Editing Hyman G. Rickover (section)

== Naval Reactors and the Atomic Energy Commission ==

{{See also|Naval Reactors}}

[[File:Hyman Rickover inspecting USS Nautilus.jpg|upright|right|thumb|Admiral Rickover aboard USS ''Nautilus'', the world's first nuclear-powered vessel. "I did not recruit extraordinary people. I recruited people who had extraordinary potential—and then I trained them"]]
In December 1945, Rickover was appointed [[Inspector General]] of the [[19th Fleet]] on the west coast, and was assigned to work with [[General Electric]] at [[Schenectady]], [[New York (state)|New York]], to develop a nuclear propulsion plant for destroyers. In 1946, an initiative was begun at the [[Manhattan Project]]'s Clinton Laboratory (now the [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]]) to develop a nuclear electric generating plant. Realizing the potential that nuclear energy held for the Navy,<ref name="Lurie on Rickover">{{cite web |last1=Lurie |first1=Margaret |title=Recollection from Margaret Lurie |url=https://ussrickover.org/rcl-margaret-lurie |website=USS Hyman G. Rickover Commissioning Committee |access-date=27 July 2021}}</ref> Rickover applied. Rickover was sent to Oak Ridge through the efforts of his wartime boss, Rear Admiral Earle Mills, who became the head of the Navy's [[Bureau of Ships]] that same year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legion.org/distinguishedservicemedal/1983/adm-hyman-c-rickover|title=Adm. Hyman C. Rickover &#124; Distinguished Service Medal &#124; The American Legion|website=www.legion.org|access-date=December 7, 2019|archive-date=December 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207195325/https://www.legion.org/distinguishedservicemedal/1983/adm-hyman-c-rickover|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Rickover became an early convert to the idea of [[nuclear marine propulsion]], and was the driving force for shifting the Navy's initial focus from applications on destroyers to submarines.<ref>{{cite web | title = Ross Gunn, May 12, 1897 – October 15, 1966 | author= Philip H. Abelson | access-date = 2009-03-08 | url = http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/rgunn.html }}</ref> Rickover's vision was not initially shared by his immediate superiors:<ref name="Lurie on Rickover"/> he was recalled from Oak Ridge and assigned "advisory duties" with an office in an abandoned ladies' room in the Navy Building. He subsequently went around several layers of superior officers, and in 1947 went directly to the Chief of Naval Operations, [[Chester W. Nimitz|Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz]], also a former submariner. Nimitz immediately understood the potential of nuclear propulsion in submarines and recommended the project to the Secretary of the Navy, [[John L. Sullivan (Navy)|John L. Sullivan]]. Sullivan's endorsement to build the world's first nuclear-powered vessel, {{USS|Nautilus|SSN-571|6}}, later caused Rickover to state that Sullivan was "the true father of the Nuclear Navy."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVMEAAAAMBAJ&q=Rickover&pg=PA104|title=Life|access-date=2014-12-12|date=1958-09-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20111216-ENTERTAIN-112160303|title=Rye resident writes biography / readings & signings|work=seacoastonline.com|access-date=2014-12-12|archive-date=January 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112040925/http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20111216-ENTERTAIN-112160303|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite book|url=https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/04/f50/DuncanRickoverandtheNuclearNavyComplete_1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/04/f50/DuncanRickoverandtheNuclearNavyComplete_1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Rickover and the Nuclear Navy |via=Department of Energy |date=1990 |first=Francis |last=Duncan |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, Maryland |isbn=0-87021-236-2}}</ref>

