MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE SEVEN
Hydrogen Bomb Scientist Warns on Danger of 'Runaway' Nuclear Reactor
Wednesday, August 10, 1955
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TURNS 'AMBASSADOR' Bronx shoemaker Gino Frato,
who has captured the nation's fancy on the TV show,
"564,000 Question," signs a contract paying "more tnan
! $10,000 a year" with the American Bilt Rite Co. to serve as
I the firm's goodwill ambassador to the nation's shoe in
idustry. Looking on is Morris M. Borkan (right) company
sales manager.
Shoemaker Stops at
$32,000 in TV Quiz;
Takes Daddy's Advice
New Yotk (U.R) "Ebasta
cosi!"
With those words, a little
Italian cobbler from the Bronx,
Gino Prato, rang down the cur
tain and retired $32,000 richer
today.
They mean: "That's enough."
Prato, making his fourth ap
pearance on. CBS-TV's "The
$64,000 Question," had captured
the fancy of much of the nation
by wading through a series of
questions in the category, op
era." The gentle, graying, 55
vear-old shoemaker had pyra
mided his winnings to $32,000
by doing so. Last night, Prato
had the opportunity of doubling
his stake by tackling another
question. He decided to bow out.
"My father in Italy sent me
a wire," Prato explained. "It
said: 'Fermati dove ti trovi. E
basta cosi.' That means: Stop
wherever you are. That's
enough.
. "Because I take rmy daddy's
advice when I was a small kid,
I take it now."
Prato was presented with his
check for $32,000 and kissed it
amidst heavy applause from the
studio audience. He said he
would use some of the money to
visit his 92-year-old father who
lives in Statale di Ne, Italy, a
small village near Genoa. He
said he had not seen his father
since he left Italy, 33 years ago.
"I will also buy my father a
good hearing aid," said the
smiling Prato after the broad
cast. "He is stone deaf."
For the first time in four
weeks. Prato appeared visibly
relaxed. He posed with a profes
sional aplomb for photographers
and answered questions with a
happy grin.
"I didn't know right up to the
broadcast what I was going to
do." he said. "I could have
taken another chance, but I
gotta obey him, my father. He
might take a shock if I go on.
"I want to see him," Prato
added witn a shrug.
O Prato said he and his wife,
Caroline, would take off for
O Italy by air sometime in early
September.
Travel Bill Paid
Prato will not have to use any
of his winnings for his air fare
a New York travel agency
has agreed to foot the bill for
Dr. Robert E. Lee
v Optometrist
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Prato and his wife. Prato also
was presented with another gift
during the program two eighth
row center season passes to the
Metropolitan Opera.
When he returns from his
trip abroad, Prato will begin to
get in harness in a new job. A
Chelsea, Mass., firm which man
ufactures heels and soles signed
Prato to a one-year-contract this
week, as its "goodwill ambass
ador" for a sum "in excess of
$10,000 a year."
Teachers Elected
By School Board;
Contracts Signed
Ten teachers for the Medford
school system were elected at a
meeting of the board of School
District 49 last night. Two others
resigned.
The resignations were from
Miss Barbara Elken and Mrs.
Nellie Stephens, both of whom
had 'taught English at the Med
ford High school.
Elected to succeed them were
Mr. and Mrs. John Kovenz.
Other new teachers include
Bernard Averill: physical edu
cation and health, junior high
school: William Brew, fourth
grade; Esther Crum, first grade:
Josephine Culbertson, commer
cial, high school; Marian For-
sythe, physical education, high
school: John Johnson, third
grade; Harold Mayer, special
education and Erma White, mu
sic, art and penmanship.
The board also transacted rou
tine business, including the sign
ing of tuition and transportation
contracts with the non-high
school board, and giving final
approval to tuition contracts
with Districts 102 and 29. which
send their pupils to the Medford
district.
A progress report on the two
new schools now nearing com
pletion was heard by the board.
