying anything lol? The nuclear site employees like 15% of the town so it's hard not to hear abt jt

  • @nathangoshawk
    @nathangoshawk Рік тому +48

    This story sounds like the screenplay of a 1950's movie (black and white of course). Parties, beautiful women, personal animosity, unstable characters and some poor bugger pinned to the ceiling! It's amazing how cavalier the attitude was to safety back then, even in the development of peaceful applications.

  • @Takara-nb9rw
    @Takara-nb9rw 10 місяців тому +15

    I have grown up in Idaho Falls and still live and go to school here! A ton of people work at the site but I never really knew the history behind it. Thank you for some insight into this little city!

  • @Congp3
    @Congp3 Рік тому +199

    It’s a real shame you don’t get more recognition for your work on these videos. I would say your up there with Lemmino in the quality of your videos.

    • @Smauritsius
      @Smauritsius Рік тому +14

      And he uploads more often than Lemmino ;)

    • @rileygladue3979
      @rileygladue3979 Рік тому +18

      honestly I'd say the more frequent upload schedule, easier digestibility of his scripts and length makes him better than Lemmino

    • @rahil6455
      @rahil6455 Рік тому +6

      Surely there is a case that he copys lemino. This video style is eerily similar to the JFK one that Lemino just made, especially with all the narration of witnesses

    • @lonesome3958
      @lonesome3958 Рік тому +11

      Imo they are very different. This videoncan be watched casually, whilst still being interesting. But Lemminos Videos are more like movies that pull you in, and you cant just watch them anywhere. Both great in their own right

    • @mason96575
      @mason96575 Рік тому +1

      Did you mean "you're up there" instead of "your up there" ? Or am I missing something?

  • @weirdgurl288
    @weirdgurl288 Рік тому +87

    Fun fact Idaho falls has a garden dedicated to it's sister city, Tokai Mura in Japan, Tokai Mura is known as the nuclear capital of Japan, and the most irradiated human in history Hisashi Ouchi.

    • @Mutierende_Kobra
      @Mutierende_Kobra 3 місяці тому +1

      Peabody is more Radiated as far as I know, he had like 100 sieverts. Mr Slav made a good Video about it

    • @zubenelgenubi
      @zubenelgenubi 3 місяці тому +7

      Surely sounds sinister, but as a professional who worked there and lived in I.F. for 45 years, I.F. also sits in a garden spot of the world! Premier fly-fishing, multiple rivers of pure water, reservoirs galore, and mountain scenery in EVERY direction!! I.F. is a business city, a recreation city and beautiful place which just happens to be most convenient to the desert area where nuclear research took place!

    • @floycewhite6991
      @floycewhite6991 2 місяці тому

      ​@@zubenelgenubiI hear the same about Yakima, but no way I'm going within a thousand miles of the Hanford Site.

    • @djlopez7976
      @djlopez7976 2 місяці тому +1

      It’s called friendship garden to honor Japan I know it because I drive next to it to get to school.

    • @PatrickBaptist
      @PatrickBaptist 2 місяці тому

      @@djlopez7976 There is no honor in the paganism of japan.... Same with murika too though. Both very shameful countries, I am sorry for what my proud fellow countrymen have done to your nation and people, they are disgusting the people that are so proud of bombing japan, not all of us are statist nazis in america, some of us mourn over what was done to other lands in the lie of the american peoples freedom, america is a very imperialist nation, not all of us support that mindset, some of us hate our own useless military and it's works of blood shed. Japan isn't really much different though as with most other nations.

  • @PhilEdwardsInc
    @PhilEdwardsInc Рік тому +36

    ashamed to say i'd never heard of this but glad i have now! fascinating!

  • @nickfromidaho
    @nickfromidaho Рік тому +29

    Never would have thought imperial would drop a video about my home town 😅

  • @christycullen2355
    @christycullen2355 Рік тому +19

    Crazy how cavalier people had around nuclear power back then. If you want an indepth video about the actual reactor then watch Plainly Difficult. His breakdown of it is really good

  • @spectacles-dm
    @spectacles-dm Рік тому +84

    Legendary work, as always. A super intriguing mystery well-told.

