Legalectric

Which nuclear wonk mentioned this? The Nugget File, edited by Robert D. Potter.

I had to find it, and I quick grabbed one at abebooks.com. It’s both very scary and hilarious. Unfortunately, it was published by Union of Concerned Scientists in 1979, which is unfortunate, as so many really stupid human scientific tricks have happened since.

We’ve had warning though. For example, on page 6, “Runaway Fuel Handling Crane — Improper Design.” It seems a “grapple hoist” for irradiated fuel handling “ran away” due to an electrical short, “and caused the grapple hoist to operate in its upward movement at maximum speed.” The plant is “unidentified,” and this nugget was referenced as “1965-68 #28.”

That reminds me of the time when a crane at Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant here in Red Wing was putting a cask into the pool, and it went up, and got stuck, and a multi-ton empty cask was twisting in the wind, well, no wind, but hanging up there for quite a while. OOPS!

There are two more of these books at abebooks.com.