Both will open Sept. 19.
Some minor revisions were
made in the budgets of the two
junior high schools.
Religious Revival
Sweeping Chicago's Loop
Chicago tU.R) Chicago's
Loop is witnessing a religious
revival.
In the past five years, St. Pe
ter's Catholic church has been
built at 110 West Madison, Luth
erans have dedicated a new
church center at 327 South La
Salle and Jews are raising funds
for a new synagogue at 16 South
Clark.
For years the Chicago Temple
at 77 West Washington, which
houses the First Methodist church
was the only church-owned wor
ship center in the loop.
J
Atoms-for-Peace
Conference Told
Of Possibilities
Geneva (U.R) The Califor
nia scientist who unlocked the
secret of the hydrogen bomb
warned the world today of a
new danger the dread "run
away" nuclear reactor that could
be as dangerous as the atom
bomb itself.
The warning was delivered in
a paper from Edward Teller of
the University of California,
known as the "Father pfthe
hydrogen bomb" and was
echoed in papers by British and
Soviet scientists at the Atoms-For-Peace
conference here.
Teller, working with Rogers
McCullough of the Atomic En
ergy Commission, and Mark
Wills of the University of Cal
ifornia, drafted one of the most
dramatic papers of the confre-
ence. It was read today by Mc
Cullough.
Split Second Disaster
He warned that runaway nu
clear furnaces may force the
evacuation of entire cities,
poison entire watersheds and
turn stretches of land into for
bidden areas for years. It could
be a split second disaster but an
industrial disaster unknown be
fore to the world.
The scientists said nuclear
fission must be made as safe
as gas or electricity for the era
of atomic power is near at hand
They told of an unceasing
search for devices to make nu
clear fission safe in the labora
tories of two continents.
No Fool-Proof System
The paper said that "with all
the inherent safeguards that can
be put into a reactor, there is
still no fool-proof system .
there are unfortunately certain
dangerous characteristics . .
and this public hazard has been
one of our main concerns.
It was symbolic of the aims of
the conference that one of the
major papers on saving lives
in the new age, when nuclear
reactors already are on the
drawing boards, should come
from the man responsible for
the most lethal weapon of his
tory. "Perhaps," the Teller-McCul-
loueh-Wills paper said, "it is im
portant to emphasize the degree
of public hazard that might fol
low a reactor accident.
A Reassuring Note
"Assuming that good luck
prevails and no one is killed, it
may nevertheless be necessary
to evacuate a large city, to ab
andon a maior watershed and
very probably it would be nee
essary to make the reactor site
itself a forbidden area for years
to come."
A reassuring note came from
scientist J. D. Dietrich of the
Argonne National laboratories
in the United States who read
a paper incorporating the work
of 32 other scientists on experi
ments in which 200 runaway re
actor accidents were deliberately
staged at Los Alamos and Oak
Ridge.
High Degree, of Safety
' These small reactors of water-
cooled types appear to have
reached a "high degree of in
herent safety," he said.
Britain's W. G. Marley and T.
M. Frey of the Harwell labor
atories said they did not think
the safety program was "insup
erable." But they urged that at
omic plants be built away from
heavily populated areas in such
a way that only limited quanti
ties of radio-activity would be
released in event of an accident.
Former Convict Held
In Death of Parents
Columbus, Ohio (U.R) Po
lice held a 19-year-old ex-convict
who confessed to the vicious
hammer-knife slayings of his
mother and stepfather, for fur
ther questioning today.
The ex-convict, Robert Jacob
Miller; was arrested yesterday
at Cambridge, O., where he had
stopped at a service station for
fuel and tire repairs. At the time
of his arrest, he had four other
youths with him whom officers
identified as hitchhikers on their
way back from the East coast.
Officers said Miller "went to
pieces" during questioning and
sobbed out the events that led
to last week end's murder of
his stepfather and mother, Mr.
and Mrs. Gomer Thomas.