  • @hb-mek
    @hb-mek Рік тому +25

    Great video, Its always great to learn about the early days of nuclear and how many things have changed since then.
    Another thing that I was suprised wasnt touched on was how common untrained operators were in those days. Back when the AEC was buying up farm land they were struggling to find qualified and trained individuals that were willing to move out to south-eastern Idaho, as a result a lot of the farmers sons were offered high paying and pretty important jobs and a large portion of them were trained as reactor operators even though they never had any university training and a lot of them had little to no schooling. A large section of the workforce back then was really underqualified to be operating such devices so its suprising that this was the only disaster that happened out there and it was relatively tame.
    Also theory #2 is almost certainly the most likely cause, they were withdrawing the control rod to attach it to a new automatic control system, but as stated in the video with 300 pulls only 250 of them occured without any sticking, over 50+ times the control rod stuck in the reactor when it was attempting to be withdrawn and considering this was done in the dead of winter most people are confident it was simply him yanking the control rod too hard. Ofcourse that doesnt really get the media going as much so most of the reporting was done taking the personality conflict angle rather than the more likely scenario of it being a design flaw. A design flaw like that in such a critical component nowadays would be unheard of (I hope)

  • @vex3825
    @vex3825 Рік тому +9

    Its interesting learning about this after working on a job in Idaho Falls this week. I've driven past the facility a couple of times to various jobsites across Idaho and Montana. I believe they will be updating their facility after the massive success of the Livermore National Laboratory, who created a nuclear reaction that achieved "Net Energy" which means they created more energy than they used to initiate it. Fingers crossed I can work on that project and learn more about this little bit of history. Great work on this video! Definitely going to be subscribing so I can tune in on my longer drives.

  • @KoleWilliams
    @KoleWilliams Рік тому +8

    I grew up in Idaho Falls & never knew about this disaster until now, what a story!

  • @JohnTaylor-xg4jn
    @JohnTaylor-xg4jn Рік тому +8

    I worked at the INL for 10 years. It's really cool to see the story get told in this format on UA-cam!

    • @_c_y_p_3
      @_c_y_p_3 9 місяців тому

      My Grandpa died mysteriously around age 40 after working at the experimental test reactor but my family never put it together he could be exposed to anything that would sshorten his life like that, not in USA#1!

  • @ladysnark3396
    @ladysnark3396 3 місяці тому +1

    Idaho Falls! My great uncle worked at the laboratory. He and his family lived there for a while, but they moved before the accident occurred. His wife, my aunt Betty Joy, was incredibly sensitive to the radiation - when I asked my mom what cancers did my great aunt have, she laughed and said, “What cancers *didn’t* she have?” I remember Aunt Betty Joy as a fragile old lady that resembled a bird. But she was a tough old bird, and she lived to 89.

  • @richane22
    @richane22 Рік тому +4

    Very interesting. I am originally from Pocatello, with family in Idaho Falls and was completely unaware of this history.

  • @standdownrobots_ihaveoldglory
    @standdownrobots_ihaveoldglory 10 місяців тому +9

    Fascinating! My parents lived there in the 60s & then went to Hawthorne NV, where the AFB was doing secret pane tests. They were just trying to find a nice quiet town lol. I am fascinated by IdahoFalls, as it seems to have way more going on than is normal for a 20k town. Internet celebs, internet scammers, murder, millionaire secret santa, cultists, major MLMs, and a huge Mormon population that absolutely does not explain this particular oddness. But they certainly do have a backstory, maybe that's the root lol...

    • @abiku2923
      @abiku2923 3 місяці тому

      What is the millionaire secret santa? Ive never heard of that one

    • @CineMiamParis
      @CineMiamParis 2 місяці тому

      Goodbye channel binge, hello wiki. I need to know more, this has all the signs of a fantastic film/book/podcast. And I love the image of your parents, innocent bystanders, moving from one disaster to the next. Favorite UA-cam comment of 2024.

  • @Linuxabuser888
    @Linuxabuser888 Рік тому +11

    Dude I've been to Idaho Falls, its honestly so beautiful. The canyon is awesome and stretches for miles and its all around pretty cool.

