Sad Day

The saddest day of my life

On a summer afternoon in July 1962 I was working at the Hallam Nuclear Power Facility near Hallam Nebraska. I was standing on the High Bay floor near the reactor.  The overhead crane was preparing to lower a cask into an open hole in the floor. I had just finished a discussion with Glenn, the shift supervisor and I turned 180° and started talking to the manager of maintenance. While we were talking, he suddenly screamed NO NO. As I turned around and looked towards the open hole I saw an arm disappearing through the hole in the floor where the cover had been removed.

The open hole was above the maintenance cell where we could work on radioactive components. I turned and ran to the stairway and went down one flight to the operating area where I could enter the maintenance cell and be lowered to the floor using the bosun chair. I got to the floor of the maintenance cell and there was Glenn lying on the floor. He was not breathing. At that time Roger join me and he was carrying an air pack. We applied air to try to get Glenn to start breathing. We gently lifted him into a basket stretcher and connected it to the hoist. Roger went up with the stretcher while I stayed below. There was nothing for me to do then, but I knelt and I prayed for him to be alive. Glenn died before he got to the hospital