Miller told officers he became
"violently angry," during an ar
gument with his mother, Betty,
39, when she objected to one of
his girl friends. He said he began
striking her with his fists. When
his stepfather intervened. Mil
ler began hitting him, police re
ported. TYPEWRITERS &
ADDING MACHINES
Repaired
MEDFORD OFFICE
EQUIPMENT COMPANY
41 S. Grape Phone 2-4100
1 -
'Safeties on Safeties' on Atomic Reactors
Make Possibility of Runaways Mighty Slim
Salt Lake City '.U.R) Thanks
to the "safeties on safeties" built
into them by their engineers, the
chances of an American power
generating reactor "running
away" and blowing up are
mighty slim.
Every reactor built by the
Atomic Energy Commission and
shown in the Los Alamos, N.M.,
laboratories or tested at the
sprawling proving grounds in
Southeastern Idaho has scores of
devices that cause it to "scram"
stop its chain reaction should
the fission process reach a dan
gerous level.
However, just to see what
would happen if all the safeties
should fail, the AEC's Argonne
National Laboratory revealed to
day that it had deliberately sac
rificed a small water-boiler type
reactor that was destroyed in
a split-second explosion. But the
explosion had a potency of only
"a few pounds of TNT," com
pared to the 20,000 tons equiva
lent of even the old Hiroshima
type A bombs.
Used for Tests
The reactor, called Borax I,
was constructed on the Idaho
desert between Idaho Falls and
Arco some two years ago. It was
originally used for 200 tests
because
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ffiarita BO on D op Gn-irfl's-
under semi-run-away conditions.
In these tests, the cadmium
and boron control or "shim" rods
that usually act as accelerators
or brakes for atomic reactions
were pulled out quickly.
When they are in place, these
rods absorb enough flying neu
trons that they keep the reactors
from turning into atomic bombs
by permitting the fission pro
cess to take place only at a safe
rate..
When the shims were pulled
or dropped out in Borax I, the
nuclear reaction was so violent
that water between the plates
of uranium and aluminum that
formed its heart began boiling
violently.
However, the scientists, in a
Dairymen Request
Milk Price Increase
Portland (U.R) A group of 12
dairymen representing Grade A
Milk Producers met with dis
tributors yesterday and asked
that a one-cent drop they took in
milk prices after state milk con
trol was voted out be restored.
Distributors indicated ' that
something might be worked out
and one large distributor said
producers were entitled to a
raise.
buy the popular 4-can pak
YOU'LL LIKE THE PRICE!
A ME), OF COURSE,
YOU'LL LIKE THE BEER...
it's
I N C
9
paper prepared for presentation
at the Geneva atomic conference.
reported that this boiling itself
quickly reduced the reactor's
power.
These early tests in Borax'!
were terminated within 1 to 20
seconds when the control rods
were reinserted in the metal
tank containing the fissionable
material.
Finally, in July of last year,
the Argonne Laboratory' techni
sians, operating from a control
trailer half a mile away, left
the control rods out entirely.
Within 1lOth of a second,
the nuclear power increased to
more than 10,000,000 kilowatts.
A bright flash was seen. A dark
grey column of water blew out
of the reactor tank to a height
of more than 80 feet.
The superstructure of the re
actor was, ruined. Fragments of
the bent and twisted . fuel ele
ments were thrown into the air.
No Great Danger .
But all fell back within 200
feet of the reactor, and scien
tists found that dangerous radio
active fallout was confined to a
"few hundred feet."
Borax I had no power genera
tor on it. It was for experimental
use only. Had it been a larger
reactor of the type being now
S I U I 5
J installed to produce electricity,
tne results of a runaway acci
dent would have been compar
able. Such an accident would
have meant that the power plant
itself would probably be ruined
by the heat and explosion. The
area immediately around the re
actor would be poisoned by radi
ation to such a degree that it
could not be safely entered for
a few days.
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