    • @jasonheckenlively1172
      @jasonheckenlively1172 Рік тому +8

      There are no canyons in idaho falls. You are probably confusing it with twin falls.

    • @devinosland359
      @devinosland359 Рік тому +3

      Or the valley of pocatello, Idaho falls is kinda boring to be honest, not really any notable land structures around, it is a very wide open plain

    • @WallabytheThumper
      @WallabytheThumper Рік тому

      @@devinosland359it’s what you make it

  • @Bonserak23
    @Bonserak23 Рік тому +4

    Drove through that area in Idaho, it's pretty eerie, it's like a weird small desert hwy that a Deth claw would come running out of. Plus there was a dust storm happening when we were going through.

  • @njunderground82
    @njunderground82 10 місяців тому +4

    That is an interesting area. I checked it out a little when I was up in Yellowstone and Craters of the Moon last year. There's a small rest stop on one of the roads passing through the site that has some interesting history boards about the testing and the original reactor.

  • @YoutubeAccount-150
    @YoutubeAccount-150 Рік тому +23

    Woah imperial dropped a video

    • @catman404
      @catman404 Рік тому +1

      It’s not every month

  • @BradFalck-mn3pc
    @BradFalck-mn3pc Рік тому +2

    As a line haul driver who used Interstate 15 From Canada to San Diego, Los Angeles and Yuma i have bad memories of the winter slog from Lima MT to Idaho Falls in the winter in the middle of the night, it was Always comforting to see Idaho Falls coming into view as a safe haven for rest and fuel

    • @_c_y_p_3
      @_c_y_p_3 9 місяців тому

      I almost died hitting a landslide up on Lolo pass in the middle of a storm I absolutely respect you truckers driving out there except when the trucks were filled with TNT headed to the mines and driving like they were on speed or something 🤯

  • @LoppyZ.
    @LoppyZ. 10 місяців тому +3

    I live in this town and the first town to actually get powered my nuclear energy by the SL-1. Arco, Idaho. Midway point from challis and Idaho falls, or Boise to Idaho falls

  • @A_Clark
    @A_Clark Рік тому +17

    I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest to you the story of the McCluskey Room, which is the forever sealed-off Americium Reclamation facility attached to the plutonium finishing plant at the Hanford site in Washington State. A horrifying event with a bittersweet ending.

  • @mfri
    @mfri Рік тому +5

    drove through idaho falls last january while driving from bozeman montana to salt lake city utah, definitely one of the places of all time

  • @Jimifan57
    @Jimifan57 Рік тому +2

    I lived there as a Navy man back in the '70s and worked on the S5G-3 experimental reactor. Loved the town, but hated the job.

  • @Giply_
    @Giply_ 9 місяців тому

    My grandfather who passed away from liver cancer in 2005 was a navy guard for this experiment! It’s super cool learning about it and I always wish I could ask him about it

  • @devinosland359
    @devinosland359 Рік тому +14

    My dad has worked at INL (what this site is now called) for like 20 years now, he trained in one of the reactors there that is sadly being torn down in the coming years. I've been to multiple family days up there and it is really a cool place.
    They do a decent amount of other stuff there aswell as training navy men on the reactors that will be put intk the aircraft carriers and subs that they will be serving on. The reactors ate meant to mimick what it will be like on the ship so the building is built to be a replica of the ship with pipes and large pieces of what would be the enigine going through the room and conplete with bulkhead doors that you have to duck through and everything.

    • @grantruyle1995
      @grantruyle1995 Рік тому

      My grandfather worked their for like 30 years and my dad was stationed there for the naval nuclear school, that’s where he met my mom

    • @albaneincowboy183
      @albaneincowboy183 Рік тому

      My wife's grandpa and uncle both worked there as well.

    • @t0irc114
      @t0irc114 Рік тому +1

      Do you remember which reactor it was? f it was EBR-2 than its going to be replaced with a new one, so its not a complete loss!

    • @adamdetweiler5269
      @adamdetweiler5269 Рік тому

      @@t0irc114EBR-II’s done is being repurposed, yes.

