Background While sifting through thousands of different pages of documents, I found references to some previously, never-before-released (that I saw) documents about nuclear accidents. I have always been fascinated by the topic, ever since I saw the 1996 film Broken Arrow. Yes, I know, a bit cheesy, but I was 15 when it came out – and I was just about to start The Black Vault. I was fascinated to learn, that Broken Arrow was a real term, and in fact, nuclear accidents have plagued American history. So, when I saw these documents existed, I had to get them! It…
Author: John Greenewald
Background On 5 January 1978, in response to a memorandum from the Department of Defense (Appendix 1), the Chief of Naval Research directed the Naval Research Laboratory to form a study team to carry out a short, intensive investigation to determine the causes of a series of startling acoustic events that had disturbed residents of coastal New Jersey and South Carolina. Significant public response to these events began on 2 December 1977 and continued at intervals to the present (end of February 1978). To meet the objectives set forth by the tasking memorandum, the Naval Research Laboratory established an Ad…
Background According to the official website for Bell Pottinger: Bell Pottinger was founded in 1987 and became a partnership following a management buyout from Chime plc in 2012. Our partnership structure is designed to deliver best-in-class public relations services for our clients, embracing all skills and specialisms from across the communications spectrum. We are headquartered in London, with offices in key centres worldwide, and can draw on both our own teams and from those among our international network of specialist agency partners. Our 250 public relations specialists, including more than 60 partners, advise a complete range of clients – including world…
Background The Merit Systems Protection Board is an independent, quasi-judicial agency in the Executive branch that serves as the guardian of Federal merit systems. The Board was established by Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978, which was codified by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA), Public Law No. 95-454. The CSRA, which became effective January 11, 1979, replaced the Civil Service Commission with three new independent agencies: Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which manages the Federal work force; Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), which oversees Federal labor-management relations; and, the Board. In July of 2015, they suffered a…
Background The following documents is a COMMISSIONER ACTION memo, labeled SECY-79-235 from Harold R. Denton, Director Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, dated April 2, 1979. The purpose of the action report is listed as: To advise the Commission of some decisions that will need to be made in the immediate future regarding the application of the Price Anderson Act to the Three Mile Island Unit 2 accident. The Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melted down on March 28, 1979. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, although its…