History Of The Day - Deadly Incident at Experimental US Nuclear Power Reactor (1960)

[TFD]

The only fatal nuclear reactor incident in US history occurred at the US Army's SL-1 experimental nuclear reactor. It was being restarted after an 11-day shutdown when a control rod was withdrawn too far, causing a "prompt critical" reaction. Water surrounding the core explosively vaporized and lifted the enormous reactor vessel more than 9 ft (2.7 m) off the ground. All three operators—one of whom was impaled and pinned to the ceiling—died. Why was the incident rumored to be a murder-suicide? Discuss