  • @natenate3292
    @natenate3292 Рік тому +3

    Earned a new a sub! I live in this area of Idaho/Montana and I learned so much from this video that I didn’t know. Top tier production too. Well done!

  • @Moto_Medics
    @Moto_Medics Рік тому +3

    I live in the state and most of this I’ve never heard of. Nice work man

  • @FT__Cool_Stuff______-of5pi
    @FT__Cool_Stuff______-of5pi 11 місяців тому +2

    I rode my motorcycle through Idaho, right through that area. It is still SUPER barren. They chose the right place.

  • @brettcoles6462
    @brettcoles6462 Рік тому +2

    I grew up in the Idaho Falls area, and I never learned about SL-1 until later.
    I also never knew about the competition for being the headquarters of the site. That was very interesting!

  • @jennywight9119
    @jennywight9119 Рік тому +3

    I grew up in Pocatello and still live in Idaho. I was definitely aware of the INEL, but I never knew what actually happened there! Great video, nice to see my humble little state get some attention 😊

  • @jariprodofficial
    @jariprodofficial Рік тому +3

    You are still way underrated, ill keep sharing until you make it, the content is incredibly polished! 👍

  • @aaronring4704
    @aaronring4704 Рік тому +3

    When I went through the Navy’s nuclear training program, the “best” prototype stories came from guys (I was in one of the last classes to go through before women were admitted into the program) who had gone through Idaho Falls!

    • @MCLuviin
      @MCLuviin Рік тому

      Any you may share?

  • @BlueVolt42
    @BlueVolt42 4 місяці тому

    I have lived in Idaho Falls my entire life and I never thought I would see a break down of the history of the city and INL from a high quality video, thank you!

  • @BiggusWeeabus
    @BiggusWeeabus 11 місяців тому +3

    Tbh, considering this reactor design I'm honestly surprised the damage was not worse

  • @Humandriver5280
    @Humandriver5280 11 місяців тому

    Check out Rocky Flats in Arvada, Colorado. It was a plutonium trigger plant. The cleanup was a joke. Furthermore, the surrounding area was never cleaned.

  • @colombiananarchy
    @colombiananarchy 10 місяців тому

    I went to college in Rexburg, just 30 minutes away from Idaho Falls. I did not know this and this is so fascinating to learn.

  • @MBSzCat
    @MBSzCat Рік тому +1

    I grew up in Idaho falls but moved while still a kid, I NEVER knew this!!!! My parents literally worked at the site haha. Fascinating man, thank you! New sub here!

  • @cdservices4753
    @cdservices4753 10 місяців тому

    I was stationed at INL (once NRTS, once INEL, and I think once INEEL) with the Navy at one of the prototypes out there when the story of SL-1 was still a mainstay of bar room conversations. And congratulations on getting all of the technical details right, as well as many of the theories as to how this happened!
    But I also have to congratulate you on somehow finding all of this detail on the initial siting of NRTS and how Idaho Falls was selected to be the administrative headquarters. We were always told that it was all Hyman Rickover, who supposedly pushed all of the initial siting based upon what he needed for the USS Nautilus prototype. All of your info on the Navy's gunnery testing site is correct . . . . and many of the buildings where the Navy either built or refurbished 16" gun barrels for the WWII battleships were still standing in Pocatello where I lived. We were told that what became NRTS met Rickover's specific recommendations for distance to the nearest population centers and that the geography was favorable to "trapping" atmospheric contamination in that area in the event of an accident. That could very well have been true, as we would get airborne radiation alarms consistently during temperature inversions at the site.
    But your detailed descriptions of the government machinations behind the Idaho siting sounds far more realistic. Good job!

  • @SidJones-fz7uc
    @SidJones-fz7uc Рік тому +2

    I live in Idaho falls but never knew the history here thanks for the video

  • @captaincole4511
    @captaincole4511 Рік тому +11

    This channel is the definition of quality. I honestly cannot believe how underrated your videos are.

  • @MostlyPonies1
    @MostlyPonies1 8 місяців тому

    One minute of the editing and presentation put into this is more than most UA-cam videos.

  • @MintyPuggo
    @MintyPuggo Рік тому

    Oh wow! I’ve read stuff about SL-1, but somehow totally forgot where it happened. The backstory on the selection process was very intriguing. Keep up the good work!