Subsequently, Rickover became chief of a new section in the [[Bureau of Ships]], the Nuclear Power Division reporting to Mills. He began work with [[Alvin M. Weinberg]], the Oak Ridge director of research, to initiate and develop the [[Oak Ridge School of Reactor Technology]] and to begin the design of the [[pressurized water reactor]] for submarine propulsion.<ref>{{cite web | title = ORNL Review Vol. 25, Nos. 3 and 4, 2002 | access-date = 2009-03-08 | url = http://www.ornl.net/info/ornlreview/rev25-34/chapter3sb8.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071021213713/http://www.ornl.net/info/ornlreview/rev25-34/chapter3sb8.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2007-10-21 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.economist.com/node/21549101 | newspaper=The Economist | title=From squash court to submarine | date=2012-03-10}}</ref> In February 1949 he was assigned to the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]]'s Division of Reactor Development, and then assumed control of the Navy's effort within the AEC as Director of the [[Naval Reactors]] Branch.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dW4uAAAAIAAJ&q=%22H.+G.+Rickover%2C+head+of+the+Nuclear+Power+Division%2C+Bureau+of+Ships%2C+Department+of+Navy%2C+and+chief+of+the+Naval+Reactor+Branch%22&pg=SL4-PA65|title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress|first=United States|last=Congress|date=December 9, 1951|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|via=Google Books}}</ref> This twin role enabled him to lead the effort to develop ''Nautilus''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-r/rickover-hyman-g.html|title=Rickover, Hyman G.|website=NHHC}}</ref>

The original selection of Rickover as head of development of the nation's nuclear submarine program ultimately rested with Admiral Mills. According to Lieutenant General [[Leslie Groves]], director of the Manhattan Project, Mills was anxious to have a very determined man involved. He knew that Rickover was "not too easy to get along with" and "not too popular," but in his judgement Rickover was the man on whom the Navy could depend "no matter what opposition he might encounter".<ref>{{Cite book | isbn = 978-0-306-80189-1 | page = 388 | last = Groves | first = Leslie R. |author2=Edward Teller | title = Now it can be told | year = 1983 | publisher = Da Capo Press | location = New York}}</ref>

While his team and industry were completing construction of ''Nautilus'', Rickover was promoted to the rank of [[Rear Admiral (United States)|rear admiral]] in 1953. However, this was anything but routine, and occurred only after an extraordinary chain of events:<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hyman G. Rickover|url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/profile/hyman-g-rickover|access-date=2020-06-27|website=Atomic Heritage Foundation|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hyman-G-Rickover|title=Hyman G. Rickover &#124; United States admiral|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|date=July 4, 2023 }}</ref>

<blockquote>[Rickover's] peers in the Navy’s engineer branch thought to get rid of him through failure of promotion above captain. This would entail automatic retirement at the thirty-year mark. But someone made the case to the U.S. Senate, charged by the Constitution with formal confirmation of military promotions. In that year, 1953, two years before ''Nautilus'' first went to sea, the Senate failed to give its usual perfunctory approval of the Navy admiral promotion list, and the press was outraged because Rickover's name was not on it. ... Ultimately an enlightened Secretary of the Navy, [[Robert B. Anderson (Texas politician)|Robert B. Anderson]], ordered a special selection board to sit. With some shuffling of feet it did what it had been ordered to do.... Ninety-five percent of Navy captains must retire regardless of how highly qualified because there are only vacancies for 5 percent of them to become admirals, and although vindictiveness has sometimes played a part in determining who shall fail of selection for promotion (thus also violating the system), never before or since have pressures from outside the Navy overturned this form of career-termination.<ref name="auto1"/></blockquote>

Regardless of the challenges faced in developing and operating brand-new technology, Rickover and the team did not disappoint: the result was a highly reliable nuclear reactor in a form-factor that would fit into a submarine hull with no more than a {{convert|28|ft|m|adj=on}} [[Beam (nautical)|beam]].<ref>{{Cite book | page = 134 | last = Blair | first = Clay | title = The Atomic Submarine and Admiral Rickover | year = 1954 }}</ref> This became known as the [[S1W reactor]]. ''Nautilus'' was launched and commissioned with this reactor in 1954.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ne.anl.gov/About/reactors/lwr3.shtml|title=Light Water Reactors Technology Development|website=www.ne.anl.gov}}</ref>