  • @cbp1357
    @cbp1357 4 місяці тому

    Your videos are incredible! I just now am discovering your page. Your production value and work is incredible!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

  • @superman60201
    @superman60201 Рік тому +1

    All my friends dads worked for EG&G in Idaho Falls. It was easy to tell who worked at the sites vs. the townies.
    An interesting thing was I used to deliver newspapers for the Post Register when I was a kid, I would see the Navy servicemen waiting for their transport to the reactor sites for training each morning. All piled into a big charter bus each day.

    • @joinjen3854
      @joinjen3854 9 місяців тому

      What were the differences between the site workers vs " the townies"?

    • @superman60201
      @superman60201 9 місяців тому

      @@joinjen3854 at that time in the 80s you could tell by the nicer cars, houses on the other side of town, and that they had early early shifts. I lived by the Temple and that area only had a few INL engineers but you could tell.

  • @jamest2401
    @jamest2401 Рік тому +5

    I loved your little wordplay on “nuclear families”. That was a nice touch.
    By the way, I really hope your channel takes off! Your content is truly top notch, and I love your narration. I’m an American, but am somewhat of an Anglophile, and I’ve always been drawn to British produced documentaries. People like David Starkey, Lucy Worsley, Suzannah Lipscomb, etc. And thanks to UA-cam, I’ve been introduced to 'Time Team'; a show which ran for 20 years and we neither hide nor hair of it here in the States. I guess they thought we were a bunch of rubes and wouldn’t be interested in our own history.😉😆

  • @jimmyhooper9280
    @jimmyhooper9280 11 місяців тому

    I graduated from the A1W prototype class in 1974. Though a Navy base SL1 was an Army project.

  • @Interweblurker
    @Interweblurker Рік тому +4

    "John the control rod is stuck"
    "Thats what she said"
    "Thats not funny help me get it out-"
    *MELTDOWN*

  • @afrozen10-02
    @afrozen10-02 Рік тому +1

    Had to look it up and yeah it’s SL-1. Ho’boy. Kyle Harris has a great video on the actual reactor failure if anyone is curious.

  • @SleepyLabrador-dp6em
    @SleepyLabrador-dp6em 10 місяців тому +4

    I love how back then every time the military would mess up theyd blame the victim and say hes gay. Same thing happened when the gun exploded on a us destroyer.

  • @MD-zm6sn
    @MD-zm6sn Рік тому

    Dude this video is really really good. You'll be the real deal with this quality.

  • @thenorthernphilosopher
    @thenorthernphilosopher Рік тому +1

    IMPERIAL is a top 1 visual narrator on the platform right now.

  • @VIEW5551
    @VIEW5551 Рік тому +8

    Im from Arco and I heard this story alot as a kid, I was literally just telling my inlaws (they're from Poky) they never heard of this story. Then this awesome channel and just as great video get recommended to me! Cant wait to show this to them to fill in the holes from what I could remember.
    A few bits of info that may clear up things from other comments:
    Arco may have lost the bid for the HQ but was the first as we say "city" lit by atomic power (for 15 minutes)
    The site has gone by many names and you can age people by what they call it but it went from INEEL>INEL>INL
    No the area was not desolated after this event. The site employees many people under even more contractors.
    A pastime of Arco schoolchildren is leaving offerings to the local irradiated cryptids, in hope that they will visit justice upon the Idaho Falls chamber of commerce, in retribution for robbing their future of growing up in a prosperous Arco!
    Also check out the beautiful scenery at the Craters of the Moon!

  • @SIRZCURSE
    @SIRZCURSE Рік тому +1

    It's ridiculous that this channel doesn't have at least 2 million subscribers

  • @anguswong2138
    @anguswong2138 Рік тому +4

    24:22 I was not expecting you to describe it like this LMAO

  • @BlitzkriegHD
    @BlitzkriegHD Рік тому +5

    11:33 “Pocatello parties often excluded women…”
    Particularly hilarious that a potential factor to the choice of locale for a new atomic energy testing grounds could’ve been based off of which district was able to “bring the hoes”, so to speak. Science is an art.