Later Rickover oversaw the development of the [[Shippingport Atomic Power Station]], the first commercial pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant. [[Kenneth Nichols]] of the AEC decided that the Rickover-Westinghouse pressurized-water reactor was "the best choice for a reactor to demonstrate the production of electricity" with Rickover "having a going organization and a reactor project under way that now had no specific use to justify it." This was a reference to the first core used at Shippingport originating from a cancelled [[Nuclear marine propulsion|nuclear-powered]] [[aircraft carrier]].<ref>J. C. Clayton, "[http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/25/025/25025940.pdf The Shippingport Pressurized Water Reactor and Light Water Breeder Reactor]", Westinghouse Report WAPD-T-3007, 1993.</ref> This was accepted by [[Lewis Strauss]] and the Commission in January 1954.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nichols |first=Kenneth |date=1987 |title=The Road to Trinity: A Personal Account of How America's Nuclear Policies Were Made |location=New York |publisher=William Morrow |isbn=068806910X |pages=326–27}}</ref>

Rickover was promoted to [[Vice Admiral (United States)|vice admiral]] in 1958, the same year that he was awarded the first of two [[Congressional Gold Medal]]s.<ref>{{citation |url=http://sul-derivatives.stanford.edu/derivative?CSNID=00001534&mediaType=application/pdf |date=1959 |location=Washington, DC |title=Review of Naval Reactor Program and Admiral Rickover Award |publisher=United States Government Priniting Office |author=Joint Committee on Atomic Energy |via=Stanford University }}{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He exercised tight control for the next three decades over the ships, technology, and personnel of the nuclear Navy, interviewing and approving or denying every prospective officer being considered for a nuclear ship. Over the course of Rickover's career, these personal interviews numbered in the tens of thousands; over 14,000 interviews were with recent college-graduates alone. The interviewees ranged from midshipmen and newly commissioned [[Ensign (rank)|ensigns]] destined for nuclear-powered submarines and surface combatants, to very senior combat-experienced [[Naval Aviator]] [[Captain (United States O-6)|captains]] who sought command of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The content of most of these interviews has been lost to history, though some were later chronicled in several books on Rickover's career, as well as in a [http://vimeo.com/56270169 rare personal interview] with [[Diane Sawyer]] in 1984.<ref name="people">{{cite web
 | title = Rickover Interview | url = http://www.people.vcu.edu/~rsleeth/Rickover.html|publisher=People.vcu.edu
 | access-date = 2009-03-08 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Asking Tough Questions | access-date = 2009-03-08 | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/asking-tough-questions/ | publisher = Cbsnews.com – CBS News | date = 2003-05-16 | archive-date = October 18, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121018065950/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/16/60minutes/main554312.shtml | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Rickover|first=Hyman G.|title=Doing a Job|url=http://www.validlab.com/administration/rickover.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226221727/http://www.validlab.com/administration/rickover.html|archive-date=2017-02-26|access-date=2020-06-26|website=www.validlab.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Rayburn | first = Kevin | url = http://louisville.edu/ur/ucomm/mags/winter2007/rickover.html | title = The Rickover Effect: Speed grads remember working with 'Father of the Nuclear Navy' | journal = UofL | date = 2003-03-01 | volume = 25 | issue = 2 | publisher = University of Louisville | access-date = 2009-04-01 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110930090300/http://louisville.edu/ur/ucomm/mags/winter2007/rickover.html | archive-date = 2011-09-30 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/abc/10_questions_for_diane_sawyer_158703.asp|title=10 Questions for Diane Sawyer|publisher=Mediabistro.com|access-date=2014-12-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100625154021/http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/abc/10_questions_for_diane_sawyer_158703.asp|archive-date=2010-06-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1973, though his role and responsibilities remained unchanged, Rickover was promoted to the rank of four-star [[Admiral (United States)|admiral]].<ref name="auto3">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-09-mn-14301-story.html|title=Rickover, Creator of U.S. Nuclear Navy, Dies at 86|date=July 9, 1986|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>  This was the second time (after [[Samuel Murray Robinson]]) in the history of the U.S. Navy that an officer with a career path other than an operational line officer achieved that rank. Because his responsibilities did not include direct command and control of combatant naval units, technically Rickover was appointed to the grade of admiral on the retired list so as to provide some clarity on this issue. This was also done to avoid affecting the maximum-authorized number of admirals (O-10) on the "active list."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/r/rickover-promotion.html|title=Hyman G. Rickover's Promotion to Admiral [H.A.S.C. 93-16]|website=NHHC}}</ref>