    • @alexroselle
      @alexroselle 4 місяці тому

      I mean you probably saw Oppenheimer. Scientists have needs too!

  • @darthtrucker489
    @darthtrucker489 Рік тому +5

    Both a gripping and illuminating tale. Thanks for compiling and posting. Great content channel.

  • @ethanstout8226
    @ethanstout8226 Рік тому +2

    I grew up 30 minutes north of IF. Lol in Idaho state history they taught us that Arco was the first atomic powered city. I had no idea IF had anything to do with the INEEL. For reference I've been to Arco twice, I've spent hundreds od days in IF.

    • @IMPERIALYT
      @IMPERIALYT  Рік тому +4

      Arco was the first to be powered by the site - but Idaho Falls was the headquarters of the facility. That’s what I meant by it being the “first atomic town”. But perhaps poor wording on my part

  • @Madds5150
    @Madds5150 11 місяців тому

    The INL! I've done work there before, very neat place! So is EBR-1 across the highway from it. ARCO was actually the first place ever powered by nuclear power 😀

  • @Madds5150
    @Madds5150 2 місяці тому

    I've been there and the INL! Nice little town with lovely people! My chaperone for the INL took me to where the accident took place and I got to see the big blocks with the warning signs for radiation etc. Very neat place, the round top hangar there was where the "nuclear bomber" project was planned, they also train nuclear propulsion techs for the Navy submarine fleet there.

  • @CharlieTheAstronaut
    @CharlieTheAstronaut 10 місяців тому +2

    6:51 21:26 23:47 I swear a scientist dies everytime someone says "NUKELAR" or "NUKULAR"

  • @Thomasj27
    @Thomasj27 Рік тому +1

    Thank you for covering my home town. For anyone interested, there is a museum outside of Idaho Falls that showcases a nuclear airplane engine.
    Fallout potatoe edition lol!

  • @0therun1t21
    @0therun1t21 2 місяці тому

    I've heard this case before but not the personal issues between the workers. I thought it was just a slight miscalculation but there seems to be more to the story. Thanks, great video!

  • @mumblety
    @mumblety Рік тому +2

    Whenever I drive by the site I get a sense of wonder. Not only because of the reactors there, but all the top secret military activities that happened there. I've also seen some weiiirrrd stuff out there while hiking. I can help but wonder if it's somehow related to the site. Btw if you go by Arco be sure to stop by Pickle's Place.

    • @t0irc114
      @t0irc114 Рік тому +1

      Ive been to the pickle! Its literally the most american restaurant ever inside, i assume that you've seen the 666 submarine and the number hill too?

  • @whoawhoapop1984
    @whoawhoapop1984 9 місяців тому

    That ambulance is at our local fire department here in blackfoot. I have a UA-cam video of it driving in our state fair parade.

  • @OfTheDuck1
    @OfTheDuck1 9 місяців тому +1

    Hey, I'm the grandson of one of the nuclear submarines' researchers' grandson. (what a mouthful) Just wanted to say that this is a cool video. Fun fact, I got one of those nuclear paint watch, (That is broken) from him. It is a really cool piece of history and, this video was really eye opining for what I didn't know.

  • @Diptera_Larvae
    @Diptera_Larvae Рік тому +1

    It’s a great day when Imperial drops a video!

  • @leemartin366
    @leemartin366 Рік тому +1

    There was no redundancy in protocol to prevent this incident. This is why we have redundancy. This is also why we don’t just choose an average person for the job. We try to instill safety in order to acquire somebody who trusts the system fact that there wasn’t any trust in the system so you had to hire somebody who didn’t really care.

  • @RoninClips333
    @RoninClips333 11 місяців тому

    Man if you make these videos 15-20 minutes longer. You will have 1M subs by next December. No doubt. Keep it up! Amazing work!

  • @hordesCoffee
    @hordesCoffee 3 місяці тому

    I've heard many stories on this topic. All told completely different. Accept for 2 which suggest the same outcome that you mentioned of the rod being to hard to remove

  • @jedpeeler4199
    @jedpeeler4199 8 місяців тому

    I travelled through the Atomic City area in the 1970s and 1980. I never saw so many dead jackrabbits in my life! The road was carpeted for miles with their bodies and fur.

  • @tkirkwood3366
    @tkirkwood3366 Рік тому

    I had no idea that this took place! Thanks.

  • @edbrook7088
    @edbrook7088 6 днів тому

    If anyone wants to know more about the SL-1 accident, there’s a channel called Kyle Hill that has a video on it that goes much more into the physics of the accident.

  • @Nhankindredmain
    @Nhankindredmain 11 місяців тому

    HOW DO YOU ONLY HAVE 141K SUBS, U DESERVE WAYYY MOREEEEEE

  • @marenjeworowski9859
    @marenjeworowski9859 Рік тому +1

    This video was brilliant. So well made! 👍

  • @Shipwright1918
    @Shipwright1918 10 місяців тому +1

    Slight error, the interchange was a part of the Union Pacific, not "Pacific Union". That would be like calling BR "Rail British".

  • @hordesCoffee
    @hordesCoffee 3 місяці тому

    The reason and I believe what happened is the second thing you mentioned about leggs removing the rod. However, that is a serious manufacturing problem that could stain there otherwise reputable business. No, instead they found something on the two workers that would hint at a probability of them fighting or some love triangle 🤔 And now there's no way to back that up, because they have covered there tracks well. Bravo? I hope in the future they would refrain from using a cover up. That's what really happened and because of that manufacturing error. That disaster was wiped clean from there hands.

  • @manuelacosta9463
    @manuelacosta9463 Рік тому +13

    There's quite the amount of towns in the US that have been abandoned due to environmental disasters and toxic spills alongside mining. This is one that's been obscure on my radar.

    • @user-cc7vx7sw4z
      @user-cc7vx7sw4z Рік тому +5

      It’s not abandoned. It still hosts a national lab

    • @hb-mek
      @hb-mek Рік тому +7

      not abandoned, infact INL (what the site is currently called) is now going through a hiring scheme hiring up to 2000+ new employees + building a bunch of new reactors and Idaho Falls is going through some of the quickest growth in america growing approximately 4% each year

    • @devinosland359
      @devinosland359 Рік тому +2

      INL is a very large employer in the region and idaho falls is still extremely successful. It's the 4th largest city in idaho behind the big 3 which all are over 100,000

  • @cobwebbyargos6953
    @cobwebbyargos6953 Рік тому +43

    As an native Idahoan, hearing PAWcatello really hurt instead of POEcatello

    • @UnholyShade
      @UnholyShade Рік тому +2

      My husband had to close his eyes and process that while I just burst into laughter.

    • @t0irc114
      @t0irc114 Рік тому

      Yall have some damn good views of big southern out there, not as good over here in IF!

    • @aaroncapricorn5867
      @aaroncapricorn5867 Рік тому +4

      cry more? british people have their own accent. did you now know of this?

    • @_c_y_p_3
      @_c_y_p_3 9 місяців тому +5

      Now you know what it is like listening to us ‘Mericans pronounce just about every word we speak outside of ‘Merican English WRONG.

    • @makaveliliveson
      @makaveliliveson 8 місяців тому +1

      @@aaroncapricorn5867dont care they dont exist

  • @boringnoninterestingname65
    @boringnoninterestingname65 9 місяців тому

    The INL (Idaho national laboratory) is still based out there aswell and is working on the newest generation of Fusion technologies.

  • @TheJonathanNewton
    @TheJonathanNewton 4 місяці тому +2

    6:04 That’s the biohazard symbol.

  • @nuclearTANK
    @nuclearTANK 9 місяців тому

    Wow i never knew about this about Idaho falls, I've been there the times as a kid when i lived in Elko,NV

  • @planescaped
    @planescaped Рік тому +1

    Working on early nuclear reactors before all the kinks are worked out would be terrifying. If anything goes wrong, fixing it would not only be very difficult, but likely fatal to the person doing it.

  • @PlayingWithFireOutdoors
    @PlayingWithFireOutdoors Рік тому

    I was there a week ago, thanks for the info.

  • @SisterSunny
    @SisterSunny Рік тому +1

    jesus CHRIST this video gave me chills.