As head of Naval Reactors, Rickover's focus and responsibilities were dedicated to reactor safety rather than tactical or strategic submarine warfare training. However, this extreme focus was well known during Rickover's era as a potential hindrance to balancing operational priorities. One way that this was addressed after Rickover retired was that only the very strongest, former at-sea submarine commanders have held Rickover's now unique eight-year position as [[Naval Reactors|NAVSEA-08]], the longest chartered tenure in the U.S. military.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/45608main_NNBE_Progress_Report2_7-15-03.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/45608main_NNBE_Progress_Report2_7-15-03.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=NASA/Navy Benchmarking Exchange (NNBE) Volume II|publisher=Nasa.gov|access-date=2014-12-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12344.html|title=Executive Orders|date=25 October 2010|publisher=Archives.gov|access-date=2014-12-12}}</ref> From Rickover's first replacement, [[Kinnaird R. McKee]], to today's head of Naval Reactors, [[William J. Houston]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=90649|title=Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program Change of Command|first=Tom Dougan, Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program Public|last=Affairs|access-date=August 22, 2015|archive-date=September 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921153246/https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=90649|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.defensenews.com/story/breaking-news/2015/07/22/nr-naval-nuclear-reactors-caldwell-richardson-greenert-rickover-submarine-navy/30539765/|title=Pentagon Names Next Director of Naval Nuclear Reactors|date=July 22, 2015 |publisher=defensenews.com|access-date=2015-08-16}}</ref> all have held command of nuclear submarines, their squadrons and ocean fleets, but none have been a long-term [[Submarine Engineering Duty insignia|Engineering Duty Officer]] such as Rickover.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=70471|title=Navy Gets New Nuclear Propulsion Boss|author=Tom Dougan, Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program Public Affairs|publisher=Navy.mil|access-date=2014-12-12|archive-date=June 26, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626131014/https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=70471|url-status=dead}}</ref>  In keeping with Rickover's promotion to four-star admiral, those who were subsequently selected for assignment to Director, Naval Reactors are promoted to this same rank, but also on active duty status.

Historian Francis Duncan, who for over eight years was granted generous access to diverse numbers and levels of witnesses—including U.S. presidents—as well as Rickover himself,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rickover-and-the-nuclear-navy-francis-duncan/1121795147|title=Rickover and the Nuclear Navy: The Discipline of Technology&#124;Hardcover|first=Barnes &|last=Noble|website=Barnes & Noble}}</ref> came to the conclusion that the man was best understood with respect to a guiding principle that Rickover invoked foremost for both himself and those who served in the U.S. Navy's nuclear propulsion program: "exercise of the concept of responsibility."<ref name="auto1" /> This is further evidenced by Rickover listing ''responsibility'' as his first [[principle]] in his final-years paper and speech, ''Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/morgenthau/763|title = Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life &#124; Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/morgenthau/763/_res/id=Attachments/index=0/763_2ndMML-H.G.Rickover.pdf|publisher=Council on Religion and International Affairs|location=New York|title=Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life|first=Rickover|last=Hyman|date=1982|access-date=July 9, 2018|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710040709/https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/morgenthau/763/_res/id=Attachments/index=0/763_2ndMML-H.G.Rickover.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://nielsolson.us/Writing/RickoverRotaryAddress10FEB77.html|title=Rickover Rotary Address|website=nielsolson.us}}</ref>

=== Safety record ===
Rickover's stringent standards are largely credited with being responsible for the U.S. Navy's continuing record of zero reactor accidents (defined as the uncontrolled release of fission products to the environment resulting from damage to a reactor core).<ref name=bowman>{{cite web | title = Statement of Admiral F. L. "Skip" Bowman | date = 2003-10-29 | access-date = 2009-03-08 | url = http://www.navy.mil/navydata/testimony/safety/bowman031029.txt | archive-date = June 29, 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060629082752/https://www.navy.mil/navydata/testimony/safety/bowman031029.txt | url-status = dead }}</ref> He made it a point to be aboard during the initial sea trial of almost every nuclear submarine completing its new-construction period.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Power at Sea, Vol 3: A Violent Peace, 1946–2006|url=https://archive.org/details/poweratseabreaki02libg|url-access=limited|last=Rose|first=Lisle A.|publisher=University of Missouri|year=2006|page=[https://archive.org/details/poweratseabreaki02libg/page/n73 55]}}</ref> Following the [[Three Mile Island accident]] on March 28, 1979, Admiral Rickover was asked to testify before Congress in the general context of answering the question as to why naval nuclear propulsion had succeeded in achieving a record of zero reactor-accidents, as opposed to the dramatic one that had just taken place.<ref name="bowman" />

The accident-free record of United States Navy reactor operations stands in some very stark contrast to those of the Soviet Union, which had [[Nuclear submarine#Accidents|fourteen known reactor accidents]]. As stated in a retrospective analysis in October 2007:

<blockquote>U.S. submarines far outperformed the Soviet ones in the crucial area of stealth, and Rickover's obsessive fixation on safety and quality control gave the U.S. nuclear Navy a vastly superior safety record to the Soviet one.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Sieff | first = Martin | title = BMD Focus: O'Reilly moves up&nbsp;– Part 1 | work = UPI Energy| date = 2007-10-04 }}</ref></blockquote>

=== Views on nuclear power ===
Given Rickover's single-minded focus on naval nuclear propulsion, design, and operations, it came as a surprise to many<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jec.senate.gov/reports/97th%20Congress/Economics%20of%20Defense%20Policy%20-%20Adm.%20H.%20G.%20Rickover%20Part%20I%20(1110).pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241108124603/https://www.jec.senate.gov/reports/97th%20Congress/Economics%20of%20Defense%20Policy%20-%20Adm.%20H.%20G.%20Rickover%20Part%20I%20(1110).pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2024-11-08|title=Hearing Before the Joint Economic Committee |work=Hearing Before the Joint Economic Committee|access-date=2025-05-01}}</ref> in 1982, near the end of his career, when he testified before the U.S. Congress that, were it up to him what to do with nuclear powered ships, he "would sink them all." At a congressional hearing Rickover testified that:

{{blockquote| Every time you produce radiation, you produce something that has a certain half-life, in some cases for billions of years. [...] I do not believe that nuclear power is worth the present benefits since it creates radiation. You might ask why do I design nuclear powered ships. That is because it is a necessary evil. I would sink them all. I am not proud of the part I played in it. I did it because it was necessary for the safety of this country. That's why I am such a great exponent of stopping this whole nonsense of war. Unfortunately, attempts to limit war have always failed. One lesson of history is when a war erupts every nation will ultimately use whatever weapon is available. ... It is important that we control these forces and try to eliminate them. |[https://www.jec.senate.gov/reports/97th%20Congress/Economics%20of%20Defense%20Policy%20-%20Adm.%20H.%20G.%20Rickover%20Part%20I%20(1110).pdf Economics of Defense Policy: Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee], Congress of the United States, 97th Cong., 2nd sess., Pt. 1 (1982)}}

A few months later, following his retirement, Rickover spoke more specifically regarding the questions "Could you comment on your own responsibility in helping to create a nuclear navy? Do you have any regrets?":

<blockquote>I do not have regrets. I believe I helped preserve the peace for this country. Why should I regret that? What I accomplished was approved by Congress—which represents our people. All of you live in safety from domestic enemies because of security from the police. Likewise, you live in safety from foreign enemies because our military keeps them from attacking us. Nuclear technology was already under development in other countries. My assigned responsibility was to develop our nuclear navy. I managed to accomplish this.<ref>{{cite book |last= Rickover |first= Hyman George |title= Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life |url= https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/morgenthau/763/_res/id=Attachments/index=0/763_2ndMML-H.G.Rickover.pdf |access-date= 2009-03-17 |series= Second Annual Morgenthau Memorial Lecture |date= 1982-05-12 |publisher= Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs |archive-date= July 10, 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180710040709/https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/archive/morgenthau/763/_res/id=Attachments/index=0/763_2ndMML-H.G.Rickover.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref></blockquote>