  • @MJGOAT
    @MJGOAT Рік тому +1

    As an Idahoan whenever Idaho is mentioned I get excited

  • @bernardkealey6449
    @bernardkealey6449 Рік тому +4

    Really nicely told story. The 2 strands are, as stated up front, pretty tenuous - but that doesn’t matter, they’re both fascinating stand-alone.
    The salacious nature of the stories about the technicians was grating, but also very very very 1950’s. Blame needed to be placed, and who better than the lowest paid, lowest ranked, lowest trained personnel? A brilliant “morality play” for the modern era.
    I was getting pretty uncomfortable with the way the story was going till the understated “but really the reactor design was pretty shit”… ah huh, yup yuppity yip…
    So; “who” was to blame? Better question - “what” was to blame.
    No one had an overall mandate on design safety.
    Army spec’d the requirement for a light weight, transportable, low tech, low maintenance power plant to operate in arctic regions, to be operated by GI’s - with way way way less training than the Navy’s nuclear schooled engineers.
    Argonne National Lab at UC designed it. And their idea of safety culture was rooted in early Manhattan Project days when as an after thought someone decided to bring an axe to cut cables (ropes) in case the worlds first nuclear pile out the back of the squash courts started making sparks or fizzy noises…
    NRTS - they were “only” the facilitators; provided the site and overall infrastructure. I mean they had >20 reactors on site, under different contracts, agencies, etc. basically just a big tech park with each one being a different tenant.
    The “owners rep” of this reactor was Army, but also naval and airforce personnel were also being trained on its operation, but the actual build and the.n operational responsibility and maintenance was contracted out to a civilian engineering firm - with as extensive as experience in military reactors as then existed, Combustion Engineering Inc.
    CEI - “Not our fault, it was a dog of a design, we did our best. Blame Argonne!”
    Argonne - “Not our fault, we were inhibited by the limitations imposed by the Army; we did that and sent it to a TEST facility. Blame Army and the Test Station”
    Army - “Hey we blow things up. We told the lab our limitations so in the field we wouldn’t need Einstein to run it without making us melt the polar cap”
    National Reactor Testing Station - “Hey guys, we’re just the landlord, and last we looked we don’t have “safety” in our name”
    AEC/DOE - “Hmmmm yeah maybe we need to get on that”
    Congress - “whaddaya mean safety costs money”
    Everyone in chorus - “We need more cocktail parties and purdy laydeeeees and tax dollars to line our hazmat tuxedos”
    60 years later and the same organisational fragmentation still leads to same issues.

  • @EC237T5
    @EC237T5 8 місяців тому

    The quality of your Videos in Awesome

  • @richardm9934
    @richardm9934 Місяць тому

    Cool! Grew up in Idaho Falls and didnt know a lot of this

  • @alfamaize
    @alfamaize Рік тому +1

    Had no idea that we moved to Idaho Falls because of cocktail parties and schmoozing. Could have ended up in Blackfoot or even Pocatello. One positive for Pocatello was that Idaho State University was there- which would have been a easy partner. Well, except that Idaho's engineering university was up in Moscow- a very long way away from the Site- especially at the time (it was a 10 hour trip from IF to the University of Idaho when I went to school there in the mid 80s).
    I had known of the SL1 event as we were growing up, but got the above detail when I was on a tour of the Site given to new hires to EG&G or other contractors. I worked there twice as a college student. This was almost 40 years ago, and no really new information has come forward since then. Which isn't really that surprising- given what happened with no survivors and no real recording systems of what they did. I will say, I the love triangle theory doesn't hold much weight for me- by now, the third person in that would have outed or at least revealed themselves.

  • @moamab4541
    @moamab4541 Рік тому +1

    You are absolutely making an incredible work i don't know how but the only thing I know that those videos takes a big amount of time and effort to create
    I don't wish software but i think aftereffects am I right? If so that's mean that it takes money also so thanks for the videos even if those words isn't enough

  • @ClayGreen
    @ClayGreen Рік тому

    Research how the prototype MARF was funded and constructed… how Rickover interviewed EVERY officer… a lot of interesting stuff there!